2002 Season's Bests

2003 FIVB Beach Volleyball Calendar
A record year: World Championships, 4 Grand Slams, Prize Money min $5.3 million 

Pottharst-Cook win revenge match against Adriana-Shelda in Brazil
It took two years to organize, Olympic gold medallist Kerri Pottharst says, but she and partner Natalie Cook finally faced their old adversaries Brazilians Adriana Behar and Shelda Bruno Bede in a rematch of the 2000 Olympics final, this time in Niteroi, on the bay opposite Rio de Janeiro.
"We finally met after two years and the Brazilian press called it a "revenge" match," Kerri reported.
Kerri and Natalie flew in from Sydney for the match, hot from a victory on the first leg of the Australian National Beach Volleyball Tour. They spent the first three days getting over the 30-hour flight, resting and doing some light training to face the incredible heat and humidity of summer in Brazil.
"They had been setting the scene for the match all week, "Kerri reported from Australia. "We all did numerous TV interviews and the entire country was holding their breath waiting for the big revenge match."
Then before 4,000 spectators, they hit the sand to play the match that was brought live across Brazil by Globo TV. 
It was a blazing 42 degrees Celsius and the Australians had a sluggish start.
"We started very nervously in the first set and basically got "hammered" 13-21.
Back in our time out seats, Nat and I decided to relax more and just have
fun. Exactly what helped us to win back on the 25th of September 2000!
We came out pumped and took the second set 21:17," said Kerri.
The two Olympic champions found their rhythm and took a sweet 2-1 (13-21,21-17,15-13) victory to show that they are still in bristling form two years down the road.
"We were in front but you can never take for granted a lead in points on Adriana and Shelda," Kerri recalled. "True to form they fought tooth and nail before it looked like they may catch us at the end.
Meanwhile, the fans were going crazy, urging on the home team before Pottharst-Cook slammed home the winner.
"It was awesome to have been able to win the "Revenge Match" after waiting
for two years for this opportunity," Kerri said. "A lot of people said that our advantage in Sydney was the home crowd. So, now, after beating the great team of Adriana and Shelda on THEIR home ground in front of 1000's of their fans just proves that Natalie and I are still one of the strongest teams in the world and we are still getting better!" Pic: Remember this? Overcome with emotion, Pottharst and Cook collapse on the sand after winning the gold medal at Sydney 2000.

May and Walsh honored in New York
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Provisional Calendar announced for 2003
Lausanne, Switzerland, October 18, 2002 - The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Council and Permanent Committee have announced a provisional calendar of events for the 2003 World Tour season, with a total of 18 events and another 16 still under negotiation.
The 2003 season will be a landmark one for this new Olympic Discipline. Events from January 1, 2003 and up to July 11, 2004 count towards the Olympic Qualification process and a decision concerning the Olympic seeding system will be taken before the first event.
Major season's highlights include the Beach Volleyball World Championships on Copa Cabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a Grand Slam event in Los Angeles, USA.
"This will be a key season in the history of our sport's development looking forward to the Athens Olympics," said Angelo Squeo, FIVB Beach Volleyball Coordinator, adding that planned events in Greece would serve as valuable test events for the Olympics.
Events already provisionally scheduled are:
June 2003 (dates to be announced): Men's and women's events in Switzerland and Germany.
July 2003 (dates to be announced): Men's and women's events in Norway, men's event in Portugal, women's event in Greece.
August 2003 (dates to be announced): Men's and women's events in Japan, men's event in Poland and Greece; women's event in Indonesia
September 2003 (dates to be announced): Men's and women's event in USA
October 14-19, 2003: World Championship (men and women) in Brazil.
Other events under negotiation are in Australia, Austria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal (women's event), Sweden and Spain.
In other business, the FIVB offered their support to the delegation from Indonesia in the face of the recent terrorist attack and confirmed that they would stand by the event scheduled in that country for the 2003 season.
Another landmark decision by the World Council was to allow women who chose to take maternity leave from their professional sport the possibility of retaining 75% of their points earned within one year of the birth of their baby, and 50% of the points earned within two years of the birth of their baby. FIVB Beach Volleyball players pay equal prize money for men and women in their official competitions.

