McKenzie Henderson and Samira Rowland of Ponoka Secondary Campus will be representing Zone 4 in the Alberta Winter Games in February when competitions get underway in Banff and Canmore.
Both devout volleyball players alongside badminton, McKenzie and Samira have been a team of doubles for the past four years, and having played together for so long, they now say they almost know how the other will react in any particular situation and that helps them a lot in improving their game.
McKenzie has already delivered on her promise of getting better at her game and received a silver medal for U16 girls singles in a tournament over the weekend.
They have two more tournaments prior to winter games, one in Saskatoon on Jan. 25 and another one in Stettler on Feb. 1.
Both McKenzie and Samira say they are promising to do their best but acknowledge that they may not be able to bring back medals from the Games next month.
Their journey to the selection to represent Zone 4 in the Games took them to Stettler twice a week for several weeks both for practice and to take part in the tryouts. They also practiced occasionally in Red Deer.
McKenzie said a majority of the Zone 4 badminton team would come from Stettler as the sport has wider following there.
Both girls say although they will be competing in badminton next month, their favorite sport is volleyball not only because it is more challenging but also because it involves more coordination with a bigger number of players, that it is more of a team sport.