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The local newspaper Firda har written an article about the result in Hammerfest. Check it out!

H & S

This weekend we participated in the danish tour - Fanta tour. Since we have no danish ranking points we had to start to play one of the best danish teams - the second ranked team in Denmark. It started out great and we won the first set 21-19. We had a big lead in this set but in the end the danish team manged to collect many points before we managed to win the set. The next set we had more problems winning the side out. Partly due to bad receive in the wind and partly due to mistakes we made in attack. We lost the second set 21-12. The third set was very close but unfortunately we lost 15-13.

Loosing the first match, we had to win at least four matches in a row to reach the semi-finals. We won three matches in a row on saturday and should play for the semi-finals sunday morning. This match also started out very good we won the first set 21-17. Then we lost the next 21-15 and the third 15-10. After this we were very disappointed. We had to play for the fifth and sixth place - and we had lost close matches againts the two teams that made it to the finals.

With absolutely no fighting spirit we played a bad match and lost the next match and enden sixth. We never wanted to win this last match and mostly we were dissappointed not reaching the finals. It was however a great practice tournament with five great matches from our side. We will try to go back to Denmark to play in Hornbæk in three weeks. Next time we will have a better seed and we will not have to meet the best teams in the beginning and we will try to win the close matches. Playing close to the team that won means that we have great chances in this tournament. However there are many teams that fight in the top. To check out the detailed results click on DVBF's web pages.

S&H

Sunnfjord Energy has now published our travel letters from Italy and Switzerland on their web page. Check it out !!!

S&H

Unfortunately Cecilie and I ended last in the main draw in Xylokastro. We did not play very well together and lost both out games, first against Greece 2-0 (21-15 and 21-10) and second against Canada 2-0 (21-12 and 21-13). The main problem was that we are not used to playing with eachother. I had problems with the setting and therefore they served all the serves on my partner - so I would have to set. We also had a lot of misunderstandings in defense.

Now I am looking forward to play with my partner Hilde Schjerven. We will play a tournament in Denmark- Marienlyst the coming weekend.

Synnøve

The local newspaper in Notodden where Hilde comes from have written an article on their web page. Check it out! .

S&H

Tomorrow Synnøve leaves for Athens to play FIVB challenger in Xylokastro. Synnøve will play with Cecilie Josefsen in this tournament because Hilde is in her brothers marriage. As far as we know only 32 teams have signed up for this tournament so we are directly qualified for the main draw. You can follow the results from this tournament on our web page. The tournaments starts on Friday 28th.

S&H

"To advance to the qualifying round we had to take two victories in a row. The first team we met, was a Chech team which we did'nt know nothing about, exept that they had no ranking points. We thought we perhaps had luck with the draw this time, but soon found out that the reason why this team had no points in advance, definately not was because they were'nt better. They beat us 21-13, 21-15 and we were never able to threaten their victory. At first we were quite disappointed of course, but seeing them in their next matches comforted us a bit. They first beat a very good American team and then a Japaneese. In their next match the best American team nearly suffered the same destiny as us. The Chech team managend to qualify for the main draw.

This means we were both a bit unlucky, but in the end practise and even more practise is the only thing that helps. Still we clearly see progress in our play and on a good day we are definately capeable of matching most of the teams we have met so far in these three WT tournaments we have participated in so far."

S&H

"We have now arrived Gstaad in Switzerland after at travel by train through the beautiful Alps. The first team we'll meet tomorrow is a team (from CZE) with zero points in the World Tour. We don't know nothing about this team, but we are belive we have a fair chanse."

S&H

"The first match against the Swiss team ended with loss 0-2 (9-21,11,21). They had very good serves and we did many mistakes. In out second match, we met a different hungarian team (Matrai-Brecher from Hungary) than we first thought. They were unknown for us and in the first set we played all our balls over at their best player and received a lot of difficult balls in return. This set ended 21-13. In the second set we played very good and had several chanses to end the set in our favour but unfortunately we lost 24-26.

Now we look forward to the tournament in Switzerland and in the meantime enjoy the nice and warm weather and play some training matches.

