27 March 2005
UK beach volleyball team, Debbie Spokes and Hedda Meijer reached second place in their first ever US tournament this weekend.
Just three days after flying into Los Angeles, the pair played a gruelling six games in one day at the Hermosa Beach Pier Women's AA tournament which marks the start of the Californian Beach Volleyball season. Sixteen teams took part.
Said Debbie: “Six games in one day proved just too much first time out, especially with the after effects of jet lag”.
“By the time we reached the final, we were both exhausted from our gruelling semi against the strongest opposition we had seen all day, but still managed to put up a reasonable performance.”
The pair also found themselves playing on larger courts than they are used to in UK. “I couldn’t understand why it took more effort than usual to reach the side lines in defence until half way through the day, when we realised the American courts are nine-by-nine meters rather than the standard eight. I though we were covering a lot of sand.”
Debbie and Hedda are in California for six months concentrated training and playing in preparation for their bid to represent the UK at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. They will playing in tournaments every weekend until August and hope to face some of the world’s top teams.
Their next match is the Traditional Easter Women’s Open at Santa Monica Beach next weekend (April 2/3).
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