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Langley duo going their separate ways — happily

After seven years as teammates in both basketball and volleyball, Walnut Grove’s Brett Christensen and Andrew Goertzen will suit up for separate teams
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Walnut Grove’s Brett Christensen drives to the hoop in the BC 4A senior boys provincial championship final back in March. Christensen is playing for the Vancouver Island University Mariners in the fall. Gary Ahuja Langley Times file photo

Things will be different next year for Andrew Goertzen and Brett Christensen.

No longer will the pair see each other in the hallways at Walnut Grove Secondary or on the practice court, whether it be for basketball or volleyball.

After seven years as teammates on various teams for both sports, the pair are going their separate ways.

This is not a divorce, just the reality countless high school students face as they embark on the next chapters of their respective lives.

“It will be a change,” admitted Goertzen.

“It definitely will be weird not to be in the hallways of Walnut Grove with each other,” added Christensen.

Both students are standout dual sport stars, excelling on both the basketball and volleyball courts.

They even had the opportunity to continue as teammates and classmates, receiving offers to the same school if they chose to stick with volleyball.

But hoops won out and while both are going to Vancouver Island, the pair are ultimately heading their separate ways.

Goertzen, a six-foot-eight forward, has accepted an offer to play in Victoria with the UVic Vikes at the U Sports level, while Christensen, a six-foot-five forward, is going to Nanaimo and the Vancouver Island University Mariners. The Mariners play in the PacWest conference.

Next year will mark the end of a lengthy run of playing with or against one another.

It began in Grade 4 when they both signed up for the North Langley Steve Nash Youth Basketball League.

Two years later, they became teammates for the first time when they tried out and made a Metro league team.

“We were the only two Grade 6s on the team and that is where our friendship started,” Christensen said. “We just stuck together and from there, it took off.”

“And the rest is just history,” Goertzen chimed in.

The pair had attended different elementary schools, but soon found themselves as classmates when they entered high school at Walnut Grove.

And for the next five years, they were Gators teammates in both basketball and volleyball, as well as on club volleyball teams and spring league basketball. They even spent one summer on a Basketball BC provincial team.

Is it possible to spend too much time with one person?

“Sometimes we clash — we are both extroverted, competitive individuals,” Goertzen said.

“But we have never been sick of each other,” Christensen added.

Playing two sports — especially at an elite level — can be a challenge, especially when you factor in needing time for homework, etc.

But both players espoused the benefits of being two sport stars.

Christensen said the skills from volleyball translate well for basketball, especially jumping at the net as a blocker in volleyball, which is useful for rebounding in basketball.

And Goertzen said being on so many teams exposed them to different coaching methods and allowed them to meet new teammates.

“Just (with) the variety of coaches and teammates we have had, we have learned to work with different types of people and learn to play with different types of teammates, so it has been really good,” Goertzen said.

They head their separate ways at the pinnacle of their sports.

In March, they helped Walnut Grove win the BC 4A senior boys high school provincial basketball title, with Goertzen earning second team all-star honours.

Last month, the pair were part of the Fraser Valley Volleyball Club’s victory at the BC U18 club provincial volleyball championships.

The team is in Saskatoon this weekend for the Canadian national championships.

Both championships required their teams to get over respective roadblocks.

With volleyball, it has been another Langley club team, Force, which stood in their way.

Force had beaten FVVC more than 20 consecutive times as the two squads progressed throughout the year.

Finally in April, FVVC broke through and beat Force, first in pool play, and then with the gold medal on the line.

In basketball, the pair have been part of a dominant Walnut Grove program.

”That was our fourth straight provincial semifinal and that was the first one we won together,” Goertzen said.

“All that hard work has paid off,” Christensen said.

They also helped the Walnut Grove volleyball squad to a top 10 finish earlier this year. The Gators were sixth at the 2016 3A provincial championships, with Christensen this time earning the second team all-star award.

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Walnut Grove’s Andrew Goertzen comes through with one of his four blocks, denying Kelowna’s Mason Bourcier during the championship final back in March. Goertzen was named a second team all-star at the tournament as Walnut Grove won the championship. Gary Ahuja Langley Times file photo
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After seven years as teammates — including the past five in volleyball and basketball at Walnut Grove Secondary — Brett Christensen (left) and Andrew Goertzen will head their separate ways in the fall. Both will play basketball, with Christensen suiting up for the Vancouver Island University Mariners and Goertzen with the UVic Vikes. Gary Ahuja Langley Times