WALSH JENNINGS ON WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A WORLD CHAMPION

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 4, 2019 – Kerri Walsh Jennings’ massive success in beach volleyball is unparalleled and her long list of achievements is sometimes hard to keep track of, but most beach volleyball fans know about her three consecutive Olympic gold medals and her three World Championship titles.


Kerri Walsh Jennings with Misty May-Treanor at the 2007 FIVB Volleyball World Championships

So we asked her to break it down for us on what it takes to be a beach volleyball world champion.

“Everything,” Walsh Jennings said. “It takes everything you have as an individual. It takes a lot of humility and love, patience and belief as a team. Above all, every time I’ve won a World Championship it is because all the physicality is being equal with the heart and the mind.

“Being ready to win and being comfortable, being ready to come back after giving up a couple of points and never feeling defeated. Champions know that better than any other, so belief is No.1.”

Walsh Jennings won her first World Championship title with Misty May-Treanor in 2003 and she was not aware of its impact at the time.

“In my first World Championship, I had no idea it was a World Championship,” she said. “I only thought it was a tournament, it was in Rio and it was a big one. The awareness grows as you keep playing the game and you understand the stakes.

“We all know how big this tournament is. It’s almost bigger than the Olympics because you compete against 47 other teams, but the growth is just maturity.

“The more reps you get on big games then the more comfortable you get with them, and then it becomes putting yourself into a position to get into the big game because you feel at ease. The hard work comes in the early rounds and once you get there, you just play, have fun and believe."


Walsh Jennings is competing with Brooke Sweat at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Port Dickson Beach Open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The American pair is playing in their first FIVB World Tour final together.

Source: fivb.org

WALSH JENNINGS ON WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A WORLD CHAMPION

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 4, 2019 – Kerri Walsh Jennings’ massive success in beach volleyball is unparalleled and her long list of achievements is sometimes hard to keep track of, but most beach volleyball fans know about her three consecutive Olympic gold medals and her three World Championship titles.


Kerri Walsh Jennings with Misty May-Treanor at the 2007 FIVB Volleyball World Championships

So we asked her to break it down for us on what it takes to be a beach volleyball world champion.

“Everything,” Walsh Jennings said. “It takes everything you have as an individual. It takes a lot of humility and love, patience and belief as a team. Above all, every time I’ve won a World Championship it is because all the physicality is being equal with the heart and the mind.

“Being ready to win and being comfortable, being ready to come back after giving up a couple of points and never feeling defeated. Champions know that better than any other, so belief is No.1.”

Walsh Jennings won her first World Championship title with Misty May-Treanor in 2003 and she was not aware of its impact at the time.

“In my first World Championship, I had no idea it was a World Championship,” she said. “I only thought it was a tournament, it was in Rio and it was a big one. The awareness grows as you keep playing the game and you understand the stakes.

“We all know how big this tournament is. It’s almost bigger than the Olympics because you compete against 47 other teams, but the growth is just maturity.

“The more reps you get on big games then the more comfortable you get with them, and then it becomes putting yourself into a position to get into the big game because you feel at ease. The hard work comes in the early rounds and once you get there, you just play, have fun and believe."

Walsh Jennings is competing with Brooke Sweat at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Port Dickson Beach Open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The American pair is playing in their first FIVB World Tour final together.

Source: fivb.org

MEN’S VNL, POOL 1: WAY TO GET GOING!

China's Jiang Chuan in action against Italy during last year’s VNL

Lausanne, Switzerland, May 4, 2019 – Pool 1 of the men’s 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League features the first match of the competition when Iran take on Italy at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gym at 16.00 local time in China on May 31. And what a way to get going in a pool where anything can happen, epitomizing the excitement that comes with a race between 16 of the best national teams in the world! 

Iran, Italy, Germany and hosts China will try to score their first points in the run towards the spots at the final six tournament in Chicago, playing against each other in one of the four pools of the first competition weekend from May 31 through June 2.

Interestingly, three of the four teams finished the 2018 preliminary round practically “holding hands” in the final standings. Italy finished eighth with eight wins, followed by Germany and Iran in ninth and tenth, respectively, with seven wins each. All of them missed out on advancing to the finals in Lille, but showed their potential to succeed in an intensive competition.

In the 2019 VNL, Italy will bet on their new generation of talented players and this is bound to make the race in Jiangmen even more interesting. Led by their multifunctional 22-year-old star setter Simone Giannelli, the young hopefuls of the southern European squad will do their best to prove they belong to the team, but the bar was set high by last year’s Italian side, which won all three of their first weekend matches in May 2018 – against Germany, Brazil and Serbia.

