A long journey toward a podium appearance ended with a satisfying win on Saturday Sept. 7 for Langley-area players Danielle Ellis and Felicia Voss-Shafiq, when the Canadian sitting volleyball team swept Brazil in straight sets to win their first-ever Paralympic medal at the Paris games.
Voss-Shafiq, 44 of Willowbrook, and Ellis, 32 of Clayton Heights, are both long-standing local members of the team.
"Winning the bronze for Canada was indescribable," Ellis, Team Canada captain, told the Langley Advance Times.
"It was a culmination of the hard work and dedication that each member of athlete and staff put into this one moment," Ellis commented.
"It felt euphoric, I was weightless for a moment, and then I was in the bottom of a dog pile of all 20 plus members of our team. It was perfect."
Voss-Shafiq said "even though each one of us secretly dreamed of walking into the closing ceremonies with a medal around our necks, we didn't want to underestimate our opponent in any way, so we were focused and played our game."
By the middle of the third set, the excitement and the anxiety of knowing they could win this game was palpable, Voss-Shafiq said.
"Even on the bench, every single point was celebrated so hard that we think our supporters back home could hear it," she recalled.
"The moment we knew, everyone of us was on the court and we let all the emotions out in a dog pile of hugs and high-fives and tears and laughter and love. We worked so hard for this, it was just an emotional release of years of hard work, sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears, for a game that we love with the people that we love. "
After qualifying for their first Paralympics in 2016, the team finished seventh. In 2020, their second outing, they finished fourth, just out of medal contention.
"I am so proud of the work everyone has put in, all the late nights and early mornings and long days training on and off the court," Ellis said.
"Every decision we made in every moment of the day brought us back to being on the podium in this moment. And this makes it all worth it."
It was the first Paralympic medal in a team sport for Canada since the men’s wheelchair basketball team won gold in London in 2012.
"I am grateful every day that I get to wear the Maple Leaf on my jersey and play this sport that I love so much," Ellis said.
Voss-Shafiq, the oldest member of the team doesn't think she will be competing in the next games.
"I may be attending and may be the loudest one cheering for our Team Canada Women's Sitting Volleyball in 2028, and may be doing some work helping to promote our sport locally to grow it even more, and that's where I am right now," she said.
Voss-Shafiq became an double below-the-knee amputee when she was in her early 30s, the result of contracting pneumonia that led to blood poisoning and two weeks in a coma.
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Ellis lost her right leg to cancer as a newborn, but as the child of parents who were both heavily involved in sports, she grew up participating in gymnastics, soccer, baseball, and volleyball.
"One more thing that I think makes our group unique is how hard we work, not for ourselves, but for the future of our sport and Paralympic Sport in Canada," Ellis added. "We want to live in a world where sport is accessible, where life is accessible to all. We want to continue to shatter glass ceilings and break down barriers so the children and athletes of tomorrow can pursue their dreams."
For Canada, the win evened the score for the Tokyo 2020 Games, where they lost to the Brazilians for a fourth-place finish, and for their first rematch of the 2024 games that saw the South American country taking it 3-1.
They and their teammates made it to the semifinals after winning two of their three games in pool play.
On Aug. 29, they beat Slovenia 3-0. on Aug. 31, they lost to Brazil 1-3. Then, on Sept. 2, they defeated Rwanda 3-0.
It earned them a chance to take on the undefeated Team China on Thursday, Sept. 5, but China won 3-0, sending the Canadians against Brazil in the bronze medal round, while Team China and Team USA played in the gold round, with the Americans winning.
