FIVB World Championship 2017

Saturday 19 August 2017

Impressions from the 2017 Beachvolleyball World Championships

Hi, people out there on the courts,
it's now a week that we're back from Vienna, where we assisted to the Beachvolleyball World Championships, and it's time to give you our impressions. Under a ruthless sun that gave us a hot week with temperatures up to 37, 38 degree celsius, we saw a lot of fascinating games. In comparison to the last games I saw on this level, 4 years ago in Poland, the game has got more spectacular and fast than ever. 4 years ago, we had a first impression of the impact of the more permissive approach to the pass technique. Indeed, the dutch team Brouwer / Meeuwsen getting world champion in 2013, was very much due to the faster passes this team played. And now, 4 years later, it's very usual to see very fast passes at a distance of 6 meters as we know from indoor volleyball, as well as passes behind the back or passes with both feets in the air. This, at least in the men's category, but you can also notice a big change in the women's category, where you used to see a lot of digging passes, that now have quite disappeared. And a team like Ludwig / Walkenhorst, who are physically very strong, also use a lot of passes in the back. The result is a beachvolleyball that never has been faster, what gives some spectacular action and need faster and more responsive players in defense as well in the block. And of course, the classic lessons of beachvolleyball have to be rewritten. Difficult change for old school - players like me :-) and a big challenge to raise.
In the women's category, the women team Ludwig / Walkenhorst of Germany confirmed their exceptional playing level with the worldchampion title after the olympic gold medal in Rio last year, by beating the US-Team Ross / Fendrick in the finals by 2-1. Brazilian team Larissa / Talita, which are still well in the business, finally won the bronze medal against a very strong canadian team Pavan / Humana-Paredes, which you should watch out in the future.