Heese celebrates 51st with memories

Aurora, Canada, August 15, 2020 - While Mark Heese will always be remembered as one of the two players to win the first-ever Olympic men’s beach volleyball medals, bronze at Atlanta 1996 with John Child, the legendary Canadian performer celebrates his 51st birthday today with “so many memories that I should write everything down one day.”

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Living 30 minutes north of Toronto where he moved his family 19 years ago, Heese said his celebration will be “pretty tame. I will be with my immediate family as birthdays are not a big deal for me typically.”

“I still work in volleyball,” said Heese, who captured 14 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour medals in his 17 seasons of play on the international circuit. “I am involved with a couple of volleyball brands full time Canuckstuff.com and Overkill.ca. I also dabble in commentating for various beach volleyball broadcasts and competitions. I was scheduled to work the Tokyo Olympics, until it was postponed. I look forward to Tokyo 2021. I still do some speaking or guest coaching appearances here and there as well.”

As for the memories, Heese remembers Melissa Humana-Paredes fondly.  “Melissa is the daughter of Hernan Humana, who coached John and I from 1995 to 2000 through two Olympics,” said Heese. “Melissa and brother Felipe were little munchkins that were running around the events watching us and shagging volleyballs at our practices.”

Heese said “it is special to watch Herman’s kids grow up. Melissa is such an amazing human being like her dad. It is not surprising about her success. I am a fan of her and Sarah Pavan along with Canadian compatriots Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson. I am looking forward to following them in Tokyo. No pressure, but Canada sure could use an upgrade to the bronze from Atlanta, 25 years ago!”

Another memory led Heese to name one of his children Markus when he and Child were seeking their third Olympic berth that they secured at the final qualifying event for the Athens 2004 Summer Games in Mallorca, Spain.

“We qualified for 2004 Olympics in dramatic style despite an injury-riddled season,” said Heese initially about the Athens process. “It came down to the last event in Mallorca (July 7-11) and we had to rely on an American team (Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger) to defeat an Estonian pair (Kristjan Kais and Rivo Vesik).”

Heese said he “could not watch their match, so I went back to the hotel, and was the only player at dinner and just sitting waiting for news. We did not have cell phones or anything to check online. Finally, Markus Dieckmann from Germany slowly walked into the dinner area, came up to me with a poker face, then extended his hand and said congrats on a third Olympics. After one and a half years of emotional roller coaster, that moment will always stand out. I named my next son Markus (born in 2007) after that moment!”

After that match, Heese said that “Stein told me he was so nervous because we were his buddies and he would have felt bad. But Dax saved the day and took over at the end of the third according to Stein. I felt bad for Rivo and Kais, but the experience pushed them on to a good career and an Olympic appearance in 2008.”

As the Canadian with the most-ever FIVB World Tour appearances (166), Heese said “winning gold versus Para and Guilherme of Brazil (Rogerio 'Para' Ferreira and Guilherme Marques) in Berlin in 1996 will stand out. Anytime you beat a strong Brazilian team is memorable, but in a gold medal match, it is not an easy feat.”

Another gold medal match in 2000 against Brazilians Jose Loiola and Emanuel Rego on home sand in Toronto also brings back a bad memory for Heese. “We had 16 match-point serves,” said Heese. “That is still painful to this day!”

A loss to American Atlanta Olympic silver medal winners Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh at the 1996 Portuguese Grand Slam in Espinho was also memorable. “We had a swing for the title,” Heese noted. “That play also haunts my memory!”

Playing in Rio de Janeiro on Ipanema beach is also memorable for Heese.  “We played there so many times and we made the final four in 1996. The playing environment on centre court was amazing and to eventually step on the podium on that beach, with so much history. It was definitely special. It was the big time!”

Heese cited the 2002 season as “memorable. We finished as the fifth-ranked team in the world when so many people were predicting that shorter teams like John and I would be finished after the rule change in 2001 for smaller court and rally scoring. Adapting to the new game, and returning to the top five, felt like more of an accomplishment than usual.”