S&H

"After the main draw we will meet the Swiss team Benoît-Kuhn in our first match. If we win that match we'll meet a strong american team. If we loose, a hungarian team, (which we played 20-22, 18-21 against in a rather average training match from our side) will be our next opponent.

S&H

more info yet to come....

After a few cold and rainy days, the sun was finally back in Oslo. In the nice weather a lot of people had taken the time to vistit the Nordic open at Rådhusplassen. The arrangement by Oslo Sandvolleyball Club was very good and we think it will be even better tomorrow during the finals.

Nordic Open is however over for us. We started this morning playing against a very good swedish team. They started the game with six serv-aces in a row and we really got a bad start. This made us a bit nervous and we made a lot of mistakes the rest of the match. They beat us easily 2-0. This swedish team is in the semi-finals tomorrow morning.

In our next match we played against Josefsen/Tørlen - again. Also this time we started out the first set with nervous play and lost the first set. In the second set we had a different attitude. The good fighting spirit helped us win the second set. In the third set we started really good and we where in the lead 7-3 and 10-5. Then we started making a lot of mistakes and Josefsen/Tørlen got 5 points in a row. It was a close race and we though we should win our attack on the score 14-13. We lost the ball and the score was 14-14. We took the first side-out and had a second match ball but we couldn't win that one either. Josefsen/Tørlen did few mistakes in the end of the set and won 17-15. This was a frustrating loss but we have to make fewer mistakes if we want to get better results.

There is no time to be sad however, we are leaving for World Tour in Italy (Cagliari) on monday morning. We play the first matches on wednesday. We hope to win at least one match in order to get Norwegian ranking points. It will be a tough tournament with 65 teams from all over the world.

S & H

Telen is the local newspaper in Notodden where Hilde comes from. They have written an article about us on their web page. Take a look!

S & H

Sunnfjord energi has published a new article about us on their web page. There is also a new picture taken on the tournament at Torshov two weeks ago. Take a look!

S & H

We got a wild card in Nordic Open which will take place at Rådhusplassen in Oslo this weekend. First we got the message that we would have to play the qualification on friday, however that would have been impossible for us due to work. Luckily we got the wild card and will play in the main draw since we had most FIVB point among the teams in the qualification. Now we are looking forward to a tough competition on Saturday with two swedish teams and the best danish team participating. This will be fun!

S & H

The first norwegian ranking tournament is now history. We ended fifth and got six new ranking points. In our first macth we won easily 2-0. The second match we played agaist our traning partners Josefsen/Tørlen. We started the match very good and was in the lead until we had 16 points then we started making a lot of unforced errors in serve and attack. In the second set we also made a lot of mistakes and it is difficult to win agaist experienced teams with that many mistakes. It was unfortunately a bad match from our side.

In the next match we met Håkedal /Hansen which is a very good norwegian team. They are tall and they spike really hard and it was hard to receive the strong jumpserves. We where happy to get 18 ponts in the first set, but in the second set we did not have a chance because we gave too many points in the start of the set.

Now we are looking forward to play the Nordic Open in Rådhusplassen in Oslo. This will be a big event with all the best teams in Norway.

S & H

FIVB has published the participating teams in the WT event in Cagliari, Italy June 13th-17th, and according to their statement on the FIVB beachVB web site, the teams for the next WT event in Gstaad will also be released soon: "The FIVB has announced the list of participating teams of the forthcoming events. 101 men's teams in Tenerife, 65 women's teams in Cagliari, 93 men's teams and 79 women's teams in Gstaad." This will be two really tough tournaments!!!

We leave for Italy (and Gstaad) in two weeks from now, on Monday June 11th. In the mean time, there are two tournaments here in Norway, first in Bergen this coming Sunday, and then the big event here in Oslo: Nordic Open. Looking at the teams participating, both tournaments will be great, with the best Norwegian teams participating. And in Oslo, there will also be some invited teams from other countries. We have waited a long time for the season to start and from the coming weekend it has fully started with tournaments every weekend.

S & H

The first ranking tournament this season will take place in Bergen the 3rd of June. 12 teams have registered to play this tournament. We are seeded number two and therefore we hope to get a good result in this tournament. It will be a great tournament where the best norwegian teams are participating. Check out the web page for this tournament for further information.

