Baden, Austria, June 9, 2018. From organising the U22 European Championship to 1-Star events on the FIVB World Tour, Austria has secured the position as one of the most popular beach volleyball destinations in Europe over the past few years. The discipline has become one of the things on Baden’s “to do” list, as the Strandbad venue is currently hosting the 2018 CEV Youth Continental Cup Finals. But what does this number of home tournaments mean for Austria’s rising stars Ronja Klinger/Julia Mitter and Laurenz Leitner/Theo Reiter?
Despite knowing each other for a long time, friends Ronja Klinger and Julia Mitter are not always partnered up on the sand. The tournament in Baden is their first beach volleyball competition in 2018. “There are four girls playing at the same level in beach volleyball, but our Federation decided that at this moment the two of us work together the best. And so we started playing together five days ago,” explains Ronja Klinger. Despite having teamed up for such a short period of time, both Ronja and Julia are used to switch partners and courts. Both players are part of Austrian Eisenerz/Trofaiach club, where they both play as outside hitters.
Here in Baden the team is surrounded by their families. Ronja will remain in Baden for another week, as a few days after the completion of CEV Youth Continental Cup Finals she will be competing in the FIVB World Tour Baden Open with her sister Dorina. Klinger admits she couldn’t be more glad to have to play more events in Austria. “For us, Austrian players, having so many tournaments in Austria is great. The atmosphere, location and everything around feels awesome, because you know the people, the guys who are cheering for you. My family is here to support me. It is always something else to be at home and feel at home,” she said.
The Austrian girls are currently third in Pool D, with their final game to remain in the competition being played against England.
Their colleagues in the men’s competition feel a bit more pressure after losing their first two matches on Friday. Laurenz Leitner and Theo Reiter lost to Pool A's first and second seeded France and The Netherlands. Their last shot to keep playing for a ticket to the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires is a match against Estonia. Theo Reiter remains positive about their chances. He and Laurenz Leitner have been playing together for two seasons and Theo believes their hard work will pay off.
Playing in front of the home crowd feels just as good to Theo and Laurenz as it does to Ronja and Julia, but Theo admits it is a feeling like no other and can create a bit of pressure. “It is great to play at home and for our fans. The crowd was really loud today,” he said, before continuing. “It’s different to play at home than anywhere else. You have a little bit more pressure when you play in front of your fans. It is a new thing for us and we still have to learn about it a bit more.”
Despite feeling a bit more responsibility to their supporting crowd, Reiter and Leitner believe Saturday will be a better day for the team. “The first two matches we needed to understand each other and get the feeling from the crowd, but I think the last match will be easier for us as we are more used to it now.”
Laurenz Leitner/Theo Reiter are set to play Rasmus Meius/Märt Tammearu at 10:10 local time.
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