They play together on the beach like brothers, they understand each other like brothers, they stand by each other like brothers and they even look like brothers. Teammates for over 12 years now, Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira have turned into a true symbol of partnership longevity and arecthe quintessential brothers in arms of beach volleyball.
38-year-old Pablo Herrera has represented Spain in international beach volleyball for almost 20 years. He made his FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour debut in June 2001, alongside Raul Mesa. A couple of months later, the young Spanish tandem claimed silver at the FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championship in France, the first major international medal in their careers. The following year, Herrera and Mesa did even better at an event in Italy and triumphed as U21 world champions.
Herrera’s first World Tour medal came in 2004, when he and Javier Bosma took gold at the Lianyungang Open in China after a dramatic victory (21-19 in the tiebreak) over Brazilian legends Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos in the final, a prelude to the Athens Olympic final three months later, when the Brazilians won to leave the Spaniards with a historic silver.
Also in 2004, Herrera and Mesa became U23 European champions. A year later, they won continental gold at the senior level in Moscow. A dry period followed before the pair were able to get back onto the podium at World Tour and continental tour events in 2008. They also took part in the Beijing Olympics shortly before splitting up as a team.
Before teaming up with Herrera in 2009, Adrian Gavira won four silver medals. He was on the podium at the 2006 FIVB Beach Volleyball Challenger in Cyprus and at the 2007 CEV U23 European Championship with Francisco Alfredo Marco. Good runs followed at the 2007 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championship in Italy with Alejandro Fernandez, and at the 2008 World Tour event in Stare Jablonki, Poland with Inocencio Lario.
Herrera and Gavira’s first international appearance as a duo came in May 2009 at the CEV Spanish Masters, where they finished fifth. The following week they made their World Tour debut with a ninth-place finish at the Foro Italico Open in Rome. And they have been practically inseparable ever since.
“From the first year we played together we knew that there was a good connection between us. We are two very competitive players. Adrian is always fighting every ball and pulling the team,” Pablo Herrera told Volleyball World.
In July 2009, Herrera and Gavira reached their first World Tour podium with a bronze medal at the Gstaad Grand Slam. The Spanish tandem have now collected as many as three golds, seven silvers and 10 bronze medals on the Tour.
“We remember some strong battles during that time - for example, with Alison Cerutti and Harley Marques for the 2009 Stare Jablonki bronze medal (22-24, 21-18, 17-15), or at the Marseille Grand Slam earlier that year when we won against Alison and Harley after a very long match (an hour and 25 minutes - 25-27, 21-19, 20-18) that went late into the night on one of the side courts to make the semifinals. At the 2019 World Tour Finals in Rome, we played a really good match against Andre Stein and George Wanderley (an hour and 12 minutes - 22-20, 22-24, 30-28) where the tiebreak was like two sets in one,” 33-year-old Gavira said.
Herrera and Gavira have also had a great run at the continental level. In their first season together, they won two of the four stops on the CEV European Championship Tour and then took bronze at the continental finals in Sochi. In 2013, they topped the podium at the European Championship in Klagenfurt claiming the continental title.
“We have lived through really good moments together, but through bad moments as well, like Pablo's injury in 2011-2012. After that we lost our points and we had to start our careers again. But we made a strong comeback with a few FIVB medals and the European title,” said Gavira.
Pablo and Adrian also played at two editions of the Olympic Games, finishing ninth at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 events. They are currently 11th in the FIVB World Ranking and look well on their way to qualifying for their third Olympics together (a fifth tournament for Herrera!).
“We are very good playing together. We understand each other very well on and off the court. I think that's one of the strong sides of our team. Pablo and I have played together throughout the last decade and even before that. I think we will be fine to continue playing together for another decade. We’ll be ‘the grandpa team,’” said Gavira. “That's because Pablo and I are like brothers and we stick together through good and bad moments.”
“We have had many good moments and some not so good ones that have made us stronger. The truth is that we have really enjoyed ourselves inside and outside the courts. We're like brothers,” Herrera confirmed.
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