Mark Van Zwieten finishes fifth at Pan American Games – Beach volleyball news
The 24-year-old Pompano Beach resident, Mark Van Zwieten, become quite a highlight of the beach volleyball tournament at the recently concluded Pan American Beach Volleyball Cup at the Pan American Games. The young ocean engineer from Florida Atlantic University
(FAU) has enjoyed many great moments during his volleyball career. He captured the state championship in his senior year at Cardinal Gibbons High School and also clinched success at the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) tour, which represented
the U.S. overseas. Van Zwieten teamed up with Andrew Fuller and participated in the 16th Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico last month. The staged stellar performance and emerged as the one of the top-five teams of the tournament.
Around 6,000 athletes from 42 countries from the western hemisphere joined the action in Guadalajara. The special feature of the 2011 Pan American Games was an opportunity to get tickets to the 2012 London Olympic Games. The duo of VanZwieten and Andrew
Fuller were looking to cash in on the opportunity.
They only had a few weeks of training at the Olympic training centre at Chula Vista, California and then travelled to Mexico for ten days of competition. The tandem performed well and amazed the audience of 5,000 with their classy digging and diving. VanZwieten
and Fuller made it out of pool play after defeating tough Chilean rivals. However, they could not carry the momentum in the next matches and got knocked off by the eventual bronze medallist team from Argentina.
Their effort was commendable but the American pairing fell only one game short of medal contention by placing fifth.
The American Head Coach Jeff Conover gave out his opinion about the rising beach volleyball star. He said: "Mark is a great volleyball player with years of experience as a product of growing up around the game and being involved with multiple high-performance
programs through USA volleyball. With Mark's ball control and overall feel for the game, combined with Andrew's size and potential for dominating the net, they were the best pair for competing in this very physically and mentally demanding international level
of competition."
VanZwieten appreciated the support and cooperation of coaches and other staff members, who helped them to formulize different strategies and back-up plans for every match. He openly admitted that it was his best experience of attending a beach volleyball
tournament during his career.
The selection committee at USA Volleyball (USAV) earned the credit for selecting this pair of wonderful players for Pan American Games. The group of coaches and administrators at the organization looked for the right combination of young talent, chemistry
and the ability to adapt and succeed on the international level. Moreover, the head coach Jeff Conover was equally involved in leading the duo to success.
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