Manitoba V-baller van Lankvelt retires after decade on national team

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This article was published 28/03/2017 (2578 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadian men’s volleyball team veteran outside hitter Toontje van Lankvelt has retired from the national team.

The 32-year-old product of Rivers played 10 years for the nats after playing for the University of Manitoba from 2002 to 2007.

“Coming from a small farm town of 1,000 people I would have never guessed growing up that I would be able to see the world through volleyball while competing at the highest level,” van Lankvelt said in a release.

“I’m forever grateful to all of the teammates, coaches, and staff that have helped me achieve my goals along the way… It took a lot of hard work and sacrifice and I’m thankful that these skills will allow me to be successful in my future endeavours.”

Van Lankvelt’s final appearance for the national team was the 2016 World League season. He considers Canada’s 2010 win over Serbia at the 2010 worlds as a career highlight. He was also a member of the bronze-medal winning squad at the 2015 Pan Am Games team in Toronto and helped Canada qualify for the 2016 Olympics at the world qualification tournament last year in Japan.

“I’ll always remember the bond shared with all of my teammates over the past 10 years with the program. I’ve met many of my closest friends through the national team program and I’ll miss the day-to-day interaction with all of them,” said van Lankvelt, whose pro career included stops in Greece, Belgium, Italy, France, Poland and Korea.