Langley's Trinity Western University (TWU) will see five alumni at the Summer Games in Paris.
Former TWU Spartans track and field athlete Regan Yee ('18, South Hazelton) will run with Team Canada’s athletics team.
Fellow alumnae Alison Jackson ('14, Vermillion, Alta.) will road race for Canada's cycling team.
Joining them in Paris are three more former Spartans — Brodie Hofer (’23 Langley), Eric Loeppky (’20, Steinbach, Man.), and Lucas Van Berkel (’14, Edmonton, Alta.) — who will compete with the Canadian men’s volleyball team.
What’s more, three athletes – Yee, Jackson, and Van Berkel – will soon be two-time Olympians.
During the most recent Olympics in Tokyo, Yee represented Canada in the 3000m steeplechase.
For Yee, it’s her passion for running that has carried her from her early days of joining an elementary school running club to high school track meets to where she is today.
Receiving a scholarship to attend Trinity Western University and joining the Spartans track and field team became the doorway for Yee into a professional running career that has included competing in three World Championships (2019, 2022 and 2023), the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, and this summer’s Paris Olympics.
Looking back, Yee recalled TWU as a place that provided a unique environment for her growth.
“The one thing that sets Trinity Western apart from other universities is their Complete Champion ApproachTM training system,” she said. “That's a real holistic view of you as a person. It really promotes long-term development: spiritual, academic, and athletic development.”
During the Tokyo Olympics, Jackson competed in the women's road race.
Just last year, Jackson became the first Canadian to win the gruelling Paris-Roubaix Femmes one-day race on the cobbled roads of northern France.
Before becoming a bike racing star, Jackson grew up on a farm in Alberta, where she remembers watching the Olympics as a child and being inspired to dream big dreams.
“All this journey has been very surprising,” she said. “But, really it's just [about] being a person that says yes, and after saying yes, just digging in full gas to what the opportunity was.”
Also making an Olympic return is Van Berkel, who describes the chance to compete in Paris as an honour, remarking, “My whole aspiration and goal of volleyball was to represent Canada at the Olympics.”
“I will always remember the first time I got my first Canada jersey, and seeing the flag and the last name, and connecting the two – it was such a special moment.”
At this summer’s Games, TWU alumni make up a quarter of Canada’s 12-member men’s volleyball team. “We still do a lot of reminiscing of the good old days playing for the Spartans,” shared Loeppky.
For Hofer, a Langley native, going to the Olympics is a dream come true.
A recent 2023 graduate of TWU who completed his degree in business administration, Hofer remembers growing up watching the Summer Games with his family and rooting for Canada together.
Brodie comes from a family of athletes, including his father Ryan Hofer, who is the head coach of TWU's women's volleyball team, and his mother Carol Hofer, who is a former head coach of TWU's women's volleyball team and currently a staff member at TWU.
Brodie thinks of how watching the Games with his family inspired him.
“When I was young, I knew I just wanted to play in the Olympics.”
As a volleyball player, Hofer’s mentors helped him to better envision the path before him.
“I give credit to the role models I had ahead of me,” he shared. “I think that's something that has always been important to me is being able to look at the people who were there before me and follow in their footsteps.”
Canada’s volleyball team will play against Slovenia on Sunday, July 28, in the men’s preliminary round.
TWU saw five Spartans alumni compete at the last Olympic games in Tokyo. This summer, TWU will once again see five alumni compete on the global stage wearing the maple leaf.
