By Jonty Ralphsmith
The Australian Beach ParaVolley team, which includes Victorian athlete Nick Coburn, has spent the weekend training at the State Volleyball Centre at Dandenong Stadium ahead of the World Championships.
The team will compete in the standing 3-on-3 discipline at the inaugural World Beach ParaVolley Championships in Chongqing, China, from 30 May to 2 June, and includes Brad Barclay from Western Australia and Japhy Duldig from NSW.
The discipline is played on the same sized court and with the same rules and equipment as able-bodied beach volleyball – with one extra player on the court.
Volleyball Victoria chief Cori Wilder said the State Volleyball Centre provided the obvious place for the Australian ParaVolley team to prepare for their upcoming tournament.
“Dandenong Stadium is the perfect place for them to prepare,” she said.
“They will have access to three excellent indoor beach volleyball courts and the surrounding facilities, meaning they can engage in high quality uninterrupted training without having to worry about the weather outside.
“It’ll provide a fantastic platform for success in China.”
Structured preparation is critical given the scarcity of major tournaments; this week’s tournament is just the sixth since the turn of the century.
Indoor standing volleyball was contested at the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games but has since been discontinued, with no standing volleyball disciplines currently competed at the Paralympics.
In 2019, there was optimism the sport would be able to push for inclusion at the Los Angeles 2028 games, but the pandemic stalled the momentum the sport was starting to generate.
Coburn, who competed at the Sydney Paralympics and currently sits on the Para Volleyball Asia Oceania Board, highlighted the significance of the tournament.
“This tournament is really big for us now – it’s basically now or never,” he said.
“We’re trying to push for it to be included in Brisbane.
“My main goal is to see some young kids come through and take my spot to get the thrill I had as a young kid of representing Australia in front of your home crowd.”
He also praised the State Volleyball Centre as an ideal place to fine-tune ahead of such an important tournament.
Australia is sending arguably its strongest ever squad to this tournament, with the volume of training and competition for spots hot.
“Volleyball Victoria and South East leisure are fantastic,” he said.
“The facility is beautiful, the sand is amazing, it’s indoors and everyone is bending over backwards to accommodate our training.
“We appreciate it to no end because they know how much we struggle to raise funds and train.
“Generosity like that goes a long way.”
Coburn is eagerly anticipating the challenge.
“I’ve been representing Australia for more than 24 years and it doesn’t get old – I’m nervous, excited and I’m getting less sleep because I’m starting to think about it,” he exclaimed.
“It’s not something I take for granted and I’m lucky to be able to do it.
“It’s an honour every time I walk out on the sand.
“I feel like we’ve improved a lot in the last few years.
“We’re well prepared and are a shot at a medal which I’ve never confidently been able to say before.”
