The second annual Beach Volleyball Festival competition – held recently in Bray, Co Wicklow – was dominated by visitors, with non-Irish players appearing in all the major tournament finals.
The men’s section of the Coca Cola-sponsored two-day event was won by Daniel Apanowicz and Slawomir Wresniak from Gdansk in northern Poland, who dispatched Jonathan Whitty and Odhran O’Braonain over three sets.
In the mixed tournament, victorious US pro pair David Fischer and Angela Lewis were crowned the king and queen of the beach, and in the women’s section final Leanne Dignam and her Czech partner Alena Dvorakova were only narrowly edged out by Irish pair Miriam Gormally and Doireann Counihan.
The first ever Inter-Cultural Cup also formed part of the Wicklow event, and organisers described it as “a huge success”. It was eventually won by Team Babel, comprised of Eastern European and Irish players, in a three-set thriller on the Main Sand Arena.
The beach volleyball tournament has been going from strength to strength since its birth last year as a one-day event and it now a fully-fledged weekend festival, with much of the action being televised.
The contest is now drawing pro and semi-pro volleyball stars from the sport’s superpower, the US, and Kathleen Madden, Kirsten Olsen, David Fischer and Jack Quinn all took to the sand this year.
The growth of the sport has not been restricted to Wicklow – Waterford is now being lined up as a second centre for the game’s development in Ireland. An event was held on the county’s Tramore Beach in June, and volleyball clinics are now operating across the county.
The sport has been singled out as one well placed to help integration in Ireland, and Volleyball Ireland, the Water-ford Sports Partnership and officials from the National Action Plan Against Racism (NPAR) are aiming to “establish Volleyball as a leisure activity for migrant workers and also for Irish nationals throughout Waterford”.
Anyone interested in getting involved can contact Ciara Buckley from Volleyball Ireland at 086 817 3990.
