04 Oct USA road to 2016 Olympics starts in June!
Seven US beach teams have qualified for this years 10th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships which will be help in 4 cities in the Netherlands this June. Next to the Olympics this is the largest global event for the sport of beach volleyball and taking on more importance this year as part of the Olympic qualifying process for Rio 2016.
USA Men’s teams heading to the Netherlands in June are:
No. 1 Phil Dalhausser/Sean Rosenthal
No. 8 Tri Bourne/John Hyden,
No. 13 Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson
No. 15 Theodore Brunner/Nick Lucena.
USA Women’s teams heading to the Netherlands in June are:
No. 2 April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings
No. 17 Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat
No. 20 Emily Day/Jen Kessy.
Commenting on pre-season conditioning and the drawing of lots for the FIVB World Championships, USA’s Dalhausser said, “With the weather and the multitude of beaches on Southern California, Team USA is able to stay pretty much at home for pre-season practice and actually work out with teams from several countries that pass through here before the start of the season. A lot of our pre-season prep work is done in a gym to physically work on a variety of things to build strength and stamina and we use practices on the sand to work on different aspects of play individually and as a team as well as working on keeping focus mentally.”
“We are really, really looking forward to the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships. Next to the Olympics, it is the biggest event for our sport globally. This year it takes on added importance as it is part of the Olympic qualifying process for Rio 2016. Monday’s draw will be interesting to see how it all shakes out and gives us time to actually know far ahead of time who we will be facing during our three pool play matches.”