Evanson to represent Team Canada

By Lethbridge Herald on October 23, 2025.

Submitted Phhoto Elise Evanson jumps up to spike a ball during a match with her Panthers club team.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Local area volleyball player Elise Evanson is getting geared up to represent her country internationally next month in San Jose, Costa Rica.

The Panthers Volleyball Club and Magrath High School player was recently named to Team Canada’s U17 team that will be competing at the Norceca U17 Girls Continental Championship.

The U17 Continental Championships are a qualifier for the  FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship which will take place next August in Chile.

“I was very excited my parents showed me the email and it made me feel really good ,” said Evanson.

It was after being a part of Team Alberta at Canada Cup this summer that Evanson received an  email from Volleyball Canada  to see if she would be interested in the national team.

“I sent in videos and highlights of me playing and they emailed me back saying that they’d love to have me on their team,” said Evanson.

Preparations for Evanson have been hard with ongoing teachers strike.

“That cut off my school season but every so often I train with my team and I train in my garage weightlifting and (with) vertical training to keep up with the other provinces,” said Evanson.

Evanson did not know any of her teammates on Team Alberta before going to Canada Cup and had to learn how to gel quickly with them, and she will use that same approach with her Team Canada teammates.

“I know that after learning how to jell with a new team and new coaches … it’s definitely going to help me jell with this Team Canada team,” said Evanson.

Evanson is looking forward to establishing great relationships and friendships with teammates and learning about the different  opponents she will be facing.

Evanson was the only Alberta player selected to the roster and she had a message for those players in the province wanting to strive to get to this level.

“I’d say to keep working hard, and to put in the time, and be coachable because that’s a big part of it and to be a good teammate,” said Evanson.

“I know that if I didn’t meet my teammates  —  my Panther teammates and my school teammates — that I wouldn’t be where I am now because they taught me how to be not only a good player but a great teammate.

Representing Alberta will mean a lot to Evanson.

“Alberta’s full of amazing volleyball players, and so I know that it means a lot, and I will definitely try to represent Alberta properly and to the best of my ability ,” said Evanson.

Evanson credits her coach at Panthers Club Volleyball, Ian Bennett, for helping her a long the way to this point .

“He helped me make Team Alberta and then that’s where my career started going uphill and now I’m on Team Canada because of his coaching,” said Evanson.

The Norceca U17 Girls Continental Championships run from Nov. 2-10.