Upon announcing Germany’s roster for the 2019 VNL season, their Italian coach Andrea Gianni set an ambitious goal for the team. “We were close to the finals last year,” he said. “This year we want to take the next step and fight for a place in the final tournament in USA. We have a strong team made up of experienced players and young athletes.” With players like captain Christian Fromm, who was among the top five spikers in the 2018 preliminary round, opposite Simon Hirsch, the sixth best scorer, and multi-talented Jan Zimmermann, the best server and the sixth best setter, on the squad, Giani has all the reasons to be confident the team will avoid a start similar to the three defeats in the first weekend of last year’s competition.

Source: fivb.org

ALISON AND ALVARO FILHO FINISH TOP OF THE PODIUM IN KUALA LUMPUR

Brazil's Alison and Alvaro Filho celebrate gold medal win at Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 4, 2019 – Brazil’s Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Filho completed their mission on Saturday to secure the top podium spot of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Port Dickson Beach Open with a straight-set win against the United States’ Theodore Brunner and William Reid Priddy.



Brunner and Priddy outplayed Alison and Alvaro Filho and had the advantage towards the end of the set, but the Brazilian pair battled hard and succeeded to get the deadlock. The South American side got the final break to snatch the set 24-22 from Alison’s block and service winner.

The Brazilians scored at will to gain advantage in the second set but the USA side played good defence midway through the set until Alison found his touch and scored on two attacks, setting up Alvaro Filho to score the championship point at 21-18.

“We wanted to win this match badly,” Alvaro Filho said. “USA played great in the first set but we never gave up in each moment we played in that set. We fought hard for each point and then focused harder on the next play.”

The Kuala Lumpur 3-star event is Alison and Alvaro Filho’s second World Tour tournament after competing last week in Xiamen, China, and also their first gold medal together.


After losing the semifinal to their compatriots Brunner and Priddy, John Hyden and Ryan Doherty unleashed a powerful brand of offence and defence to gain a straight-set (21-17, 21-7) win for the bronze medal against Germany’s Alexander Walkenhorst and Sven Winter.

“We knew it was going to be a tough match,” Hyden said. “ All four players went through a lot this weekend in the heat. I think both teams went after the big guy knowing that they’re going to run up and block and do everything. My big guy (Doherty) served well and touched the balls and we just did better than our opponents.”

“We played hard because we knew that it was going be a grind the entire time,” Doherty said. “We battled back from a tough loss in the semifinal and that showed that our team has a lot of grit and a lot of determination.”

Source: fivb.org

HERMANNOVA AND SLUKOVA CLINCH GOLD AT KUALA LUMPUR IN TIEBREAKER

Czech Republic's Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova bring home the Kuala Lumpur 3-star gold

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 4, 2019 – The Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova made up for their opening set loss with a brilliant tie-break comeback to clinch the women’s gold medal of the FIVB Beach Volleyball Beach Volleyball World Tour Port Dickson Beach Open on Saturday.



The Czechs conceded the opening set to the Americans 26-24, after an extensive exchange of points that resulted to six deadlocks down the final stretch. The match continued with a heavy trade of points until the errors of the Americans and Slukova’s ace tied things up in favour of the Czech team 22-20. In the third set, Hermannova and Slukova put some pressure on the serve that helped them gain the final points for the golden finish 15-12.

“This was a tough game because there were so many long rallies,” Slukova said. “I think towards the end we just put in better serves and better defence that brought us the three-point lead.

“We had the chance to close it on the first set but I didn’t put down the point. In the end we just came out a little bit luckier.”

“Both teams fought for each point,” Hermannova added. “Kerri and Brooke are very experienced so we were just ready to fight hard. We knew this match would be tough but we pushed hard to reach our full potential.

“This was an awesome start for our season especially after not playing for eight months. This is an unbelievable success and I am very proud of it. We had great preparation for this tournament and we found a lot of potential to grow.”

Hermannova and Slukova have now claimed their second medal this season after capturing the silver medal last week in Xiamen, China. Sweat and Walsh Jennings, on the other hand, have earned their third medal this season after their bronze finishes earlier in Chetumal and Sydney.

In the bronze medal match, German pair Karla Borger and Julia Sude outlasted their young Spanis rivals Paula Soria and Maria Belen Carro in straight sets (23-21, 21-19).

“We showed some really good elements in our game,” Borger said. “We had some mistakes which was probably caused by the heat. For us it’s all about coming for our first medal together. So this is a new experience for us as partners. We had great teamwork. This was all about trusting and finding the right things to win.”

“This was a really tough until the end,” Sude said. “We are very happy because we wanted to win this medal so much. We were seeded No. 2 here so we had a little bit of pressure. As a team we did a very good job and this medal was a good reward after two weeks of play in Asia.”


Source:fivb.org