Gold Coast host international champions for the Australian Beach Volleyball Championships

Hundreds of the world’s best volleyballers have arrived on the Gold Coast, ready to showcase their skills and compete for the championship title. These are the must-see players set to sizzle on the sand.

Hundreds of the worlds best volleyballers have descended on the Gold Coast to showcase the Volleyball Championships over the next 10 days.

Starting on Friday March 17 is the Australian Beach Volleyball Championships which will run over the weekend at Coolangatta Beach.

It will feature some of the best volleyballers from Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Poland.

It is the first weekend ahead of a busy schedule for the Gold Coast with Australian Youth Beach Championships taking place from March 18 – 21, Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour from March 20 – 24 and Australian Beach Volleyball Schools Cup running from March 22 – 24.

Check out the full list of teams below for this weekend:

MEN

Paul Burnett (WA) & Jack Pearse (SA)

Burnett has teamed with Pearse while his Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning partner recovers from injury, and the pair have had a fantastic season reaching four finals, winning the final round of the Beach Pro Tour Futures in November and an Australian Beach Volleyball Tour round in Cobram last month.

Thomas Reid (NZ) and John Macmanaway (NZ)

The Kiwi pair have been together for just over a year and have been regular winners on the New Zealand Tour, and also won the Asian Continental Cup (Oceania Zone) last year. They were runners up to Burnett and Pearse in Geelong last year and finished fourth at last week’s Futures event in Mount Maunganui.

Ben Hood (QLD) and D’Artagnan Potts (SA)

Playing together for just over six months, Potts and Hood have earned some early success. They were runners up in their first national tour event in Geelong last year, going on to win Pacific Games gold for Australia in the Solomon Islands the following week. They overcame an early defeat to reach their first Beach Pro Tour Futures final last week in New Zealand.

Justin Schumann (VIC) and Garang Anyang (VIC)

Schumann and Anyang have had their share of partners over the years however some of their best success has come together. They have finished win the bronze medal the last two years in Coolangatta and were quarterfinalists last week in Mount Maunganui where they were eliminated by the eventual winners.

Declan Tiso (QLD) & Mateusz Zieba (POL)

At 29 and 34 respectively, Tiso and Zieba are the oldest team in the field but their courtcraft will be the undoing of some opponents this week. Zieba is coming off a bronze in the national Tour in Mollymook while Tiso and Coolangatta’s Rob Reeves belied their season to make the quarterfinals of the Beach Pro Tour Futures on the NSW South Coast two weeks ago.

Solomon Bushby (SA) & Jed Walker (WA)

This Developing Beach Volleyroos combination are playing just their fourth tournament together but starting to gel as a combination. Bushby has been knocking on the door of the podium for a couple of seasons while Walker – MVP in last years Scape Australian Volleyball Super League final in the indoor version of the sport – has already had some success this season with a victory on the Australian Junior Beach Volleyball Tour.

Killian Donovan (NSW) and Jett Rocker-Graham (NSW)

This NSW pair are forging a strong relationship on the court and had their first major success together in Mollymook in February. After back-to-back silver medals on the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour at Caloundra and Cobram, the pair finally broke through for gold in the final junior national tour event of the season.

Ky Landers (WA) & Martin Kaufer (GER)

Landers and Kaufer are one of the most entertaining teams on the national tour and will enjoy the festival atmosphere of Volleyslam. The pair have played together in Japan and New Zealand in the last six months, with their biggest success coming with victory at the opening round of the 2023/24 Australian Beach Volleyball Tour in Geelong late last year.

WOMEN

Stefie Fejes (NSW) and Jana Milutinovic (SA)

Fejes and Milutinovic have been one of the teams of the summer. After falling in the final of the national tour in November, they have gone on to win Pacific Games gold for Australia, won the last two legs of the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour as well as the Beach Pro Tour Futures event in Mollymook. Their new perfect season was only halted in the Futures final in New Zealand last week when they took the silver medal.

Georgia Johnson (QLD) and Tara Phillips (SA)

With Jasmine Fleming not playing this weekend, Johnson re-teams with Tara Phillips with whom she has performed strongly with before. The duo first played together in Wollongong last year when they reached the national tour quarterfinal before finishing with a share of fifth at a Beach Pro Tour Futures event in Belgium.

Lizzie Alchin (WA) and Jasmine Rayner (QLD)

This teenage pair had breakthrough years in 2023 and are forging a strong on-court connection this season. Alchin scored two Beach Pro Tour Futures top four results with Kayla Mears last year, while Rayner won silver for Australia at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Caribbean. The pair have reached the quarter-finals at five of their last six tournaments together.

Lucia Michalovicova (NSW) and Stefanie Weiler (VIC)

The most experienced pair in the draw are playing just their third tournament together, however they reached the quarter-finals and round of 12 at two national tour events this season. Michalovicova was never out of the top five on last season’s Australian Beach Volleyball Tour while Weiler was a bronze medallist at this event last year.

Olivia Macdonald (NZ) and Kiana Stevenson (NZ)

MacDonald and Stevenson have received an International Wild Card into the Mahindra Australian Championships. MacDonald, 28, was a reserve for New Zealand at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games while Stevenson, 18, is just starting to forge her way in the international game.

Bailee Kendall (SA) and Ruby Vanloo (SA)

On the 2023/24 Australian Beach Volleyball Tour, this South Australian pair were only once eliminated by a team which didn’t make the podium. Their first-ever match together was at this tournament in 2021 against Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy, their opponents going on to take the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo just a matter of months later.

Caitlin Bettenay (QLD) and Phoebe Bell (QLD)

These experienced campaigners will be a team most sides won’t want to face this week. The pair enjoyed strong results on the Japanese Tour in 2023 and opened the domestic season with a bronze medal in Geelong. Bell won this event in 2022 with Nicole Laird while Bettenay was a quarter-finalist in Coolangatta last year in both the national tour and Futures events.

Brianna Mears (QLD) and Leilani Burnell (SA)

Burnell, 19, has been playing well with fellow South Australian Cameron Zajer this season but this week teams with a new partner. Mears, 20, was a quarter-finalist in Coolangatta last year with Jasmine Rayner, who a matter of months later she helped guide to a silver medal as coach of the Australian beach volleyball team at the Commonwealth Youth Games.

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology then edited and approved for publication by an editor.