Pitman hopes for growing competition ahead of national beach selections

The CEV European U18 Beach Championships, which concluded at the weekend, brings an end to a busy time for the age groups squads out on the sand, with the U20 and U22 teams also having been in action since the middle of August. 

While results have varied from team to team and age group to age group, Pitman has seen some encouraging signs from those players who have represented the flag of St George. 

Now he hopes that, with the help of the new indoor Beach Centre in Birmingham, more and more young players can push themselves into contention and collectively raise the standard as teams bid to earn the right to be on national teams.  

“What we want to see is teams competing with each other and younger athletes coming through to push those who have represented England before,” said Pitman. 

“We have seen that by the time you get to U22 level then it’s physically very tough because a lot of the players at that age in other countries are already playing in BPT Futures and Challenge events. 

“That’s where our aspirations have to be in the longer term. We want to see continued growth so that there are a number of teams trying to be the ones to go to the Europeans. 

“The good thing is that the NEVZA tournament we have had the past couple of years gives you a chance to help with that development because we have been able to put in a number of teams and they have gotten a feel for pulling on the national vest, which is important. 

“With the new indoor centre at BCU on its way, as well as new beach projects at Ealing and in Leeds, we want to increase the number of players who can step up.” 

In the Euro U18 event in Corigliano Rossano, Italy at the weekend, Lewis Bunton and Luca Robinson lost to the eventual finalists from Ukraine in the pool stages, but beat teams from the Netherlands and Azerbaijan. 

They then fought back to beat Israel 2-1 in the Last 24, before bowing out to the eventual bronze medallists from Italy and losing their placement match against the Latvian second seeds. 

“I thought they gave a really good account of themselves and if they had clinched the set point in the first set of their match against Italy, then who knows what might have happened,” said Pitman. 

“They came across some really good teams, but competed well and secured an excellent comeback win against the Netherlands. 

“I think it is a reward for their hard work they have put into their preparations, both competing at NEVZA and then going out and competing well in the UK Beach Tour. 

“They have been playing consistently at a high level and that showed when they came to play in this competition.” 

In the women’s section, the new paring of Molly Webb and Tilly Hutton had a difficult draw and found life tough against Austria, Latvia and Poland before being edged out by Irsael in their placement match. 

But Pitman saw improvement from the pair as their matches went on and believes they showed promise for the future. 

He said: “It was not Molly’s first time (in a Europeans), but it was for Tilly and I think she will have taken a lot from it. 

“There were a lot of nerves for the first match in windy conditions, but I thought they got better and better as the tournament went on. 

“It was a shame they couldn’t quite finish with win, but for a new partnership there were some promising signs. 

“I hope they can play more together and there are other players, such as Robyn (Clifford, who played with Hutton at NEVZA) who are also in the mix.” 

The U20 Euros event was played in Madrid, Spain at the end of August and saw Stuart Perry and Theo Plaza as England’s only representatives. 

They made it out of the pool stages with victory over Slovakia after defeats to Germany and Hungary. 

In the Round of 24, Perry and Plaza lost to the Finnish pair, who made it to the final where they played Denmark, in a re-run of the NEVZA final in Bridlington. 

“Stuart and Theo did well to get out of what was a tough pool, and I think that was what they were aiming for when they started out,” said Pitman. 

“They then came across a strong pair in Finland who showed how good they were at the NEVZA tournament and again while they were in Spain. 

“They put in some good performances and I think they will be relatively happy with what they produced in a competition where the standard was high.” 

The U22 Euros was played in Baden, Austria, and saw Tom Lycett and George Ruddick play for England. 

They were beaten in their three pool matches by strong teams from Austria and Switzerland, as well as Greece, before losing their placement match against Scotland. 

Pitman said: “The Austrian pair Stuart and George played have played at Elite 16 level and the Swiss were strong too, so they were up against it in those matches. 

“They will probably be a little disappointed in themselves that they did not play with the same kind of freedom as they did against those strong nations when they came up against those they could better compete with. 

It is sometimes difficult to get the chemistry of a partnership going in tournament situations, but hopefully they will learn from the experience.”

Action images by Tonio Carnevale

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