As for celebrating a birthday on the FIVB World Tour at an event, Heese played only once on the 29th renewal of his birth in 1998 at Ostende, Belgium where he and Child won two of three matches on August 15 to qualify for the medal rounds.

“I definitely remember having some celebratory Belgian beers with the boys after the event,” said Heese. Oostende was a typical venue for the World Tour back in the 1990s. We actually played on a beach, very windy and the player’s hotel was across from venue.”

Heese said that in Ostende he got up “every morning and I would immediately look out the window at the venue to see how strongly the wind was flapping the country flags attached to the top of the stadium court! If it was windy, I would know that John and I had an advantage. John and I were known for ball control so typically did well in those conditions.”

As for playing that day on his birthday in 1998, Heese said “we had a decent run through the winner’s bracket, but as so often was the case ran into one of the strong Brazilian pairs in the later rounds of the winner’s bracket. Ze Marco (de Melo) and Ricardo (Santos) were one of the best teams during that era. We took our lumps against them. But rebounded in the loser bracket to eventually make our way to the semifinals to meet up with a familiar foe - Joao Brenha and Miguel Maia of Portugal, our Atlanta Olympic bronze medal opponents.”

Heese said the Portuguese pair “apparently had a score to settle! It was a match of the shorter ball control teams, and they eventually went on to win the tourney. Lots of respect to them. We had a strong bronze medal match against an uninspired American team (Bill Boullianne and Ian Clark). They seemed disinterested in stepping on the third place podium, and John and I took advantage. We never failed to get a little extra fired up to play American teams, for whatever reason.”

Local, national and international sites are listed as Hesse’s favourite playing sites. “Ashbridge’s Bay in Toronto is special as it is always amazing to play on your home beach. Nothing better than sleeping in your own bed and biking down to your home beach, to play the best players in the world, in front of my family, friends, and the Canadian beach community.”

Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver on the west coast of Canada was also special for Heese as he said he “never played an international tourney there, but I always loved the people and environment during our domestic events.”

The Canadian also said that “California events are always special, due to the history there. Hermosa Beach is high on my favourite list. I travel there most summers with family to continue experiencing that venue.”

Ipanema and Klagenfurt in Austria were also special for Heese, who said “it was always difficult to play in Rio, but a privilege to compete against the best on a beach with that kind of history. Klagenfurt was a player favourite due to the VIP treatment we received and the electric atmosphere they created on centre court. Truly, world-class events.”

As for playing in two different eras of FIVB World Tour history with side out scoring from 1987 through 2000 and rally scoring from 2001, Heese was asked about his preference. “I love both eras!” said Heese. “Of course, it is easy to prefer the bigger court and old-school scoring, which in theory would suit the ball-control, more patient, defensive style teams like Child and Heese. But, I find the small court/rally scoring game to be entertaining and I am proud that our team found a way to adapt to it, adjust our attitude about it, and strategize well enough to still maintain our status in the ranking. I have an appreciation for both eras, having competed in both long enough.”

Always regarded as one of the more media-savvy players on the FIVB World Tour, Heese said “it was a privilege to play on the international circuit. It will always remain special to me. I remember being in my first technical meeting in 1992, and then more regularly on tour in 1995 when the tour expanded to 15+ events, just feeling such a pride at those meetings and being surrounded by greatness. The confidence of the athletes in that room and the strong character that they consistently demonstrated on and off the court.”

Heese said he “paid close attention to what those men and women were doing and saying, and how they were playing, and behaving on and off the court. For the most part, these were extremely high quality people, the best of the best, not just players, but human beings. The players had a huge influence on me and the type of man and athlete I aspired to become. I will always cherish those years. I will always feel a tremendous amount of respect and appreciation for all those who helped make that tour possible, especially the players. Whether they were my fiercest rivals on the court or closer friends that I would have a few beers and play cards with in between tourneys, I will always feel grateful to them. I still feel that same feeling of being in awe, that I had at my earlier tournaments. That has never gone away.”