Meet Brandie Wilkerson: Sponsored Klean Team Athlete and Professional Beach Volleyball Athlete

Well hello there! My name is Brandie Wilkerson and I am a professional beach volleyball athlete competing for Team Canada on the FIVB International Tour. As the world’s number-one ranked team in the world, my teammate and fellow Sponsored Klean Team Athlete, Heather Bansley and I are on route to represent Canada at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Until that time, Heather and I will continue to travel around the globe, competing at some of the most beautiful beaches against the best teams in the world – and love every minute of it.

My career in beach volleyball started after watching the Canadian beach volleyball teams compete at the 2012 London Olympics. I was watching at home with some friends that knew the athletes, and from their admiration, I became completely inspired to be one of those athletes representing Canada on that Olympic stage. Shortly thereafter, I started my beach volleyball career, transitioning from varsity indoor volleyball at York University to beach internationally by 2013. Needless to say, it has been a steep learning curve to get me where I am today. One of the biggest turning points for my career was the opportunity to go as part of alternate team/training partners for the Rio 2016 Olympics, working closely with the women and men that were representing Canada at the Games. I learned a lot about what it takes to be the best in the world and the grandeur of the Olympic Games, and realized my goal was attainable in a way I could never conceptualize before. With that being said, I continued to work hard to position myself to play with the best so that I could one day have my moment. Today, I am so grateful to have the player I’ve looked up to for so long stand next to me day by day as we battle to the top.

This ongoing journey has not only taken a lot of handwork and self-motivation, but even more crucial and foundational has been keeping my body healthy and strong in order to reach my highest potential. I believe that, most especially in beach volleyball, having a healthy relationship with your body allows you to preform at your best. We play a sport without any extra equipment or layers; we are barefoot in the sand and exposed to all different conditions, completely vulnerable in our uniforms in a way that connects us to our bodies and everything we demand of them. This should not be mistaken as unfavourable; instead, I choose to take these facts as a positive and strengthening component to the game. When you are in your best shape mentally and physically, there is no challenge you can’t handle. This is why having a healthy and active lifestyle – from the exercises you perform to the food you eat and the supplements you take – is so important. In addition, as a vegetarian, my choice to live meat-free makes it fundamentally tough to ensure that as a high-level athlete, I’m getting all the proper vitamins  and proteins I need. Having Klean products integrated in my daily routine has given me the peace of mind that I can continue to live my environmental beliefs and still ensure that all gaps are being filled. Even more importantly, these products are simple, clean, effective, and NSF-certified, which gives me all the confidence to continue to use them and encourage fellow athletes to do so as well. Our bodies do so much for us, and to tend and cherish the relationship we have with them through food, supplements and exercise is a beautiful thing.

You can follow Brandie on
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wilkersonbrandie/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrandieWilks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bvuilleumier/