This past summer, my brother Liam and I had the opportunity to represent Canada at the U21 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Larnaca, Cyprus. To get this bid, we had to play in a qualification tournament in Canada earlier that year.

Countries typically send two teams to youth world championships. One team gets an entry directly into the main draw of the tournament. The second team must play in a qualification tournament the day before the main draw begins, in order to compete with other countries for a handful of spots in the main draw. Liam and I made it to the final round of the qualification tournament, but fell a few points short against the team that would go on to win the silver medal.

To add insult to injury, all the other teams that lost in the final round of the qualification tournament got a spot in the main draw due to some no shows and random chance (they drew teams from a hat). The three drawn teams are what you would call the "lucky losers". My team on the other hand? "Unlucky losers" :)

The bright side is that I got to stick around and watch Canada's womens team win Canada's first FIVB gold medal.

Insights via match reports.

Round 2 of Qualification – Canada vs. Australia – July 23rd, 2014

This was a very close game. The scores were 21-15, 28-30, 19-17. It was the longest match of the tournament at one hour and three minutes. The location was Larnaca, Cyprus and it was very hot. This first set of this match was not very stressful, however the next two sets were. My partner and I had multiple opportunities to finish the match in the second set. We did do a good job managing the pressure as we survived multiple set points in favour of our opponents in the second set. On the other hand, when we did have match point in the second set, I believe I got ahead of myself. We were up 20-19 in the second set and I was setting my partner at the net. I expected him to finish of the match then, but the Australians peeled and got the point. I realize now that I could have communicated with my partner more effectively at that moment. I should have treated that point like any other point in the match. I needed to fight for that point instead of expecting my partner to finish it off. In the third set, I think that both teams were so exhausted from the heat that is was a constant battle to stay focused. I remember trying to channel the energy that I had into each rally. When our opponents were up 17-16 in the third set, my partner gave me a good set at the net and I swung and scored. However, my fingers wrapped around the mesh on the follow through and I pulled down the net. The referee hesitated greatly on the call but managed to make the right call and award us the point. The Australians were not happy about this. My partner and I stole the next two points to win the match. I believe that the Australians were affected by the previous point. This once again reminds me that I can never let the referee affect me.

Round 3 of Qualification – Canada vs. Russia – July 23rd, 2014

This was a very close game. The scores were 17-21, 21-19, 13-15. At first I was slightly intimidated because I had heard stories about other teams going to worlds and getting beaten badly by Russia. I believe this affected me in the first set because I wasn’t confident that we could win and I didn’t fight for every point. After the first set, I now believed that we could beat this team. My partner and I played side-out volleyball and were able to steal a few point here and there. The third set began with Russia jump-serving me. The first serve, I tried to pokie it over the block but was blocked and was unable to recover. The next two points I attempted to hit a shot but the Russian defender was able to chase them down. The fourth point I swung and just missed the line. My team was down 4-0 and I called a time out. During the time out, Coach Eddie asked if I had any thoughts about my attacking. Nothing came to mind and I said no. Eddie then asked if I had been playing it safe. I then realized that I was playing it safe by not taking any risks during the first three points. The fourth time I was served, I took a risk and just missed. For the remainder of the set we played side-out volleyball and found ourselves down 14-10. This didn’t deter either of us from continuing to fight. We stole the next two points. When we were down 14-12, I took a risk and signalled to my partner that I was cross blocking. We served the Russian blocker and I blocked him. Then I went to the line and missed my serve. I learned that playing it safe is never an option. I have to take risks if I want to succeed. I felt like I let my partner down because I started my team off with a 4-0 deficit and then missed my serve when we had the momentum at the end of the game. This especially hurt because every loser from the third round of qualification made it into the main draw except for us. I still feel responsible for that loss but I learned a valuable lesson.