Australian Beach Volleyball rising stars put on a show at Youth Championships

Volleyball’s rising stars descended on Coolangatta Beach this week for the 2021 Australian Youth Beach Volleyball Championships (AYBVC).

More than 320 participants went head to head across 16 fields of play on the same beach that hosted the Beach Volleyball at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Event Director, Phil Muller said that there had been a record attendance at this year’s championships.

“All competition levels have been competitive with games played in good spirits, with all state and territory participants being great ambassadors for the sport,” Muller said.

Muller said AYBVC provided a great opportunity to showcase and identify the emerging talent and future Beach Volleyball Olympians with both the Volleyball Australia High Performance Manager and Pathways Manager in attendance throughout the week.

Ben Carroll and Mitchell Croft from Victoria teamed up for the first time to deliver a gold medal in the Under 17 Boys division.

However, this was not Carroll’s first time in the finals, as he faced the same team (NSW) in the 2020 finals and came away with silver.

This time he is thrilled to have taken home the gold this time.

“This was our first year together, I got silver last year against those guys and they won,” Carroll said.

“It felt great, it was a good game, and fair play to New South Wales,” he said.

With the AYBVC won and done, attention now turns to the Australian Beach Volleyball Schools Cup, which kicks off tomorrow on Coolangatta Beach until Sunday 2 May.

“We would like to thank Tourism and Events Queensland, and Major Events Gold Coast for assisting us in bringing these events to Queensland and the Gold Coast’,” he said.