Review of 2024 on the beach

As well as landmark tournament successes for Javier and Joaquin Bello (read more here) and Freddie Bialokoz and Issa Batrane (read more here), it was also a big summer on the sand from an event-hosting perspective. 

In June, Bridlington was blessed with glorious weather for its staging of the the NEVZA Youth Beach Championships 2024. 

This tournament was the first time since 2018 that England had hosted a NEVZA event and the first time since 2016 it had hosted one on the beach. 

Staged in association with Skyball Beach Volleyball Club, and with support from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, the tournament was well received by those countries who sent teams to participate. 

Each of the 115 matches contested were streamed live on the Volleyball England YouTube channel. 

The action itself saw England reach all four of the finals - at U18 and U20 level in both boys and girls sections. 

 

 

Victories came in the U18 girls – for Alice Jagielska and Molly Quinn and U18 boys – for Bailey Harsum and Lewis Bunton – underlining both pairs as ones to watch in the future. 

Norway were triumphant in the two U20 finals with Anja Ermino and Maia Darling and Rob Morgan and Peter Soczewka the English runners-up. 

Another big moment for English Volleyball came in September, with the staging of the Queen & King of the Court London Showcase in the heart of the financial district at Canada Square Park, Canary Wharf.  

Five British pairs in both the women’s and men’s sections were joined by some of the best players in the world for a feast of high-octane action in a format that has become hugely popular over the last few years. 

The women’s tournament was won by Emilie Olimstad and Ingrid Lunde of Norway, while the men’s title was claimed by Americans Hagen Smith and Logan Webber, who had an inspired final round to beat the Bello brothers into second place. 

Healthy crowds attended both the Friday night and Saturday daytime matches, making for a terrific atmosphere enjoyed by all. 

The Nations Cup qualifiers took place in May, with the women travelling to Madrid, Spain to compete, while the men were in Hamburg, Germany. 

 

 

The women’s team, comprising of Katie Keefe and Anaya Evans and Daisy Mumby and Kirsty Starr, beat Israel and Bulgaria but lost to Spain and Norway, who went on to contest the pool final. 

The Bello brothers and Bialokoz and Batrane pulled on the red and white for the men, who defeated Slovenia and Moldova in their pool, but succumbed to Estonia and Germany. 

Pick of the performances in the age group European Beach Championships came from Harsum and Bunton, who became England’s first boys’ team since the Bellos in 2017 to reach the quarter-finals at U18 level. 

Competing in Kachreti, Georgia in July, the pair were eventually beaten by France’s Louis and Duval in a third set tie breaker. 

On the girls’ side, Quinn and Jagielska fought hard to reach the last 16 stage before they lost out to Witjes and Eekhof of the Netherlands. 

On the Beach Pro Tour, the year began with some encouraging performances from Mumby and Starr in the Futures event in Coolangatta, Australia where they made it through to the round of 12, having earlier taken eventual winners Fejes and Mulitinovic to three sets in the pool stages. 

Also in March, the Bellos claimed third place in a Challenger event in Nuvali (read more here) as they made a late bid for an Olympics spot. 

In June, Evans and Keefe earned an excellent fifth place, losing to number one seeds Orsi Toth and Bianchi of Italy in the quarter-finals. 

And in August it was the turn of Bialokoz and Batrane to come to the fore with their maiden BPT victory in Halifax, followed by a third-place finish in Warsaw a week later (read more here). 

Enrique Bello alongside his partner Josue Seekings had a busy year taking part in numerous BPT Futures events finishing fifth in three of them (Italy, China and Switzerland).

Enrique also got to play against his brothers in the Queen and King of the Court Showcase in London narrowly missing out in the semi-finals with Seekings.

 

 

There was a flurry of activity to end the year, not least with the Bellos’ incredible success in Rio and Nuvali, and subsequent wildcard appearance at the Tour Finals in Doha. 

It also saw Evans and Keefe compete in the final Futures event of the season at Pompano Beach in the USA, where they reached the last eight before losing 18-16 in a third set tie breaker against Belgium’s Piert and Coens. 

The excitement is set to continue over the next 12 months with the recent announcement that Bridlington is to host Youth and Senior NEVZA Beach events, not to mention the possibility of other exciting tournaments in the pipeline. 

England’s top players, too, will hope to encounter more success as teams at all levels bid to continue their improvements. 

2025 is going to be another busy one! 

Images courtesy of Beach Volleyball World/VBTV, Jon Cornish and Nina Erminio.

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