Ermacora confident for Olympic push

Martin Ermacora wasn’t even a year removed from the best results of his beach volleyball career last July, and yet, he felt something just wasn’t right. The 27-year-old Austrian took a difficult but necessary decision, and walked away from the game with no guarantees he would ever return.

Ermacora and partner Moritz Pristauz had had some success between the second half of 2019 and the first part of 2020, winning a bronze medal at the European Championships and silver at an FIVB World Tour 2-star event in Qinzhou, China.

However, his demands on himself were just draining all his energy and his passion for the game.

“I wasn’t able to deal with pressure in the right way,” Ermacora told Volleyball World during the first event of the Cancun Hub, the second since his return. “I always had negative thoughts and frustrations in my mind and could never relax, even when I was home. I felt overwhelmed and unhappy and it was clear that things couldn’t continue that way. I remember I told Moritz: ‘I don’t know when I’m coming back and there’s a chance I will never return’. Now I feel that if I hadn’t done it at the time, I would have had to quit for good.”

During his time away from the courts, Ermacora did what he could to put his mind in a better place. Vacations with his girlfriend and working with a mental coach were some of the things that helped him put beach volleyball aside for a moment.

Slowly, he started feeling better and more energized about potentially returning to the sport. Dealing with his frustrations became less painful and the desire to play was returning. After playing indoor volleyball with his friends for fun, Ermacora decided it was time for the next step.

“It was December and I decided to go practise with Moritz and it just felt right,” he added. “There weren’t a lot of tournaments in the period, so I didn’t feel like I was missing a lot and that helped. I felt I was able to deal with my negative feelings, because the truth is there’s no way to simply avoid them, so you have to accept it. But I was getting back home and feeling beach volleyball had been left outside. And now I feel great, I see that I can focus more on the positives than on the negatives, which is exactly what I needed.”

Ermacora and Pristauz, nicknamed the M&Ms in Austria, have had a strong start in Cancun winning their first two matches, one in the qualifier and the other in the main draw. They are still in the mix to potentially qualify for the Tokyo Olympics and with Ermacora’s mind in the right place, he feels nothing will stand in their way.

“That’s our main goal, for sure,” he reacted. “But we’ll take it one step at a time. I was really happy about the way we played in Doha last month even if finishing 17th is not necessarily what we’re looking for. It was a great first step and we’re hoping to take a few more steps forward here in Cancun.”

All the matches of the 4-star event in Cancun continue to be streamed live on the Beach Volleyball World Youtube channel. Subscribe, log in and set reminders to receive notifications when streams begin.

Go to:
Cancun Hub - 1st event
Cancun Hub - 1st event - Match schedule
Provisional Olympic ranking - Men
Provisional Olympic ranking - Women

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