Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar have developed a foundation of trust that defines their great partnership. Witnessing the development of their team over the last few years has been nothing short of spectacular and here they reflect on their beginnings and achievements and look ahead to what awaits them in the future.
Taliqua and Mariafe first teamed up at an FIVB Challenger in Seoul, Korea in June 2012. A couple of months later, they made it on to the podium of the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Halifax, Canada, finishing third behind Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Nina Betschart of Switzerland, and Brazil's Rebecca Cavalcanti and Drussyla Costa of volleyball fame.
After playing two more international events together, Clancy and Artacho del Solar then played with different partners in 2013. They began the second stage of their partnership in October 2017, producing four consecutive gold medals on the AVC Beach Tour and the FIVB World Tour.
They bagged more medals between 2018 and 2019, including gold at the FIVB World Tour events in Lucerne, Espinho, Warsaw and Chetumal, bronze at the 2019 FIVB World Championships in Hamburg and back-to-back Asian Championship titles.
These successes were all accomplished in a span of just three years, but their bond runs even deeper.
Artacho del Solar defines her partnership with Clancy as competitive, fun, unique, driven and bold, while Clancy uses words like family, trust, respect, mindful and resilient to define their collaboration.
Mariafe Artacho del Solar:
Competitive: I believe we are a competitive team because we never give up, we hustle and always push ourselves and each other to continue to grow as a team.
Fun: We bring fun to our game and make sure we are always enjoying what we are doing.
Unique: We have a very unique style of game and we always push ourselves outside of our comfort zone.
Driven: We are both driven athletes on and off the court. We are on the same page and motivated to achieve our goals.
Bold: Our team chooses to have the courage in moments that matter, we stand strong and proud of the choices we make whether they are successful or not. There are always things to learn in every situation.
Taliqua Clancy:
Family: We are a tight-knit unit with a family-like feeling.
Trust: We have great trust in each of our roles and responsibilities.
Respect: We respect each other’s role in the team and understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Mindful: As a team we stay in the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting our feelings and thoughts.
Resilient: As a team we pride ourselves on adapting well in the face of adversity.
These are the values that define their success.
Read more: Roster 100 to showcase stars of volleyball and beach volleyball
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