Marcio Araujo-Benjamin take
last gold medal of the season

Baracetti-Conde take the
2002 FIVB World Ranking title

2002 Women's Season Wrap Up (cont.)

Walsh and May led the way with five titles but Holly McPeak-Elaine Youngs captured four gold medals this season, while Adriana Behar-Shelda Bruno Bede of Brazil won twice.
But it was Walsh and May that provided the thrills with their record-breaking winning streak, playing their first complete World Tour as a team. Their worst event was a ninth finish and altogether they finished their 2002 campaign with 32 straight pool play wins, dropping only their first preliminary match of the season in June's event at Madrid, Spain.
But despite their focus on the international tour and their eyes on the Olympic gold at Athens 2004, Walsh-May still say that their play will improve even more for the coming years. "I think we still can improve everything and we certainly will," said Walsh. "But we are very happy and satisfied winning the trophy this year, we have reached our goal"," continued May.
Compatriots Holly McPeak-Elaine Youngs were close behind, finishing fourth in the World Ranking after taking part in only eight tournaments and winning 80 of 86 matches this season with eight titles. "I think Kerri and Misty and Elaine and me have been the most consistent teams this year. So it will be an interesting and tough season for everybody next year," said McPeak.
The number one Brazilian team, Adriana Behar-Shelda Bruno Bede stumbled on occasions and finished in second place for the first time since 1997. The dynamic duo were silver medallists at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and twice World Champions (1999 and 2001) and have won the season title the past five seasons.
"It was a tough season and we are still among the top teams and it's not over, next year we will be back to get the title again, " said the still determined Shelda.

Ranks comparison of the Top 3 teams over 2002

            Adriana Behar-Shelda  Walsh-May  Pottharst-Cook

Shelda and Adriana Behar played their first tournament together in November 1995, where they finished seventh. Since then they have played in 63 tournaments on the FIVB World Tour, winning 27, and placing first, second or third in an incredible 80 percent of World Tour events, a record for both men and women. The rumors that the team may split after some personal troubles this year, were laid to rest by their long-term coach Leticia, "That's impossible," she said.
Looking at other Brazilian teams, success-spoilt Sandra Pires had a tough season. Her new partner Leila Barros, a former indoor player, was playing her first beach season. The team finally finished in seventh position in the World Ranking leaving the question open if the twosome will stay together for next year. Compatriot Ana Paula delivered an amazing comeback after her one year baby break together with new partner Tatiana Minello. The team won two silver and two Bronze medals to rank fifth in the end. "We reached our goal finishing among the top five teams this year. So the goal for the next year is top three," said a visibly satisfied Ana Paula.
Australian Olympic Champions from Sydney 2000, Natalie Cook-Kerri Pottharst, have advanced to seven "final fours" in 10 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour events this season with six podium places. But the two Australians failed to capture a gold medal in two finals where they dropped title matches to McPeak-Youngs in Norway and Greece. For the Aussies the 2002 season ended ranked number three in the World, which is their best World Tour ranking ever, but still not quite what the team expected at the start of the season. "I guess we have to be happy with the season's result, although it's not quite what we wanted. So we set the goal to win the World title for next year again," said Pottharst. When asked if they intended to defend their Olympic Gold Medal in Athens 2004 they quickly answered "Absolutely".
The newcomers of this season were certainly the European teams headed by Dutch pair Marrit Leenstra-Rebekka Kadijik. The 'Oranjes' earned two fourth places in Japan and Greece, beating top teams like Walsh-May and Cook-Pottharst and finally ranked third. "We are very satisfied and happy with our results this year. I think that the hard training over the winter finally earned us those results," said Leenstra. Also Swiss pair Nicole Benoit-Simone Kuhn made an impressive advancement in the rankings from last year's 62nd place to number 19 this year. And finally Germans Stefanie Pohl-Okka Rau and Italian 2002 European Champions Lucilla Perrotta-Daniela Gattelli are among the teams to watch in the upcoming season, both teams finished in the top ten of the final World Ranking.
The 2002 season was not only the first season to break the Brazilian dominance but also one of changes in the rules and regulations of the game. The Rally Point System was introduced, the size of the courts was reduced to 8x16 meters and the pool play system replaced the double elimination format. There were some initial doubts, especially among the players, about the pool play format, but it finally worked out well. "The pool play system makes it much easier to schedule matches and know who plays against whom, and above all it demands from the top teams that they play well right from the start - as every match can be decisive, " explains Hinnerk Femerling, FIVB Technical Supervisor.
With the 2003 FIVB World Tour the qualification phase for the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 begins including a Grand Slam stop in Los Angeles, USA as well as World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, a season packed with excitement is pre-programmed.

