First of all, it was great to see professional beach volleyball return to Australian Beaches this summer. All thanks to efforts of beach volleyball nutter (and obviously highly skilled event organiser) Arthur Klonis. The Renault Beach Volleyball was a spectacular success and probably one of the best tours Australia has seen. You can see all of the results on the Events page here.

The Danish team of Bo Soderberg and Anders Hoyer have taken honours in the final event in a close final (1-2 (18-21, 21-18, 13-15)) against the top ranked Australian team, veteran Josh Slack and Chris McHugh. Both teams are scheduled to start their World Tour season and Olympic qualification campaign in Brasilia later this month. It is interesting to note that Josh Slack is entered with Will Mercer, rather than Chris McHugh. Mercer is, to my mind, the most exciting player that we have seen on the Australian tour since Lee Zahner, so I am very much looking forward to seeing their results if the do indeed play together. The Aussie teams seem to return to the expected pairings at the next event in Poland, and Beach Training will be covering this event live (Yes, I’m going to Poland ), so you’ll be the first to know how they went!

In the women’s draw the team of Becchara Palmer and Louise Bawden won the final in an equally close three set match against Nat Cook and Tamsin Hinchley. These two teams were clearly the strongest on the circuit this year, but not by much. They were chased closely by two teams from Manly Beach, both of which made it through to the semi finals in every event this season. Alice Rohkamper and Mariafe Artacho are a great team. Both of them making up for a lack of height with incredible ball control, and the same can be said for Katie Bartoli and Sarah Battaglene. It will be very interesting to watch the results from of these teams this season, especially considering that the National (AIS) program seems to be uninterested in supporting either of these teams as serious contenders.

We have had similar organisations sprout up occasionally over the years, usually in the form of a Players Association, but in the past they have not achieved much.
As far as I can see, the big difference here is that the ABVC has a broader purpose than it’s predecessors in that it is concerned with the entire sport rather than just the players.

It is outlined in the attached document:ABVC.pdf

The ABVC’s primary purpose will be to represent Australian beach volleyball’s constituent interests. This will include but not be limited to players, coaches, event organisers, indoor sports centres, umpires, administrators and private enterprise within beach volleyball.

I will be very interested to see who is behind this group, but on the face of it, it looks like a step in the right direction for Australian beach Volleyball.
Check it out the discussion here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Australian-Beach-Volleyball-Commission/124163024324915

Mens VIC Beach Volleyball Open 2011 results

Womens VIC Beach Volleyball Open 2011 results

You can see some beautifully edited videos (nice job Raf) from of the semis and finals on the NBVA website.

Mens semi final 1 – NSW Open 2011

Womens finals – NSW Open 2011

Here are the mens results:

———– Mens Beach volleyball NSW Open 2011 ————-

Place	Team	Rating	Points
1	Boyd/Prosser [9]	AAAA	50
2	Riginelli/Bourne [5]	AAA	45
3	Schumann/Boland [6]	AAA	42
3	Turner/Soderberg [1]	AAA	42
5	Gulline/Carey [2]	AA	39
5	Crook/Lyne [7]	AA	39
7	Thomas/Zunker [3]	AA	37
7	Blackburn/Feuerrigal [4]	AA	37
9	Gillett/Maclean [8]	AA	35
9	De Oliveira/Taufa [13]	AA	35
9	Bol/Dahlmeier [11]	AA	35
9	Strom/Magnusson [10]	AA	35
13	Jelicic/Jones [17]	AA	31
13	Wilson/Evans [12]	AA	31
13	Laverne/Horsky [14]	AA	31
13	De Luna/Bentley[16]	AA	31
17	Strammer/Vismans [18]	A	27
17	Dumas/Trepanier [21]	A	27
17	Symonajc/Sawyer [20]	A	27
17	Kinch/Pallant [19]	A	27
17	Cauvier/De Faveri [22]	A	27
17	Klepp/Bartelheimer [23]	A	27
17	Morley/Reeves [15]	A	27

———– Womens Beach volleyball NSW Open 2011 ————-

So here it is, starting with the Womens South Australian Open for Beach Volleyball 2011

Mens South Australian Open Beach Volleyball Championships 2011

Place	Team	Rating	Points
1	McHugh/Slack	AAAA	50
2	Kapa/Boehm	AAA	45
3	Snart/Court	AAA	42
3	Fox/Van Winsen	AAA	42
5	Roth/Gulline	AA	39
5	Soderberg/Helman	AA	39
7	Mercer/Grice	AA	37
7	Durant/Borrett	AA	37
9	Crook/Lyne	AA	35
9	Frank/Jeroen	AA	35
9	Schumann/Boland	AA	35
9	Kingston/Linton	AA	35
13	Collings/Smooker	AA	31
13	Fury/Blackburn	AA	31
13	Moore/Moore	AA	31
13	Burns/Kinch	AA	31
17	Winter/Long	A	27
17	Bradley/Bawhey	A	27
17	Rankin/Nielsen	A	27
17	Hampton/Arnold	A	27
17	Warden/Faulkner	A	27
17	Rogers/Heyneman	A	27
17	Halliday/Anstey	A	27
17	Smith/Kurtzer	A	27
25	Smyth/Smyth	A	19
25	Rigo/Howie	A	19
25	Kennedy/McEwen	A	19
25	Adams/Adams	A	19
25	Coffee/Clewes	A	19
25	McKenzie/Moore	A	19
25	Meija/Granfield	A	19
25	Sibbons/Panno	A	19
33	Peacock/Rudd	B	11
33	Bonser/Blewett	B	11
33	Hentschke/Evans	B	11
33	McIntyre/Clough	B	11
33	De Wilde/Trimboli	B	11
33	Sibbons/Powell	B	11
33	Behrend/Roberts	B	11