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The Beach Volleyball Nations have announced their Team Captains
Berlin/Zurich, 01 February 2006: Every Team Has Its Own Niki Pilic!
He is the stabilising element at the Tennis Davis Cup, encouraging and motivating the players during side switch and giving them advice: the team captain. Probably the most prominent team captain in Germany is Niki Pilic, who won three Davis Cup titles with the German Tennis Team and also led Croatia to the Davis Cup Title. There will also be a team captain at the somewhat different Beach Volleyball event, the Beach Nations Cup® Final 2006 Berlin presented by NESTEA from 3-5 February in the Sportforum Hohenschönhausen – an indoor arena is somewhat innovative for Beach Volleyball. All participating nations have now announced their bosses.
The two-time European Champion Markus Dieckmann will assume the duties for the German Men’s Team, Stephanie Pohl, 2003 European Champion and fifth-place finisher at the 2004 Olympic Games will call the shots on the women’s side. The team captains are responsible for the appointment of the players for the “singles” (“two on two”) and “doubles” (“four on four”) matches as well as for the coaching during the “doubles”. Five of the participating six nations decided on a participating player for the post of team captain; only the Spaniards appointed federation coach Yoyi Luis.
The reasons for the decision are often the same: “I guess age was the deciding factor in my case, because as depressing as it is: I am the oldest”, Markus Dieckmann said, laughing. He sees himself more as a motivator than as a decision-maker: “We will give each other advice, because at the Beach Nations Cup® we want our German team colleagues to win as well. That is not usually the case.”
His brother Christoph Dieckmann, who formed a good, but often quarrelsome duo with his twin brother several years ago adds: “We will take decisions collectively, and of course I will not let Markus alone call all the action, except to tell me where to place my shots sometimes …” First and foremost he is looking forward to “playing as a nation and alongside Markus during the “doubles””, the four minute younger twin brother Christoph said.
Norway’s 37 year-old captain and the oldest player in the tournament, André Kjemperud, is of the same mind in the matter: “The players probably decided on me because I am the oldest. We will decide on our tactics together – especially for the “four on four” matches – because all of us are up to the task.”
Stephanie Pohl admits “that her nomination as captain for the “singles” and “doubles” is not so simple: After all, we have three teams and the Netherlands are our only opponent, so we will have two “singles”. The men do not have that problem because they have several opponents. We will solve the situation by letting those players who did not get a chance to play in the “singles” play for the duration of the “doubles” matches.” Niki Pilic could not have made a wiser decision…
The following players will be representing their nations as team captains in Berlin:
Women
Germany: Stephanie Pohl
Netherlands: Merel Mooren
Men
Germany: Markus Dieckmann
Norway: Jorre André Kjemperud
Switzerland: Sascha Heyer
Spain: Yoyi Luis (coach)
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