11/08/2013 20:00
Icelandic boys and girls happy with their international debut
CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Zonal Phase
Berlin, Germany, August 11, 2013. As they joined the Zonal Phase tournament for the CEV Youth Continental Cup held on Sunday in Berlin, the young boys and girls from Iceland were playing for the very first time abroad.
“It is not that easy for us to play Beach Volleyball” says Theodor Oskar Thorvaldsson. “We are able to train and play outdoors only for a very short period as the weather conditions are not that good in Iceland. There’s only one indoor Beach Volleyball hall in our country; it is a private facility and we can’t train all the time there” he adds. “However, after this first experience on the international stage, we will be doing our best to train more so as to compensate for the gap we have from the other teams” adds teammate Ludvik Mar Mathiasson. “I am sure we can do it”.
Theodor and Ludvik lost all of their matches in Berlin as they crossed their ways with teams from Germany, Norway and Belgium, all countries that have got a much longer tradition in the sport.
On the other hand, the girls were pretty close to win their first international game. “We lost to Belgium only 13-15 at the tie-break” recalls Thelma Dögg Gretharsdottir. “If we had had more experience in playing internationally, I am sure we would have avoided some mistakes and brought it home. This nevertheless remains a very important tournament for us as we had the opportunity to play strong opponents and to learn a lot from them”.
Though they lost all of their matches in Berlin, the young boys and girls from Iceland do not stop dreaming about a future in the sport. “I want to play at the Olympic Games, not the Youth but the real Olympics” says partner Elisabet Einarsdottir. “We know that we have to train hard in order to improve and achieve better results”.
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