19/03/2016 12:46
Ireland make international debut as two “exotic” Dubliners gain confidence on the snow
2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour
Wagrain-Kleinarl, Austria, March 19, 2016. They come from a country, which is considered “small” as far as Volleyball and Beach Volleyball are concerned, but when it comes down to Snow Volleyball, their participation in the 2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour is really seen as “exotic”. But it has happened – Ireland made its international debut on the snow, as the duo Ernesta Gruzdaite and Ivett Simon-Byrne played their first game on the centre court in Wagrain-Kleinarl on Saturday morning.
Ernesta and Ivett play both indoors and on the sand and are both quite experienced, but this was their first ever Snow Volleyball match. They are actually on their way to a skiing holiday in the Austrian Alps, but when they found out there would be a tournament in the area they decided to stop by. Although their participation in Wagrain-Kleinarl was somewhat accidental, the two Irish players are now determined not only to come back and play on the Tour again, but also to get more of their compatriots to join.
The two started playing Beach Volleyball five years ago, but on the windy Irish beaches covered with hard sand the conditions could be quite challenging, just as they are on the snow at about 1,900 metres above sea level at the Ski Area Wagrain in Ski Amadé, but this does not curb their enthusiasm.
“We love it! The weather is amazing,” exclaims Ernesta. “And the atmosphere is great,” adds Ivett. “We never played on snow before. That was one of the attractions that we wanted to try out and it has been an amazing feeling so far.”
The Volleyball community in Ireland is a very small and close family and everybody knows everybody, but since at this point the players register for Snow Volleyball tournaments directly with the organisers, even the Volleyball Association of Ireland is not aware that they have a team playing on the Tour. “If we had known how big this tournament actually was, we would have obviously promoted it a bit more back at home. But now that we see what is happening we are actually thinking of getting more teams to come next year,” Ivett says.
Ivett and Ernesta are also teaming up on the beach and they have already been on the highest step of the podium back home in Ireland. However, when they play indoors, they are on the opposite sides of the net. They play for the two top teams in Ireland and are both multiple champions. Ivett Simon-Byrne, who was born in Hungary and moved to Ireland twelve years ago, defends the colours of DUBLIN Volleyball Club, while Ernesta Gruzdaite, who came from Lithuania ten years ago, plays for University College DUBLIN, aka UCD.
The Irish pair lost their first game by 0-2 (8-11, 8-11) to the Austrian duo Julia Brandstätter and Laura Hager, but they have not lost their ambition to leave their impression on the snow in Wagrain-Kleinarl. “Before we arrived here, we thought we would just give it a try and see how it is to play on the snow, but now that we have already tested out the competition, we have gained more confidence and we are looking forward to our first victory and why not battling for the medals tomorrow,” Ernesta concludes.
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