Taylor Mackenzie Wilson ( Pischke; born April 18, 1993) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player. She has won seven Canadian national titles (four indoor volleyball and three beach volleyball), including the women's volleyball championship in 2014.

Personal life

Wilson (then Pischke) was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, Canada, to Garth Pischke, a two-time Olympian with

Canada men's national volleyball team The Canada men's national volleyball team represents Canada in international volleyball competitions. They are overseen by Volleyball Canada, the governing body for volleyball in Canada. The team placed fourth place at the 1984 Olympic Games i ...

, and a former coach of the

Manitoba Bisons The Manitoba Bisons are the athletic teams that represent the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The football team plays at Princess Auto Stadium, the soccer team plays at the outdoor soccer field on campus, track and field te ...

men's team, and mother Cindy Shepherd, a Canadian Junior National team athlete and three-time

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences: Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Résea ...

National Champion. Wilson first competed in

rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop (rhythmic gymnastics), hoop, ball (rhythmic gymnastics), ball, Clubs (rhythmic gymnastics), clubs, ribbon (rhythmic gymnastics), ...

at the national level before taking up her parents' sport at the age of 14. She attended high school at Fort Richmond Collegiate. She is married to the professional ice hockey player Tom Wilson.

University career

Wilson played

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

volleyball for the

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing the University of California, Santa Barbara. Referred to in athletic competition as ''UC Santa Barbara'' or ''UCSB'', the Gauchos participate in 19 NCAA Division I i ...

in the 2011–12 season. Her departure from

UCSB The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joine ...

, after one semester on the indoor team, occurred because there was no opportunity to play beach volleyball during the second semester when the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

sand program at UCSB did not become a collegiate sport. Wilson was on a double scholarship at UCSB to play on their indoor and beach volleyball teams. She then joined the

in time for the 2012–13 season where she finished sixth in the

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

conference in kills per set and sixth in points per set. In the following season, she was named a Canada West Second-Team All-Star as she finished fifth in kills and points per game. That year, the Bisons lost the conference championship to the

UBC Thunderbirds The UBC Thunderbirds are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia. In Canadian intercollegiate competition, the Thunderbirds are the most successful athletic program both regionally in the Canada West Universities Athl ...

, but by finishing second, the team qualified for the 2014 CIS women's volleyball championship. The Bisons defeated the

Ottawa Gee-Gees The Ottawa Gee-Gees () are the athletic teams that represent the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario. The Gee-Gees won the national football championship, the Vanier Cup, in 1975 and 2000, while also appearing in the game in the 1970, 1980 ...

Dalhousie Tigers The Dalhousie Tigers are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Tigers field 14 varsity teams with seven men's teams and seven women's teams that primarily compete in the Atla ...

, and finally the first-seeded UBC Thunderbirds to claim the national championship as Wilson was also named to the Championship All-Star Team. Wilson has been the recipient of many academic awards at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

including Sport Manitoba's prestigious Princess Royal Pan Am Scholarships and

Milt Stegall Milton Eugene Stegall (born January 25, 1970) is a former professional gridiron football player who played 17 years of professional football, three years in the National Football League (NFL) with the Cincinnati Bengals and 14 years in the Cana ...

Scholarship for community service, athletics, and a cumulative GPA above 4.0. Twice she was named Manitoba's Junior Female Athlete of the Year in 2012 and 2013 and a finalist for Female Athlete of the Year in 2013 and 2014.

2012-16: Original team

Wilson played on Team Canada's

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

squad with

Melissa Humana-Paredes Melissa Humaña-Paredes (born October 10, 1992) is a Canadian beach volleyball player currently partnered with Brandie Wilkerson. The pair represented Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal. Humaña-Paredes previously compet ...

of Toronto from 2012 to 2016. John Child, who competed in three Olympic Games and won a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games, was the team's coach. Along with Humana-Paredes, Wilson won two

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

s at the under 23

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

(2013 and 2014), and seven medals (3 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze) at the

NORCECA The North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) is the international governing body for the sports of volleyball in Northern America, Central America, and the Caribbean. NORCECA is the continental confederation that r ...

Beach Volleyball Circuit between 2013 and 2015. Both reached the semi-finals at the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

in Toronto and the

2013 Summer Universiade The 2013 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade (; ), was held in the city of Kazan, Russia, the most northerly city ever to host a Summer Universiade. Over 10,400 university athletes from 162 countries participated ...

in Kazan, Russia. Wilson also appeared in Sportnet

Magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

's 2013 issue of "Beauty of Sport". and in 2016 was an advocate of the Dove Campaign "My Beauty My Say". In 2015 and 2016, Wilson competed on the FIVB World Tour in eleven Grand Slam and Open events, and in 2015 reached the round of 16 and a 9th-place finish at the

2015 Beach Volleyball World Championships The 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships were staged from 26 June to 5 July 2015 in The Hague, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Apeldoorn, Netherlands. The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships are organized every two years and Netherlands ...

. She competed (Aug 23–28, 2016) in her final event with partner Melissa, at the Long Beach, California Grand Slam before resuming studies at the University of Manitoba. Playing in Pool-A they lost to Maria Antonelli/Lili BRA (21-11, 23-21) and Ross/Walsh Jennings USA (21-16, 21-17) in straight sets. Playing against Carol/Ana Patrícia of BRA they won in straight sets (21-19, 26-24), placing them 3rd in Pool-A and advancing to the elimination round. The team finished 17th overall. This marked the culmination of 11 FIVB World Tour events that they played in 2016 where they finished top 10 in four events (Vitoria Open, Xiamen Open, Hamburg Major Series, and Olsztyn Grand Slam).

2017-19: Multiple partners

In January 2017, Wilson began playing with new partner, Kristina May, who was a member of the 2016 Canadian Olympic team playing with then-partner Jamie Broder. The pair made their debut at the opening stop of the 2017

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour (known between 2003 and 2012 as the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour for sponsorship reasons) was the worldwide professional beach volleyball tour for both men and women organized by the ' (Fédération ...

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

with a 25th-place finish. For the 2018 season, Wilson began competition with another partner, Jamie Broder. They competed together in several competitions together during the season, with their best showing in FIVB competition being a 9th-place finish at Fort Lauderdale. In 2019, Wilson teamed up with

Sophie Bukovec Sophie Bukovec (born September 22, 1995) is a Canadian volleyball athlete competing primarily in the beach discipline. Career Bukovec was paired up with Brandie Wilkerson and they would go on to win the silver medal at the 2022 World Championsh ...

for the entirety of the FIVB season. Together, Wilson and Bukovec had a season best 4th-place finish at the

Aydın Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar; Greek: Τράλλεις)'' is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of Büyük Menderes River (ancient ...

tournament in mid-May, followed shortly thereafter with a 5th-place finish at the Bayden event just under a month later.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Taylor 1993 births Living people Canadian women's beach volleyball players Pan American Games competitors for Canada Beach volleyball players at the 2015 Pan American Games University of Manitoba alumni Manitoba Bisons volleyball players Volleyball players from Winnipeg UC Santa Barbara Gauchos women's volleyball players 21st-century Canadian sportswomen