H & S

Sunnfjord Energi (our sponsor) has now published our travel letter from Hong Kong, Macau, and China on their web page. Take a look at their web page to read it and to see the pictures !

H & S

Today was the first Norwegian tournament this season. This was a local tournament at Torshov in Oslo. It was arranged by Oslo Sandvolleyball Club and only members of the club could participate. There were 6 female teams and 8 male teams participating. Our first match was against Breistein/Leipsland, and we won 2-0 (21-12, 21-5). This led us directly to the semifinals were we played against our previous partners Hoem/Høsøien. We won 2-0 (21-9, 21-14). In the finals we played agaist Evensen/Aastad and we won 2-1 (14-21, 21-10, 15-8). Although our play was average it was a great start of the season in Norway. In the male tournament Løborg/Ingeborgrud won and Hjellseth/Jakobsen came second.

The next tournament we will participate is in Bergen in two weeks. This the first ranking tournament this summer and we hope to get some points there.

H & S

Now we should have been in Mexico, but unfortunately that World Tour got
cancelled... Well, the weather here in Norway has been just great the last
week, with sunshine and warm temperatures-perfect for playing beach
volleyball! Also, the tournament calendar for this summer is now getting
ready, although we are expecting a few more CEV tournaments, especially one
or more Qualification Tournaments before the European Championship (Sept.
6-9th). Also, there might be some more Norwegian tournaments, and the date
for the Norwegian Championship is not set yet. Anyway, the summer is
getting packed with tournaments, starting now on Saturday with a local
Tournament for the members of Oslo Sand Volleyball Club. Then, it starts
"for real" the first weekend in June, with a ranking tournament in Bergen,
and then the big event in Oslo - Nordic Open - the following weekend, on
June 8th-10th. We are also going to participate in the next two World Tour
events, first in Italy June 13-17th, and then in Switzerland, June 19-23rd.
We have not finally decided which other tournaments to participate in for
the rest of the summer, but we'll keep you updated as we know more.

H & S

It is Spring in Norway and today we could finally start to practice outside. The temperature is between 10-12 degrees so it is a bit cold, but when we put on enough clothes it is great! It is much better to practice outside because we get to practice with the wind and sun factor. In Macau, during the windy and rainy days, we experienced that it is a large difference between playing indoor and outdoor.

The pictures from Macau is soon available on our webpage - keep on visiting our page

S & H

The sad news was official at FIVB's web page today: MEN AND WOMEN'S OPEN EVENT IN ROSARITO, MEXICO WILL NOT TAKE PLACE ON 16 - 20 MAY AS PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED. MEXICO IN STAND-BY FOR THE EVENTUAL ORGANIZATION OF THE EVENT BETWEEN OCTOBER AND DECEMBER 2001. MORE NEWS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT A LATER STAGE. We have been looking forward to this tournament and therefore this message was really depressing. Now we will try to participate in some tournaments in Sweeden which will take place in the same weekend as WT Mexico was planned - May 19th - 20th. We hope to participate in a few tournaments before the Norwegian Tour starts in Oslo 7th - 10th of June.

S & H

We have now arrived back in Norway after the trip to Macau and China, and we are now preparing for the next tournament in Mexico, Rosarito 16th - 20th of May. The team Glesnes/Maaseide from Norway is also going to this WT tournament. However,
we now see that FIVB announces that this WT tournament is not verified due to problems with sponsors. We really hope that it will work out and that the tournament will be arranged as planned. It's getting a bit late to cancel this trip, but we will await the decision that will be made on April 20th (coming Friday).

S & H

Both Norwegian teams had bad luck in the drawing of the lots. First,
Josefsen/Toerlen could have drawn seed number 11-13, with 11 and 12 giving a
bye in the first round. However, they got 13, and had to play the first
round. Next, we (and the other teams without international points) could
draw seed between 14 and 20, and with our bad luck this time we got seed no
20. On top of that, beeing 20 teams playing a 32 teams bracket, we ended up
having to play the other Norwegian team (Josefsen/Toerlen) in the first
match (seed 13 vs 20)!

