PEIA father-daughter duo — one coaching and one competing — found themselves facing off in beach volleyball action over the weekend at the 2025 Canada Games in St. John’s, N.L.Team P.E.I. beat Team Nunavut 2-0 in women’s beach volleyball in St. John’s on SundayRyan McKellop · CBC News · Posted: Aug 11, 2025 6:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours agoMadelyn Tomyn and her father, Rob Tomyn, are shown in a selfie taken by Rob. The two faced off at the 2025 Canada Games in St. John’s, with Madelyn playing for Team P.E.I. while her father coached and managed Team Nunavut. (Submitted by Rob Tomyn)A father-daughter duo — one coaching and one competing — found themselves facing off in beach volleyball action over the weekend at the 2025 Canada Games in St. John’s, N.L.Madelyn Tomyn is an indoor and beach volleyball player playing for Team P.E.I. at the games, having been introduced to the sport through her parents.Originally from the M’Chigeeng First Nation in Ontario, the young Ojibway woman was raised in Saskatchewan and is now an Island resident, playing for the Holland Hurricanes.”This is my first time playing beach volleyball competitively, but I’ve been playing indoor for a number of years at this point,” she said on the weekend during an interview with CBC St. John’s. Weekend AMOne family volleys their way across the countryRob and Madelyn Tomyn tell us about their connections to volleyball, the Canada Games, and several parts of Canada She isn’t the only person in her family interested in volleyball, by a long shot. Her father Rob Tomyn coaches the Nunavut men’s indoor and beach volleyball teams and her aunt is the coach for the Nunavut women’s team.That fact led to some friendly rivalry at the Canada Games over the weekend. Team P.E.I. prevailed against Nunavut in two beach volleyball sets on Sunday, and also won 2-1 against Team Northwest Territories.Team P.E.I. won 2 straight sets against Team Nunavut in beach volleyball competition Sunday at the 2025 Canada Summer Games. (Volleyball P.E.I./Facebook)Madelyn said while there may be mixed feelings about who her family will root for, she has been getting support from many people along the way.”I got my dad, obviously, and then my mom and little sister, and my aunt and my cousin are all there to support me,” she said.”They’re already cheering for me through my text messages when I tell them I’m finishing practice and onto another practice, so I think I got a pretty good camp.”Rob Tomyn acknowledged that unlike P.E.I., Nunavut is not known for warm beaches. Their team also faced challenges with the weather in Halifax during training leading up to the games, which is where CBC reached him for an interview before the competition began.”That’s our biggest transition, is managing the heat,” he said. “The first few days of training here was easily in the 30s.”But he added that team members have been working hard and really looking after their hydration, nutrition and sleep.”We’ve coped incredibly well [in] this heat that we’re experiencing, so anything St. John’s has to offer for us in terms of weather, we are ready for that.”ABOUT THE AUTHORRyan McKellop is a graduate of the Holland College Journalism program and a web writer at CBC P.E.I.With files from Weekend AM
P.E.I. beach volleyball player notches a win against dad’s team at 2025 Canada Games
