Beach Shorts: The week in the sands of the world

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Sarah Pavan and partner Melissa Humana-Paredes will represent Canada in the Commonwealth Games

Thank God It’s Friday! And better than that, it’s the last Friday before the first Beach Major Series event of the year! While the best teams in the world head to Florida and finalize their preparation for the #FTLMajor, there’s a lot a happening in the sands of the globe and that’s why our weekly column Beach Shorts is back.

Jump in and get all the information you need before packing and taking your plane to Fort Lauderdale!

Commonwealth Games schedule released

The schedule for the beach volleyball tournament of the 2018 edition of the Commonwealth Games, the first to feature the sport, has been released. The event will reunite 48 teams from 17 countries at the Coolangatta Beachfront, Australia, from April 6 to 12.

The first match of the tournament will put men’s teams from New Zealand and Cyprus face-to-face. Tandems from Scotland and Grenada will compete in the first women’s contest of the Games. Click here to see the full schedule.

The O'Dea brothers Sam and Ben were selected to play for New Zealand at the Coolangatta Beachfront (Photocredit: FIVB)

Brazilian Tour heads to João Pessoa

The Brazilian beach volleyball tour is in João Pessoa this week. The capital of the state of Paraíba, the birthplace of players such as Alvaro Filho and Vitor Felipe, carries the honor of being the only city in the country to never be left out of the tour’s calendar since 1991.

Each of the 11 Brazilian teams which will compete in the Fort Lauderdale Major next week are playing in the Cabo Branco Beach this week and so are Dutch duo Marleen van Iersel and Joy Stubbe, who spent the last couple of months in the South American country.

Carol Solberg and Maria Elisa Antonelli lead the Brazilian Tour after four events (Photocredit: CBV)

USA Beach has a new boss

The American Federation appointed Olympic and collegiate coach Tyler Hildebrand as director of coaching for its Beach National Team Program. Hildebrand’s role in the newly-created position is to support U.S. Beach National Team athletes and their coaches in international competitions.  

Hildebrand, 33, spent most of his playing career as an indoor player, dressing for the U.S. Men’s National Team from 2007 to 2012. He also played beach, competing in 17 events in the American AVP between 2006 and 2008 and has coached some of the best teams in the country such as Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson – helping them to qualify to Rio 2016 Olympics - , Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, Kerri Walsh-Jennings/April Ross and Emily Day/Summer Ross.

Kerri Walsh Jennings on Twitter

So awesome! Congrats, Ty & congratulations @USAVBeach 🙌🙌 https://t.co/42qDXGka9d

Social Media: Poor Adam

Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes were in California this past week preparing for the Fort Lauderdale Major and if someone can’t wait to see them in Florida soon, that’s Adam Schulz, Sarah’s husband, who had a hard time during one of their training sessions recently.

TGIF, am I right Adam? 😭👏🏼🎯 @target

869 Likes, 15 Comments - Melissa Humana-Paredes (@melissahumanaparedes) on Instagram: "TGIF, am I right Adam? 😭👏🏼🎯 @target"

In case you missed it

Melissa Humana-Paredes is excited for her first #FTLMajor appearance

American veterans Fendrick and Branagh join forces in the chase of a Major medal

Male teams compete in Kish Island in the last stop before Fort Lauderdale

Dutch Sanne Keizer goes through new experiences as she returns to the World Tour

Canada's Ben Saxton looks forward to all-around improvement with new partner Grant O' Gorman

See you next week in Fort Lauderdale!