So, 9 am this morning we started playing, Norway versus Norway, and it
actually felt like beeing back in Norway also, during one of the windy and
rainy Norwegian summer tournaments... After several days of beautiful
weather here in Macau, this morning started with quite heavy wind and rain,
and the play was a bit thereafter. But it was a tight game: We won the first
set 21-19, then lost second set 19-21. Unfortunate for us, the secretariate
made a mistake in the second set, and instead of 10-8 in favour of
Josefsen/Toerlen, they gave the score 11-7, and then fixed it wrongly to
11-8. This was due to the wind that took the scoreboard so it was difficult
for them to keep it right since all the sheets were flying. Loosing this one
point, and all the fuss around it, distroyed our concentration for a while,
and Josefesn/Toerlen got another 2 or 3 points in a row. We tried to catch
up on their advantage, but didn't get close enough in time, and thus lost
that set 21-19. Again, third set was pretty close, but Josefsen/Toerlen won
15-12.

Then after loosing this first important game, we got a bye, due to the
32-teams bracket, and then played agains a team from China. Both players
were pretty tall and had a good spike. They play professionally and practice
2 times daily. They had some trouble with the heavy wind and had lost the
previous match to a Japanese team during quite heavy wind. When we started
playing there was no wind but it was cold and raining pretty much. After
just a few points, it started pouring down. The organizers had too stop all
matches until the weather improved. All games were stopped for about 30-40
minutes during the worst rainfall, and then we started on score 6-3 to
China. After this break we were very motivated for this match. We played
really good side-out play and our spikes were really good. We think this is
the best set we have ever played. The Chineese won 21-18. Although we lost
we are really satisfied with getting 18 points agaist such an experienced
team. The next set were also very good. We continued the good side-out play,
but had too many serve mistakes, which we have infact had too many of during
our practice as well. China won 21-14 in the second set.

With 2 losses we are out of the tournament. But we have learned a lot during
this tournament and we will learn even more by watching the other teams play
in the coming days. Also we are planning to play more practice matches.

The other norwegian team, Josefsen/Torlen, still has a chance to get a
so-called "lucky looser" and maybe they will play a match tomorrow. If they
win they are in the main draw. Had we won the match against them it would
have been us, but...

We have had a great few days here in Macau, and are looking forward to the
coming days.

H & S

This morning we practiced together with the Canadian team again. We played
sideout play. Later we practiced with New Zealand, which is in the
qualification tournament. Our play was really bad and we made a lot of serve faults. They beat us 21-14. The second set was much closer but we did not
finish it.

One of the other norwegian teams, Josefsen/Torlen, also arrived
this morning - so we went together for lunch. The food is very good and
exciting.

Today is the technical meeting and the tournament starts tomorrow.
You can follow our activities on FIVB's Webpage:

Today we played more practice matches. We started in the morning playing against the Mexican team. This time the result was 21-12, 21-16, 15-10 in favor of the Mexicans. We still do many mistakes especially do we serve
to many faults.

Later the Canadian team, which is in the main draw, arrived. We played 2 sets against them. They won 21-17 and 21-17. Although we lost, we are really happy with the result. Our play is getting better. We had a good side-out
play in this match. Maybe it helps to look at the many great teams that
practice here.

In the evening we played with the Macauan team. We won 21-12, 21-9, 21-16, 21-9, and 21-13. We played in the dark so the visibility was poor.

We beat Macao1 21-12, 21-15 and 21-10 in a practice match!

After two days in Hong Kong, we are now settled in Macau. We are early, only one other team (from Mexico) has arrived, and they are directly qualified for the main draw. The weather here in Macau is even better than in Hong Kong. It's warmer and more humid, even at night- so it's great for us!! Yesterday evening and this morning, we played practice matches against the Mexican team. Yesterday they beat us 21-10, and 21-15, and today we got between 12 and 14 points in each set. We are happy to get so many points against a team in the main draw, especially since one of the players (Hilda) actually played in the olympics in Sidney! However, we did a lot of mistakes, and we hope that the practice the next few days will improve our play. We are not used to the wind-factor, as we have only practiced indoor. Hilda said that they were very good friends of Heidi and Solvi, so beachvolleyball is a small world. We are looking forward to the next few days of practice, and hope to get more practice matches before the tournament starts.

