Volleyball England Commonwealth Games Qualifier Tournament: What's It All About?

From the 26th to the 29th May 2022, the 6 best men's and 6 best women's teams in England will go to battle with each other. They all have one goal: to qualify for the Commonwealth Games this summer.

The Context

Beach volleyball was added to the Commonwealth Games in 2018 for the first time, and retained its spot at the games in 2022 when it was announced that Birmingham would host them. This sparked huge excitement in the English beach volleyball community. For the first time since London 2012, one English men's and one English women's team gets a guaranteed spot in a major games on home sand.

At the last games the English men Chris Gregory and Jake Sheaf finished 4th, losing to New Zealand in the bronze medal match. On the ladies side, Victoria Palmer and Jess Grimson came 5th after losing in the quarter-finals. Both the ladies are back with new partners to fight for a spot in this year's Games, while we have fresh faces vying for the men's spot!

The Qualification Tournament Format

The format is a little complicated, so hold onto your hats. There are 6 men's and 6 women's teams. These get split up into two pools of three per gender, according to their UKBT rankings. The teams will play a round-robin pool round.

The winners of each pool go straight to the semi-final. 2nd place of the pool will play the third place of the opposite pool for the final two spots in the semis.

Now comes the interesting part. Once we get to the semi-finals the teams will play the best of three full matches (21-21-15). So the same teams play each other at least twice to progress to the next round! The winners of the semi-final then head into the final to play another best of three matches round to decide who will represent England at the Commonwealth Games.

Here's a diagram made by Volleyball England showing the process:

When and Where is the Commonwealth Games Selection Tournament?

The event is being held at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre from the 26th-29th May. There will be tickets available for games-we will update this page with more details once we have it.

Thursday 26th May: Pool Play Only

Friday 27th May: Quarter Finals and first Semi-Final leg

Saturday 28th May: Semi-finals, 5th/6th play off, first Final leg

Sunday 29th May: Finals, 3rd/4th Play-Off

Who's Playing?

We are going to do a feature on every team that will be taking the sand in Crystal Palace! Here are the 6 men's and women's teams that will be competing; we will add a link to their spotlight link as soon as we have released it.

Men's Teams:

1. Javier Bello / Joaquin Bello
2. Issa Batrane / Freddie Bialokoz
3. Harry Jones / Niko Gleed
4. Sam Dunbavin / Haydn Lawson
5. Enrique Bello / Peter Soczewka
6.  Sam Walrond / Matt Hunter

Women's Teams

1. Jess Grimson / Daisy Mumby
2. Victoria Palmer / Alana Snow
3. Anaya Evans / Ellie Austin
4. Lisa Canevari / Gaia Canevari
5.  Molly Saunders / Alice Brand
6. Katie Keefe / Isabelle Tucker

Questions? Who do you think will win the spot? We'd love to see your comment below.