American beach volleyball veteran Patterson eyes inclusion of 4x4 in Olympic programme
Casey Patterson (middle) celebrates with his teammates and the US women’s beach volleyball team, who also won gold at the 1st ANOC World Beach Games Qatar 2019. (Photo Nassos Triantafyllou / Laurel Photo Services)
DOHA, October 21, 2019 - Even after suffering a second consecutive shocking defeat at Al Gharafa Beach, the US men’s beach volleyball team at the World Beach Games in Doha, Qatar, never looked edgy or under pressure. They always looked like they were having the time of their lives - win or lose. For Brian Cook, Casey Patterson, Maddison McKibbin, Riley McKibbin, Taylor Crabb and Troy Field, enjoying every moment of the first FIVB-sanctioned beach volleyball 4x4 event was the top priority, and they had a video camera to document the experience.
In spite of losing 2-0 to Germany and 2-1 to Qatar in pool play, they would go on to win their remaining games en route to being crowned champions. They beat a stubborn Indonesia in their last pool game to finish second in Pool A, saw off Mozambique easily in the quarter-finals, and Indonesia (again) in the semis. In the gold medal match against the host country, and in front of a packed house that included the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and members of the royal family, the Americans also prevailed 21-18, 26-24.
“This is very important because this is the first World Beach Games ever and to be gold medalists in the first one ever is a very significant and special experience for us because, who knows where this could go?” an excited Casey Patterson told AIPS after taking selfies with some fans following the medal ceremony at Katara Beach.
Patterson, a living legend on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Tour in the US, a multiple medallist on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and an Olympian, is now hoping that the 4x4 version of the sand sport will make it to the Olympics. It was a new concept for virtually every player who took part in the World Beach Games, but the 4x4 format brought an exciting team-spirit feel to the sand, and drew positive reviews. Beach volleyball has been an Olympic sport since 1996 but as a two-per-team event. It was first a demonstration event at the 1992 Games.
“We want to take this and help the FIVB, help the ANOC World Beach Games, to get the four-man into the Olympics hopefully one day,” The 39-year-old said. And we think this was the perfect event to showcase how exciting the format is, and how it’s the mix of the lifestyle and the beach we all love with the high athleticism and speed of the indoor game. So for us, our expectation is to take this to use it as a motivation to defend the title and to hopefully help facilitate it to become an Olympic sport.”
Patterson explained why they had a slow start in the competition. “We’ve never played all together, we’ve never played with these rules of the block counts and we’ve never played four-man on the short court so there was a lot of wrinkles we got to iron out to become a smooth and dynamic team and also find our place and our position and our role. I’ve been here, seven times to this country I can be a veteran and a leader to help these guys understand what it’s like, what to expect, how it feels, so for me that was kind of the role that I accepted early on.
“We started off really rough, [...] we hadn’t played in maybe three weeks together or individually. We were all on vacation because the AVP, our professional tour, finished so I was with my family. I didn’t touch a volleyball, most of these guys didn’t. So the pool-play dynamic helped us get rid of the errors and start to piece together a winning team. Now we are rolling on all cylinders that’s good. You want to pick at the end of a tournament not at the very beginning when you win a pool play and then you maybe don’t even make it out. So as a veteran - and a lot of us have been in that scenario - we understand the patience factor and that there is always time and we can piece it together and find our role so that was what we did.”
The World Beach Games gold will definitely rank among Patterson’s most notable achievements in the national team colours and his family is excited for him. “My wife and all our families have been through ups and downs of the sport and they understand that making sure we enjoy ourselves is the priority,” he enthused.
In spite of losing 2-0 to Germany and 2-1 to Qatar in pool play, they would go on to win their remaining games en route to being crowned champions. They beat a stubborn Indonesia in their last pool game to finish second in Pool A, saw off Mozambique easily in the quarter-finals, and Indonesia (again) in the semis. In the gold medal match against the host country, and in front of a packed house that included the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and members of the royal family, the Americans also prevailed 21-18, 26-24.
“This is very important because this is the first World Beach Games ever and to be gold medalists in the first one ever is a very significant and special experience for us because, who knows where this could go?” an excited Casey Patterson told AIPS after taking selfies with some fans following the medal ceremony at Katara Beach.
Patterson, a living legend on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Tour in the US, a multiple medallist on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and an Olympian, is now hoping that the 4x4 version of the sand sport will make it to the Olympics. It was a new concept for virtually every player who took part in the World Beach Games, but the 4x4 format brought an exciting team-spirit feel to the sand, and drew positive reviews. Beach volleyball has been an Olympic sport since 1996 but as a two-per-team event. It was first a demonstration event at the 1992 Games.
“We want to take this and help the FIVB, help the ANOC World Beach Games, to get the four-man into the Olympics hopefully one day,” The 39-year-old said. And we think this was the perfect event to showcase how exciting the format is, and how it’s the mix of the lifestyle and the beach we all love with the high athleticism and speed of the indoor game. So for us, our expectation is to take this to use it as a motivation to defend the title and to hopefully help facilitate it to become an Olympic sport.”
Patterson explained why they had a slow start in the competition. “We’ve never played all together, we’ve never played with these rules of the block counts and we’ve never played four-man on the short court so there was a lot of wrinkles we got to iron out to become a smooth and dynamic team and also find our place and our position and our role. I’ve been here, seven times to this country I can be a veteran and a leader to help these guys understand what it’s like, what to expect, how it feels, so for me that was kind of the role that I accepted early on.
“We started off really rough, [...] we hadn’t played in maybe three weeks together or individually. We were all on vacation because the AVP, our professional tour, finished so I was with my family. I didn’t touch a volleyball, most of these guys didn’t. So the pool-play dynamic helped us get rid of the errors and start to piece together a winning team. Now we are rolling on all cylinders that’s good. You want to pick at the end of a tournament not at the very beginning when you win a pool play and then you maybe don’t even make it out. So as a veteran - and a lot of us have been in that scenario - we understand the patience factor and that there is always time and we can piece it together and find our role so that was what we did.”
The World Beach Games gold will definitely rank among Patterson’s most notable achievements in the national team colours and his family is excited for him. “My wife and all our families have been through ups and downs of the sport and they understand that making sure we enjoy ourselves is the priority,” he enthused.
News from the same category
