Swiss defender Mirco Gerson said that his country's Nations Clash triumph was the perfect preparation for the Tokyo Olympics qualification race, as the 28-year-old defender and partner Adrian Heidrich prepare to battle it out in Doha next week.
Gerson/Heidrich teamed up with 2020 King Of The Court champions Marco Krattiger and Florian Breer to win the inaugural Nations Clash in Dusseldorf, Germany in February, and for Gerson it was great to be back competing.
“It felt very good to be competing again, it has been very different. We have had one full year without a competition, and then all of a sudden, you are back there competing again. For me it was very nice to play games again, not just practise games in training. It felt like beach volleyball again.”
The Swiss defeated strong squads from the Netherlands, Germany and Austria to win the gold medal in an event where two teams from a nation competed together over a series of games to win each tie. The format was very different to the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, but similar to the Continental Cup, a change that Gerson enjoyed.
“Honestly, we know already from the Continental Cup that competing as a nation is nice. It makes more of a team feeling. It is also good to know that you won’t have to play against Swiss guys.”
Read more: Netherlands women and Swiss men triumph in Nations clash
Switzerland are the current European Champions in the women’s game and have two teams in the top 12 in the world. But with Gerson, Heidrich, Florian Breer, Marco Krattiger and also Yves Haussener and Quentin Metral, the men too are showing promising signs of a bright future. Gerson says that the squad mentality is to push everyone to be better. The teams work individually but work well together when they need to perform.
“I would say we are close. Everybody respects each other and everyone wants to push each other to the limit. And this is the best way we can do it at the moment. In a Continental Cup or a national clash scenario, we are all supporting each other and cheering for each other, and that is the most important thing.”
It was clear during the Nations Clash that Heidrich/Gerson had been working hard in a quiet year. They are based at the Swiss Volley training base in Bern and work closely with their head coach Mike Suter. Suter is now also aided by the experienced Danny Rodriguez Wood who works with Breer/Krattiger and Haussener/Metral and is in turn supported by Suter. And Gerson can see the improvements.
“We improved a lot over this period, we have had a lot more time to improve technically, our serving is also more stable I think. Overall it has been a tough period through Covid, but we have tried to do our best. In the end, we worked from November forwards really hard, and I think that’s what makes us better now. But I feel as if we did a good job over the Covid season.”
Asked if the performance at the Nations Clash has given the team confidence ahead of the FIVB World Tour returning to Doha, Gerson was unsure whether confidence was the right term.
“Confidence is maybe the wrong word. It is nice to see what we have improved over the past few months. It also showed us what we need to improve more. It was the perfect start for us towards the Olympics, to see what works and what doesn’t. And we still have time to improve ourselves.”
Gerson and Heidrich are currently sitting one place outside the Olympic qualification places for Tokyo but are level on points with Canada’s Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter on 5,700 points, and only 20 points behind Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins. The team will know that if they get a good result in Doha, it will edge them closer to a spot in Tokyo.
Go to: Katara Beach Volleyball Cup 2021
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