That gold medal match in Beach Volleyball was maybe more of a procession than a tense thriller, but god damn I think Åhman and Hellvig (and their coaches!) deserve it. Always cool to see a sport being innovated, and they’ve been amazing to watch all tournament - well, after rallying from their two group stage losses. Which is also a feat to celebrate, I think. They looked terrible against Italy, and were dejected afterwards. Very strong to come back from that mentally, and especially at only 22 years old.
Will be very interesting to see other teams adapt and adopt this style of play going forward.
That’s unfortunate, beach volleyball is a really fun sport to watch.
The overall idea behind the style is introducing systematic two-touch attacks to their game (normal beach volleyball is pretty much always played on three touches). This lets them create uncertainty on the second touch - as player 2 jumps as if to spike on the second touch he can choose whether to follow through or do a jumping set-up pass to his teammate (hence jump-set). With the opposing team forced to consider two simultaneous angles of attack, it’s much easier to find openings.
That gold medal match in Beach Volleyball was maybe more of a procession than a tense thriller, but god damn I think Åhman and Hellvig (and their coaches!) deserve it. Always cool to see a sport being innovated, and they’ve been amazing to watch all tournament - well, after rallying from their two group stage losses. Which is also a feat to celebrate, I think. They looked terrible against Italy, and were dejected afterwards. Very strong to come back from that mentally, and especially at only 22 years old.
Will be very interesting to see other teams adapt and adopt this style of play going forward.
Interesting. I didn’t see very much of the beach volleyball. What was it about their style that was innovative?
That’s unfortunate, beach volleyball is a really fun sport to watch.
The overall idea behind the style is introducing systematic two-touch attacks to their game (normal beach volleyball is pretty much always played on three touches). This lets them create uncertainty on the second touch - as player 2 jumps as if to spike on the second touch he can choose whether to follow through or do a jumping set-up pass to his teammate (hence jump-set). With the opposing team forced to consider two simultaneous angles of attack, it’s much easier to find openings.
You can read more about it here.