Crisis in beach volleyball: call for a revolution on the beach

Pioneer Frank Mackerodt takes the German Volleyball Association to court.

Crisis in beach volleyball: call for a revolution on the beach

Pioneer Frank Mackerodt takes the German Volleyball Association to court. He accuses the officials of abusing beach volleyball, despite all the successes, to plug financial holes. The 59-year-old calls for splitting off and founding your own organization.

Frank Mackerodt is a guy that sports reporters like to call a "veteran". A gnarled man with rough edges, who succeeded in the 80s as an indoor international and shaped the heyday of Hamburger SV, when the Hanseatic League celebrated winning the German championship four times in a row. Later, the 59-year-old was one of the pioneers in the sand, first as a player, later as a promoter, who was responsible for the fact that beach volleyball in this country grew from a leisure activity that was ridiculed by a few adventurers to a serious competitive sport from which the best of the guild were able to make a good living.

It was also Mackerodt who, in the early 1990s, pushed ahead with the plan to establish the German Championships for Beach Artists in Timmendorfer Strand. A brilliant idea, the spa town on the Baltic Sea has long since risen to become a Mecca for beach volleyball players.

The 30th edition of the title fights is currently being celebrated far up north, but the maker Mackerodt is left out of the anniversary, even though the self-confessed Timmendorfer Strand in Hamburg describes it as a "second home". In general, a lot has changed in this sport, which has been aspiring for a long time and has been Olympic since 1996. And not for the better, if you believe the Hamburg businessman. Mackerodt knows how to name the culprits for the veritable crisis that beach volleyball is currently experiencing. It is the makers at the German Volleyball Association (DVV) that Mackerodt accuses of having consistently downsized the business sector of their sport, which has been booming for years.

Beach volleyball is the figurehead of the DVV: two Olympic gold medals for Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann in London in 2012 and Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, two world titles and numerous medals at European championships, these are merits that colleagues not even dare to dream under the roof of the hall.

But while the heroes were passed around the republic's red carpets after their triumphs, internal appreciation always left a lot to be desired. "The association was never really interested in beach volleyball," criticizes Mackerodt. Instead, the hustle and bustle in the sand is "always just a money-raising machine, even though the medals were won there". For Mackerodt, the DVV is an association of "indoor volleyball players that milks beach volleyball financially". Criticism, which is specifically addressed to association president René Hecht.

For Mackerodt, the end point was reached when the association's own marketer, DVS GmbH, which had meanwhile become insolvent, took over the entire marketing and kept demanding more and more money. "This should make up for the loss of the Olympic qualifying tournament." There is talk of more than half a million euros, with which the event in January 2020 in the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin went into the red. The DVV defends itself against this criticism in a statement in which it is emphasized that Mackerodt's statement "that the DVV is an indoor volleyball association" is "simply wrong". Rather, the association "ensures that both sports are treated equally".

No matter how you look at the conditions on the beach, the current state of the Olympic sport is worrying: sports director Niclas Hildebrand was released after internal quarrels, most recently successful coach Jürgen Wagner announced the job set up especially for him as "Head of Beach" due to a lack of prospects Federal performance center in Hamburg.

As if that weren't enough image damage, the German tour, which once succeeded as the second largest national tournament series in the world, is starving. Fewer tournaments, a significantly reduced presentation and prize money with which the athletes are sometimes not even able to cover their costs. At least there are tournaments. Still. Because how things will continue after this season is open. The association's own agency is unable to act, and there is currently no organizer who would like to start under the conditions called for by the DVV. The association has now announced that a decision on the awarding of the beach tour in the coming year can be expected in the near future.

Mackerodt is filled with anger and melancholy at how little added value can currently be gained from the beach volleyball product he sponsors: "But we have sporting successes and a product that is able to inspire the masses." The doer of yore openly calls for a palace revolution. For Mackerodt there is only one solution: "The beach volleyball players have to set up their own association. Otherwise they will perish."