SANDSTORM TO HOST 2010 AUSTRALIAN BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
March 2: The cream of Australia's beach volleyballers will converge on Brisbane's Sandstorm Beach Club later next week for the 2010 Lifestyle Asset Management Australian Beach Volleyball Championships (March 11-14).
The Sandstorm Beach Club is situated inside the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre at Nathan and is regarded as Australia's premier beach volleyball venue.
All the action gets underway on Thursday March 11 (12.30-7.30pm) with the exciting Celebrity Pro-Am featuring Australia's Olympic gold medallists from 2000 Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst who will be joined by Gold Coast Titan Matt Rogers rugby's poet laureate Rupert McCall and Olympic kayak bronze medallist Lyndsay Fogarty.
Then the competition proper begins with the:
- Preliminary rounds on Friday March 12 (from 8am);
- The Championship Preliminary rounds on Saturday March 13 (from 8am) and;
- The Championship quarters, semis and final on Sunday, March 14 (from 8am).
The final round of the Australian Beach Volleyball Series will be held this weekend at Scarborough Beach, WA before the teams prepare to play for the National titles at Sandstorm.
On current standings Manly's AIS-Adelaide based Alice Rohkamper leads the women's rankings on 170 points while Gold Coast pair Nicole Soloman and Candice McCarthy lead the team rankings on 264.
Rohkamper combined with Taliqua Clancy to win at both Manly and Adelaide rounds of the Tour before a 13th with Karley Hynes at Surfers Paradise and a fifth with Hynes at St Kilda.
In the men, it's the AIS-Adelaide based Sam Boehm (187) who leads Danish-born Bo Soderberg (175) and leading Sydney Northern Beaches pair, German ex-pat Christoph Gruenaug and Italian-born Francesco Riginelli (both 155).
Boehm was third with Casey Grice at Manly, before combining with his AIS-based team mate Christopher McHugh from Pambula on the NSW South Coast to win both Adelaide and Surfers Paradise before finishing third in St. Kilda.
There are just ten points separating the first three teams Gruenaug and Riginelli (310) and Queensland pairs Patrick Gulline and Lachlan Roth (306) and Ryan Carter and Ben Nichols (300) in the pairings, with Boehm and McHugh next on 284.
With the assistance of major sponsor Lifestyle Asset Management, Volleyball Australia in association with Sandstorm and the Classic Events Company have extended the Championships weekend into a four day event to include a number of additional activities to engage spectators, competitors, sponsors and media in an action packed celebration of Queensland's beach lifestyle.
Register online at http://www.beachvolleyballtour.com.au/ NOW for FREE tickets or purchase at the gate!
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LIFESTYLE ASSET MANAGEMENT AUSTRALIAN BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Dates: March 11 - 14
Location: Sandstorm Beach Club, Nathan, QLD (just outside Brisbane)
Schedule:
- Thursday, March11 - Pro Am Tournament - run similar to a corporate golf day, where companies buy-in and have four people participate along with a celebrity in a 5 v 5 format - 9 minute games).
- Thursday, March 11 - Pro Am Dinner - on the sand at Sandstorm Beach Club (under the stars).
- Friday, March12 - Early rounds of National Championships (32 team draw per gender).
- Saturday, March13- Rounds continue: Players' Party in the evening
- Sunday, March14 - Finals (depending on the draw, semi-finals on Sunday too).