04/06/2016 15:32
Swiss youngsters Kissling/Heidrich take plenty of positives from #EuroBeachVolley experience
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Final
Biel / Bienne, Switzerland, June 4, 2016. Swiss youngsters Gabriel Kissling and Adrian Heidrich caused a sensation on Friday when finishing pool play in first place at the 2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final in Biel / Bienne. This was quite a terrific achievement for the no. 4 team in Switzerland that ‘only’ got the right to participate in the #EuroBeachVolley after receiving a wild-card. On Saturday Kissling and Heidrich resumed their campaign playing first-seeded Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst in the Round of 16 and even though the Swiss guys put on a good fight, they ultimately could not stay alive in the competition. They still take lots of positives from the experience they had in Biel / Bienne.
The 2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final is being extensively covered on the CEV website (click here) as well as on all CEV social media pages; a comprehensive live gallery of the competition is available here while additional information can be found on the organisers’ website www.beacheuro2016.ch.
“Our realistic goal entering this tournament was to make it out of our pool and anything on top of this would have been a bonus,” Kissling said after losing to the Dutchmen. “We are proud of what we did this week, we played some very good matches and even with Nummerdor and Varenhorst, the match was not one-sided at all. We ended up playing the top-seeded pair of the tournament in the Round of 16 because we won our pool and they lost one match in theirs, but this shows how competitive this tournament is and that there are many teams that can perform at an extremely high level,” he continued.
Kissling and Heidrich were the last home team still alive in the tournament, after three Swiss women’s teams lost their respective Round of 16 matches on Friday night. “There is a lot of disappointment in the Swiss camp right now,” Kissling said. “Even though I understand that they are all sad because they had set very high goals and everyone expected at least one team to win a medal, we should not forget that Switzerland has placed three teams among the top nine in Europe and this is a huge thing for our country,” he continued. “Two of our women’s teams are already qualified for the Olympics, so though the disappointment is understandable, they have had a great season so far.”
Beach Volleyball is a family affair in Switzerland: Gabriel Kissling played one season alongside his older brother Jonas, who also represented Switzerland at the #EuroBeachVolley in Biel / Bienne, whereas Heidrich’s sister, Joana, is Switzerland’s Beach Volleyball star alongside partner Nadine Zumkehr. “We both pretty much followed in the footsteps of our siblings,” Kissling continued. “I played only for a short time with my brother because we are both defence players, but he kind of opened the way for me to follow.”
Switzerland has been a Beach Volleyball power for many years, thanks to the likes of Martin and Paul Laciga, Sascha Heyer, Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel, to name only a few. “In my opinion we have a group of young, talented players, all in their early 20s, and I think we all have the potential to achieve some good results,” Kissling continued. “Swiss Volley has been doing a very good job, we have great coaches and excellent infrastructure, especially the Beach Volleyball centre in Bern where as many as nine courts, including three indoor courts are available for us to practice all year round. I think the potential is there and we have to keep on working hard, stick together and hopefully one or more teams will be able to qualify for the next Olympics in Tokyo in four years’ time,” Kissling said.
The Swiss guys agree that a European Championship Final on home sand is a huge privilege and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They made the best out of this, progressing to the Round of 16 and losing only to the first-seeded team of the tournament. “We are very much hoping we can continue to play together. Swiss Volley review the results of all national teams at the end of each season, but we essentially are motivated to keep on going and want to work hard. We are going to play a number of tournaments this summer, starting with a CEV Satellite next week in Baden, to continue with the Major Series in Gstaad, and we hope to get as many points as possible in order to improve our international ranking,” they said.
The young, talkative Kissling seem to know very well which path he wants to take: “Personally I think that doing sport makes you a better person. It teaches you the importance of fair play, mutual respect, and also of taking good care of your body. More specifically about Beach Volleyball, it is a lifestyle I like very much and by spending so much time with your partner, you develop social and interpersonal skills that are important also in your everyday life.” Taking positives from their participation in the EuroBeachVolley, Gabriel and Adrian will be certainly walking down this path as motivated as they have ever been…
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