Beach volleyball: 'Gentle giant' with real bite

Sascha Heyer missed out on going to the Olympics last year but has enjoyed great success in New Zealand. Picture / Dean Purcell

Built like a rugby player, and a civil engineer by trade, Switzerland's Sascha Heyer is not the kind of character you'd expect to see hot-footing it across the sand in a beach volleyball match.

But looks can be deceiving as the 32-year-old is one of the best in the business.

Ranked seventh in the world, Heyer will team with the Netherlands' Emiel Boersma for the final round of the More FM Pro Beach Volleyball tour in Auckland this weekend.

The pair won the Wellington event two weeks ago and are the top seed for this edition.

Heyer was to have played with Australian Julien Prosser in Auckland but he had to withdraw with the birth of his child.

"On a national circuit if two good players are playing together I think that is enough. Before we played in Wellington we had about two trainings together and it was enough to win the tournament. You still have to play very good.

"It is my third time playing in New Zealand but my first two times were in Wellington. I won both tournaments, one last year and one this year so I have a 100 per cent record in New Zealand."

Born in Zurich, the flamboyant Heyer's sporting career began on a court - just not a volleyball one.

"I played tennis. I wasn't as good as Roger Federer otherwise I wouldn't have changed sports," he hoots.

"I started playing tennis when I was five ... It was good fun but I wasn't good enough to reach the top."

He then embarked on a rather lengthy indoor volleyball career from the age of 18, playing professionally in Europe.

But boredom crept in during the volleyball off-season and Heyer was enticed into the beach version of the game.

Standing at a powerful 2.03m tall, Heyer could easily be mistaken as a rugby player - or a basketballer, he interjects.

"In volleyball it [my frame] makes it a lot easier but in beach volleyball it is almost a little bit too tall because you have to move a lot and the sand is deep and there is wind. I think the taller you are the bigger problem you have with your co-ordination. If you see Emiel he is a little bit bigger so we will be the high towers on court.

"If it is not windy, I think we have a good chance. But if there is wind it will be very difficult especially against [New Zealanders] Craig Seuseu and Kirk Pitman. They have very good ball control and are perhaps a little smaller."

Heyer is also known to possess a healthy dose of aggression.

"Someone told me also I was a gentle giant," he laughs. "I play better if I am more aggressive but I am a totally different person outside of the court."

With three teams ranked in the world top 10, Switzerland are the powerhouse of beach volleyball.

However, their success does have its drawbacks.

Last year Heyer and his partner Markus Egger were ranked seventh in the world.

But because compatriots Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel and brothers Paul and Martin Laciga were ranked higher it meant they missed out on competing in the Olympics.

"It was really hard for us to accept that although we were number seven in the world we couldn't go to the Olympics.

"But it is also very good for us, we can compete within and just keep getting better and better. To get No 1 in Switzerland is almost to get No 1 in the world."

In the past few months the Laciga brothers have split and Heyer will team with Paul Laciga this year. The Lacigas were unique in that they never really spoke to one another - on and off the court.

"That has been a problem for the last 10 years. One of the brothers decided 'I can't play any more with my brother'. He was looking for another partner. We did a team switch. I think it is the best for all four of us."

Heyer and Laciga have a busy year ahead with tour events in Australia and throughout Europe and the world championships in Berlin.

Although they are some four years away, Heyer is hopeful of competing in the next Olympics where he wants to add to Switzerland's successful run in world sport which has seen Alinghi claim the America's Cup and Roger Federer dominate world tennis.

"It's weird we are good at sailing and beach volleyball and we are a landlocked country," he said.

"We have plenty of mountains yet we are terrible at skiing."

Sascha Heyer

Age: 32
Height: 2.03m
Weight: 102kg
Hometown: Zurich
Occupation: Beach volleyball player/civil engineer.

Career highlights:

2002 and 2003: Finalist in two grand slam events.
2001: European champions