Alemao, coach of Efi Sfyfri and Vasso Karadassiou, Greece:
"After my third year working with Efi and Vicky, this was our best season so far. The team got much more consistent in their play and found their way to the top. We will start to train again in November, probably playing a national tournament in Australia. What I recognized this season is that blocking is getting much more important on the beach. A lot of the players are very tall and that's one thing we will work on over the winter.
The team, which impressed me most this year, was certainly Marrit Leenstra-Rebekka Kadijk. This team did not only beat some of the top teams, but really improved concerning their level of skills. And of course Kerri and Misty were absolutely great this season. I think nobody expected them to be that good."

Steve Anderson, coach of Olympic Gold Medallist Natalie Cook-Kerri Pottharst, Australia:
"I am very happy with the consistent overall performance of Nat and Kerri. But of course it is our mentality that we always want to do better. Our goal was to be the number one team at the end of the season and although we played some of our best Volleyball we have to be happy with the third place.
The team, which impressed me the most this season, was certainly Misty-Kerri. This team is still very young, but they played a very consistent Volleyball, have enormous skills and an exceptional ball control. Brazilians Adriana-Shelda are also an exception for me. They are still on top after seven years of partnership, that's absolutely amazing. But the most outstanding player in my eyes, was Ana Paula with her partner Tatiana Minello. She improved her skills enormously being now solid all the way and the team achieved some good results in their first season together. But generally I recognized that all players picked up compared to the last years and a lot of teams have the potential to get through to the top."

Marco, coach of Ana Paula-Tatiana Minello, Brazil
"We had a very good season, finishing fifth in the World Ranking and this only our first year. We kind of expected it to be like that, but in the end we are still very happy.
For me the best team on the World Tour this year was Holly McPeak-Elaine Youngs, they seem to be the most difficult team to play against, but of course also Kerri and Misty showed their skills."

Caspar Groenhuijzen, coach of Marrit Leenstra-Rebekka Kadijk, The Netherlands
"Last year was the first beach year for Marrit and Rebekka and we didn't have any expectations at all. This year the cards changed and suddenly more pressure was on the girls, but they did fantastic and learnt to deal with the pressure very well. The hard work we did during the winter also showed its success.
For me of course Kerri and Misty have been the team of the season, they showed so much consistency having only one ninth place, when they lost against us. But some of the European teams as well as the Australian teams are on their way up the top. I think that those teams have for sure the technical skills, but its still lacking the mental toughness to deliver more upsets of Brazilian and US-squads."

Leticia, coach of Adriana Behar-Shelda Bruno Bede, Brazil:
It was the first time this year that Adriana-Shelda did not win the World Title since 1997.
"We think that our season was very good this year. We cannot win everything and therefore we decided at the beginning of the season to not train as intense as we do it usually. Next year will be a very important year for us, as we have to defend the World Champion title in our home country and the qualifying for the Olympic Games starts.
Generally speaking I must say, that the skill level among all the teams improved very much compared to the last years. It is now much harder to win a tournament and we always have to give our best."

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