"The world has been turned upside down"

For the beach volleyball player Nina Betschart from Zug, the coming year should bring the high point of her career. With her teammate Tanja Hüberli, she wants to defy the difficult conditions.

Top athletes need to be flexible and to be able to live without parties. Nina Betschart meets both these criteria. The 25-year-old from Steinhausen had no problems with the fact that her boyfriend Damien Brunner would be chasing the puck over the ice during the festive season, including New Year. The 34-year-old former top scorer of the EV Zug is a professional ice hockey player at the EHC Biel. "I think you have to accept that. The game plan has been adapted to the corona measures, the world has been turned upside down. They're playing now, and we will be playing a bit later," says Nina Betschart. In the meantime, however, the situation has changed once again: Damien Brunner suffered a concussion in training, and cannot play at the moment.

The New Year will therefore be definitely very quiet for the couple. "New Year's Eve is not so important to me," says Nina Betschart, recounting 2018 and 2019. She took part in an indoor tournament in The Hague in the Netherlands with her team-mate Tanja Hüberli at the beginning of the year. And, of course, there was no question of a lively New Year's Eve.

Only four competitions this year
Speaking of 2019: This was the most successful year for the duo Hüberli/Betschart to date. They came 4^th at the Beach Volleyball World Championships in Hamburg, as they did at the major home tournament in Gstaad, as well as a 5th place at the major tournament in Vienna. In the year 2020, however, Hüberli/Betschart only took part in a handful of tournaments, of which there were four between mid-August and mid-September: they gained 1st place at the Beach Tour in Hamburg, at the Worldtour Einstern tournament in Baden/Austria and at the Emmi Caffé Latte Beach Cup in Tanja Hüberli's home village of Reichenburg. In addition, there was also a disappointing 9th place at the European Championships in Jurmala/Latvia.

Photo 1: A confident Nina Betschart at the harbour in Zug.
Photo: Pit Bühler (December 25, 2020)
Photo 2: Nina Betschart (right) and Tanja Hüberli at the 2019 World Championships in Hamburg.
Photo: WM Org. (July 2, 2019)

All the other tournaments were cancelled, and the Tokyo Olympics have been postponed. But the two Swiss women won’t let themselves be beaten because of Corona. "We have missed out on a lot of prize money, but we fortunately have great sponsors, who have continued to support us. We were unable to perform through no fault of our own," says Nina Betschart.

The Hüberli/Betschart duo stayed at a training camp in Tenerife before Christmas. "We initially wondered whether we should go to the camp at all. In the end, it turned out to be the right decision to train outdoors in pleasant temperatures, instead of in the beach volleyball hall in Bern, which was a great thing for us," says Nina Betschart.

Competition from Heidrich/Vergé-Dépré
They also met and trained with other world-class teams in Tenerife, the largest island in the Canary Islands. Back home, Hüberli/Betschart also exchange ideas with their compatriots Joana Heidrich/Anouk Vergé-Dépré. "We can benefit from each other," explains Nina Betschart. "The competitive situation in Switzerland is sometimes exaggerated. It's good when two teams play at the top."

What will happen in the new Olympic year 2021? According to the international schedule, tournaments in China, Brazil and Australia are scheduled to start at the end of March. At the moment, it is hard to imagine making such long journeys in three months to play sport. "But we are flexible, and will be ready when the season starts," says Nina Betschart. She has heard that three tournaments in China could be held in a bubble for all involved. This means that all players, the coaching and refereeing teams, as well as the organisers, will remain in a closed bubble, without any external physical contact.

Olympic Games only possible in ‘bubbles’
Thanks to these alternative modes of hosting, she can still dream of Olympia. According to Swiss Olympic, things are expected to look pretty good for the postponed Summer Games in Tokyo from July 23 to August 8, despite Corona. "But without spectators on site and in bubbles," says Nina Betschart, "we’ll see exactly how the tournaments will look." The credo of Hüberli/Betschart is: "Be as well prepared as possible, train as hard as possible." And: "If the Olympic Games do not take place, we will have to accept the decision." Despite the difficult conditions, Nina Betschart is doing everything she can to achieve her sporting goal. From February, for example, she will be missing a semester of her distance learning in psychology.