With Gold Coast 2018 set to host the first ever Beach Volleyball competition 
at a Commonwealth Games, Team Scotland’s preparations have taken a step forward with the draw for both the men’s and women’s events confirmed, following a draw ceremony held at the Coolangatta Beachfront competition venue.
Overseen and sanctioned by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), the draw ceremony saw the 12 competing nations for both the men’s and women’s competitions drawn into three pools.
Scotland join Canada, Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone in Pool B of the men’s competition and, having won the European qualifier to take their place in Gold Coast, Robin Miedzybrodzki and Seain Cook are looking forward to the experience.
“It was fantastic watching the draw live last night on Facebook,” said Robin.
“It really hit us that the Games are fast approaching and gave us a glimpse of the quality of the event that the Australians are bringing together in the Gold Coast. We are very happy with the draw and are looking forward to continuing our preparations and bringing together our strategy for the pool games now that we know our schedule.”
Scotland’s women will face hosts Australia in Pool A, alongside Grenada and Cyprus, the team that beat them to an automatic qualifying place at the European qualifier. Lynne Beattie and Mel Coutts had an anxious wait in December to learn if they would receive an invitation to compete, but it’s now full steam ahead with their preparation.
“We are ecstatic at the opportunity to play the hosts on their home sand, this is a dream come true,” said Mel.
“We are also looking forward to another battle against our Small Countries counterparts Cyprus. Grenada will bring something different to us so we look forward to that challenge too. We are happy we now know who we have to play against and all the challenges they bring.”
Both men’s and women’s events will feature 12 teams of two players. The top four ranked teams were placed into the three pools in a snaking pattern according to their current FIVB Word Rankings, with the remaining eight teams then randomly drawn to complete the pools.
The allocated pools will determine the match schedule for the preliminary round-robin stage of the competition, with each team to play every other team within their pool once.
The preliminaries run from 6-9 April before culminating with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches from 10-12 April, with all matches to be held at the 4000-seat capacity Coolangatta Beachfront venue.
The three pools determined today for the women’s and men’s competitions are listed below:
GC2018 WOMEN’S BEACH VOLLEYBALL COMPETITION POOLS
| POOL A | POOL B | POOL C |
| Australia | Canada | New Zealand |
| Scotland | England | Vanuatu |
| Grenada | Trinidad & Tobago | Singapore |
| Cyprus | Fiji | Rwanda |
GC2018 MEN’S BEACH VOLLEYBALL COMPETITION POOLS
| POOL A | POOL B | POOL C |
| Australia | Canada | England |
| Trinidad & Tobaga | Scotland | New Zealand |
| St Kitts & Nevis | Sri Lanka | Cyprus |
| Fiji | Sierra Leone | Mozambique |
Today’s unveiling of the pools will enable the full match schedule to be completed in mid-February.
Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) President Louise Martin CBE, said:
“We are proud to see Beach Volleyball being contested at the Commonwealth Games for the first time in history at GC2018. We know the iconic beaches of the Gold Coast will provide the perfect backdrop to showcase both the sport and the destination to a global audience. It’s also extremely pleasing to see such diversity of representation from all regions of the Commonwealth, with teams from Oceania, Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean taking part in Beach Volleyball.”
Chief Executive of the Gold Coast 2018 Organising Committee, Mark Peters, said:
“We have seen a great deal of enthusiasm about the GC2018 Beach Volleyball competition since we first announced it would be part of the program at GC2018 in 2016. Today’s unveiling of the pools brings us one step closer to being able to deliver the first ever Beach Volleyball competition at a Commonwealth Games which is really exciting. We know the intensity of the competition and the wonderful location of the venue at the Coolangatta Beachfront will ensure Beach Volleyball is one of the real highlights of GC2018.”