Photos and information courtesy of volleyball.org.au
The second round of the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour gets underway this Friday in Canberra, with a star-studded lineup of Olympians to take the courts.
Following their Olympic debut in Paris, Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher will lead the men’s draw as the top seeded team – Volleyball Australia caught up with Mark ahead of competition in Canberra.
“For Izac and I we were definitely able to have some downtime after Paris, and it was really the first off-season we’d had,” Nicolaidis said.
“We’ve been able to kind of string together and really make a conscious plan coming into the new year.”
As Mark and Izac prepare to kick start their domestic season, Mark shared that they are looking forward to getting back into national competition.
“We are feeling good ahead of this weekend, it’s been a while since we’ve played a proper competition,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to it, and we absolutely love the national tour, so we’re very keen to get back into competition.”
With ABVT Canberra’s draw fielding one of the highest-class fields in years, including Olympians, Commonwealth Games medalists and Asian Champions, Mark is proud to see the growth of Australia beach volleyball talent back at home.
“It is definitely exciting to see such a strong field, and I am excited to compete this weekend,” Nicolaidis said.
“I’ve already said it to a couple of people, but I think the national tour this year is probably the most depth I’ve ever seen in a draw that I’ve played in domestically – so very, very excited.
“I think it’s really good for the future of beach volleyball in Australia, and I’ve definitely noticed that in the last few years, players are getting younger and younger and getting better and better.
“So for me, it’s great to kind of have that competition at home, rather than having to kind of search for it overseas.”
With the Lyneham Beach Courts in Canberra holding a special place for Mark in his volleyball journey, he is excited to hit the courts in the nation’s capital again.
“I’ve trained at the Canberra courts a couple of times, but it actually holds a pretty special place in my heart,” he said.
“Because that’s where the Oceania qualifier for the Youth Olympic Games that I played in 2018 was hosted.
“That’s where myself and Ky Landers qualified a spot for Australia in the Youth Olympics.
“So it’s come full circle now because that’s kind of where my original Olympic journey started, and it’ll be the first time playing there since.”
Heading into this weekend of competition, Mark is most looking forward to putting the hard work he and Izac have been putting in since Paris to the test.
“The most exciting thing for this weekend is just putting out our game style,” Nicolaidis said.
“We’ve been working really hard the last few weeks on trying to push our brand of volleyball to new levels.
“So it’s easy to do in a training environment, but to kind of get to test it in the pressure times when there’s a scoreboard, and when there’s people trying to knock you off – I think that’s the most exciting part for Izac and I.”
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