S & H

We have finally arrived in Hong Kong, and it is great!!! These two first days we have had sunshine and 20-24 degrees C. We are overwhelmed by new exciting impressions, everything is totaly different from back home: The sounds, the smell in the street coming from dusins of different small resataurants, the amasing skyline (seen from the Victoria Peak on Hong Kong island), the streets filled with neon signs in chinese characters. We have had time for sightseeing, and in addition, we very lucky enough to bump into a great night-market on our way back home to the hotel. There they sell everything you need, and anything that you don't really need, but somehow want anyway. We managed to spend all of our Hong Kong dollars that night...

H & S

Today was our last practice in Akropolis before we leave for Macau. We played a practice match agaist a norwegian male team. It was a great practice match for us and now we are looking forward to get to Macau and practice there a few days before the tournament starts. Our plane leaves tomorrow morning and we are very excited. We will update our web page from Macau when the tournament starts and the results start to come.

H & S

Our preparation for Macau has been to practice in the indoor beachvolleyball hall in Drammen, Akropolis. We have had practice matches with different teams both male and female. We feel that our practice this winter has payed off. Although we still do some unforced errors, our communication is getting better. Living in Norway there is of course a limit to how well we can prepare for the season, but we are satisfied with our preparation so far. We only have one more day to practice before we leave for Hong Kong on Wednesday morning.

H & S

For those of you who plan to go to Sweden to play a few tournaments this summer, the preliminary schedule is now available on the Internet. There seem to be something happening every weekend from the middle of May to the middle of August.

H & S

Today we made an agreement with a new sponsor, Röhnisch. Röhnisch Sportswear is a leading manufacturer of sensible clothing for active women, with special focus on Fitness and Aerobics. Since we need to wear similar clothes on tournaments it is great to get an agreement with Röhnisch beacuse they have a really nice collection of high quality clothes. This will of course reduce our clothing budget this season. The clothes are perfect to wear for beachvolleyball players. Take a look at their web-page if you want to see their spring collection for 2001.

H & S

Our departure to Macau is getting closer - only one week to go. We have found a great web-site with information about Macau. This page includes almost all you need to know to go there; tourist guide, history/facts, transportation guide, pictures, market guide, weather report etc. March and April are the seasonal interchange periods in Macau. The temperature and humidity have started to rise. The temperature in Macau is now between 20-25°C. This will be a pleasant change for us from Norway.

Saturday there was an article about our trip to Macau/China in Firda, the local newspaper from Synnøve's home county. This article is also published on their webpage. Although the article is a little ambitious with regard to what tournaments we plan to participate in, it is nice that the local newspaper will follow our activities during the coming season. We will of course update our web page when the paper writes something new.

S & H

Sunnfjord Energi has now published our collaboration with them on their web page. Take a look at their web page to see what they have written.

S & H

Now FIVB has published the list of participating teams in this first World Tour 2001 in Macau. There are 3 Norwegian teams participating: Glesnes/Maaseide are directly qualified for the Main Draw, while Josefsen/Toerlen and we (Øyra/Schjerven) have to play the Qualification Tournament. There are 25 teams in the qualification tournament, and 8 of these teams will make it to the main draw. There are 22 teams directly qualified for the main draw, with the addition of 2 Wild Cards and 8 teams from the Qualification Tournaments, making up the final 32 teams. We do not expect to make it to the main draw, but we expect to learn a lot by playing against great teams and to look at the best teams in the world. We are really looking forward to this tournament! Only 13 days to go....

S & H

Today we signed the agreement with a new sponsor. We will collaborate with Sunnfjord Energi, which is a power-supply company from Synnøve's home county. Part of the agreement is that we will write reports and provide pictures from tournaments we participate in. These articles will be published on Sunnfjord Energi's home page. You can find the link on our front page by clicking on the logo. We will of course write it on our news when there is something published on this page.

H & S

Today we had a meeting with our main sponsor, the norwegian radio channel P4. We discussed the terms of our collaboration, and we feel that the terms for this agreement is really interesting. Among other things, we are going to make some contribution to the travel program "around the world" by Ståle Fossberg. We are really looking forward to this exciting task. The link to P4's home page is to be found on our front page. You can download the radio channel online on this web page "hør P4 på nett". We will of course write information on this page when our contribution will be sendt on P4.

