Alberta fans cheering on men's beach volleyball duo

From a backyard court in Red Deer to a world-famous beach in Rio de Janeiro, Chaim Schalk has been working toward his Olympic beach volleyball dream for years.

Which makes it that much more fun for his aunt Jeanette Schalk to watch.

"It's amazing! We are so proud of him, he's worked so hard for this," Schalk said Wednesday. "He's planned for this for years, so to see him finally there is amazing. We are so proud. It's just so overwhelming to see how great he is doing."

Schalk and his playing partner, Calgary native Ben Saxton, are representing Canada in men's beach volleyball at the Rio Olympics. They're one of two men's pairs; the others are Josh Binstock and Sam Schachter.

Schalk and Saxton have played twice so far and face their third contest at 8 a.m. Thursday against Cubans Nivaldo Diaz and Sergio Gonzalez.

In their first game Sunday against top-ranked Latvia, they lost two sets to one. They rebounded with a win against Brazil on Tuesday, despite booing from the home crowd.

• Saxton and Schalk fall short against Latvia in men's beach volleyball

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Jeanette Schalk says that match was a tough one to watch.

"They just persevered, and right at the end they made that great block, and Ben hit that ace and we won, and it was crazy."

She says the whole family has been watching and cheering the team along.

"Our daughter is a huge fan of Chaim, because she played volleyball. They've had a really great relationship, and Chaim has given her a jersey and she wears it every time he plays."

"So for her to watch her cousin playing at the Olympics, it's amazing."

Chaim Schalk spent two years playing for Red Deer College, before moving on to Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C.

Red Deer College volleyball coach Aaron Schulha said he's also been watching anxiously.

"Two of my current assistant coaches on our team now played with Chaim at RDC, so we're firing text messages back and forth as the games are going on."

Schulha also coached Saxton when he played for the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

Schulha also played with Schalk's older brother, as all four Schalk boys played indoor volleyball for Trinity Western.

The university has produced three players on Canada's current Olympic men's indoor volleyball team, and Schalk, who later moved to beach volleyball.

Canadians 'nothing to sneeze at'

"The volleyball players that make it from a beach volleyball perspective are few and far between," said Schulha. "So it's pretty cool that they are from Alberta, and paired together, and doing so well."

Schulha hopes the success of both of Canada's teams on the court will show the world that Canada has some skills on the beach.

"Canadian beach volleyball isn't that well known. But we have two really strong teams, two men, two women there that I think are showing other countries, and the world that we are nothing to sneeze at, and these guys should be taken seriously."