OLYMPIANS PROVIDE MAJOR ASSET FOR BEACH VOLLEYBALL NATIONALS
March 9: Olympians Josh Slack, Louise Bawden and Tamsin Barnett, along with emerging 21-year-old AIS-star Chris McHugh will be among the headline players at this weekend's Lifestyle Asset Management Australian Beach Volleyball Championships in Brisbane.
The Championships get underway at Brisbane's Sandstorm Beach Club (QSAC) with the Pro-Am on Thursday followed by the three-day Championship proper, starting Friday and culminating in Sunday's finals.
Queenslander Slack has just announced his campaign for a fourth Olympics, returning to the AIS in Adelaide after spending 12 months in retirement after Beijing.
He will team up with exciting 21-year-old Far North Queenslander Isaac Kapa, who along with McHugh and his partner Sam Boehm have emerged as the rising stars of the Men's AIS beach volleyball program.
Boehm is currently ranked the number one male in the Australian Beach Volleyball Series rankings and with McHugh have won three of the five National Tour events in Adelaide, Surfers Paradise and Perth.
Bawden, a member of the Sydney 2000 Women's Indoor Olympic team, was named the FIVB Beach Volleyball International Rookie of the Year in 2009 and she will team up with fellow AIS-based star Becharra Palmer
New mum Barnett will partner Australia's current Australian Beach Volleyball Series number one-ranked female beach volleyballer, Manly's AIS scholarship holder Alice Rohkamper, six months after giving birth to a baby son, Arley, last September.
Rohkamper has had a series of partners throughout the 2009-10 Australian tour but with injury to brilliant teen star Taliqua Clancy and regular partner Heike Jensen, Barnett became an obvious partner.
While 21-year-old AIS-based Rohkamper has her sights set on her first Olympics in London in 2012, Barnett already has two Olympics under her belt.
She began her Olympic career with the Indoor team in Sydney in 2000 before switching to the beach program in 2004, winning the 2006 and 2007 Australian Beach Championships with Natalie Cook.
The pair went on to finish fifth at the 2008 Beijing Olympics before Barnett had 12 months away from the sport.
The Championships program is:
Dates: March 11 - 14
Location: Sandstorm Beach Club, Nathan, QLD (just outside Brisbane)
Thursday, March 11- Pro-Am (2pm): Featuring Olympians Natalie Cook, Kerri Pottharst, Tamsin Barnett; Gold Coast Titans Matt Rogers and Nathan Friend; ALF's Richard Champion and rugby's poet laureate Rupert McCall.
- Friday, March 12 - 8am Early rounds of National Championships (32 team draw per gender).
- Saturday, March 13 - 8am Rounds continue
- Sunday, March14 - 8am Finals (depending on the draw, semi-finals on Sunday too).