S & H

The schedule for the Danish Tour (Fanta Tour) is now ready on the internet. You can find it on our link side under tournaments.

Synnøve has participated in this Tour previously, in Løkken 1999, and therefore recommends it warmly. The atmosphere there is great, with a lot of competitions sponsored by different companies, and social events in the evening. We will try to participate in some of these tournaments, however it depends on which other tournaments take part in the same weekends. We will prioritise Norwegian Tour and perhaps also the few CEV tournaments that will be arranged this summer. The Norwegian Tour calendar is not ready yet, neither is the CEV calendar. Meanwhile we are looking forward to the qualification for the World Tour in Macao.... Now only 15 days before we leave...!!!

S & H

It is still winter here in Oslo, with snow and ice covering the ground, so we have to go to an indoor court in the neighboring city (Drammen) to practice on sand. We still don't have any indoor sandvolleyball court here in Oslo, but there are several people working on it, so maybe next winter? However, in Drammen there is a fitness center, called "Akropolis" where they have an indoor beachvolleyball court. The sand there is really soft, so it is a hard transition from playing normal indoor to come there in the sand, but good as preparation for "the real thing". We only lack the wind factor and the sun!

In our preparation for Macau, we go to Akropolis in Drammen (about 50 minutes drive one way!) to practice in the sand as often as we can. We still play indoor volleyball, and have to practice some with our indoor team. So even if we do not get to practice on sand everyday, we do practice volleyball everyday. From now on, we will try to go Akropolis every day, in order to get as much practice on sand as possible before we go to Macau. When reading about the two other Norwegian teams who are in Rio now, practicing 2-3 times a day, we realize how much left behind we get on our preparation for the up-coming beachvolleyball season. However, we try our best in combining our demanding work and study with beachvolleyball practice here in the cold north. In addition to practicing on our own, doing different drills, we hope to play some practice games against some of the other teams here in Oslo. We feel that we have very good benefit from our practice so far, and we are looking forward to the up-coming event in Macau, as the time for our departure is getting closer and closer… Now: Only 16 days to go…!!!!

S & H

Since the winter is long and cold here in Norway, with limited opportunities to practice on sand, we had decided to go somewhere warmer during Easter to practice beachvolleyball. We applied to NVBF for permission to participate in the qualification for World Tour in Macau, China 4th - 8th of April, and finally, yesterday, we got the answer with approval from the coach of the national team! This is an opportunity that we could barely dare to hope for, and we are very excited about it! It will be a great experience for us, and we expect to learn a lot, which we can benefit from during the rest of the season. As far as we know, there are only two other Norwegian teams that are planning to participate in this tournament. We hope to also get some quality practice with some of the other participating teams when we are in Macau.

We ordered tickets today, and we are leaving Norway on March 28th. That will give us some time in Macau to get used to the time-difference, hot temperature and sunshine, and will be valuable time for practice and preparing for the qualification tournament.

We will stay in Macau/Hong Kong until April 14th. In addition to practicing beachvolleyball, we will take some trips to experience Asian culture. Hilde has been in Hong Kong and China previously, so she is familiar with some of the pitfalls we might encounter in a foreign culture. If you have any suggestions for places we should visit, feel free to contact us by using the "contact us" link to the left. S & H

Today we just came back from a weekend in Gøteborg, were we practised beachvolleyball with Jan Kvalheim as the instructor. This camp was arranged by Oslo Beachvolleyball Club and it was a camp for players on all levels. It was great to se even a group of nine year old kids from Moss who were really talented. It will be great to see them in five to ten years from now.

For us, it was great to get some advice from such a great and experienced beachvolleyball player as Jan Kvalheim. We learned new drills and got helpful advice/corrections which we will bring with us when we practice on our own.

We hope that Oslo Beachvolleyball Club will arrange other similar camps. Living in Norway, the winter is long and cold, and at this beachvolleyball hall in Gøteborg we got a taste of summer heat and warm sand. After practice, it was nice to sit under the "palmtrees" listening to summer music together with good volleyball friends. Almost felt like being back on the beach....

S & H