Beach volleyball: Kiwi duo out to redraw line in sand

Anna Scarlett (left) and Susan Blundell. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

New Zealand beach volleyball star Anna Scarlett leaves tomorrow to embark on her second year of the gruelling world circuit with her eyes wide open.

After taking a giant leap in to the unknown last year, playing her first season on the Swatch FIVB world tour, Scarlett is fully aware of what she and playing partner Susan Blundell are letting themselves in for this time.

But it is not the six months of living out of a suitcase nor the hectic training and playing schedule Scarlett is dreading, but rather leaving behind her friends and family at the airport.

"I've never been good at goodbyes in terms of leaving my partner again and friends and family," she said.

The pair first fly in to Adelaide, where they will spend two and half weeks training against a couple of Australian teams before heading to Europe for further training against a number of highly regarded pairings.

From there, the Kiwi team will head to Shanghai to link up with the world tour.

Scarlett and Blundell opted to bypass the opening round of the tour in Brazil due to their limited finances. The goal is to perform well in the following three rounds in Asia in the hope of qualifying for the World Championships in Norway in June.

The pair need four top-24 finishes from their previous five tournaments to qualify for the World Champs. Having ended last year with two 17th placings, Scarlett and Blundell are halfway there, but need to produce similarly impressive results in at least two of their opening three tournaments.

"One of our main goals is worlds, and making that will be a huge achievement for us. Only 48 teams can qualify so we really need to play really well in the tournaments leading up to it to have a chance," said Scarlett.

The other big goal for the pair this season is to improve their world ranking, currently at around 60, to the early 30s or better.

To do so, it will take five months of hard slog for the girls. Their ranking is not yet high enough to automatically qualify for the main draws, so they must first battle it out through the qualifying rounds. And with 14 stop-overs on the circuit, it makes for a very exhausting schedule.

But it not just their performances on the sand they have to worry about.

With no manager it is up to Scarlett and Blundell to organise all their finances, accommodation and travel arrangements themselves.

"We've learnt a lot from doing it all, but I've also learnt that having managers and people to organise it all for you is a godsend," said Scarlett.

For a time the Kiwi number ones' 2009 tour looked in trouble, with their major sponsor withdrawing their support. But electronics brand LG stepped in late last year to rescue their campaign.

"It's been harder this year to find sponsorship and financial support, just with the way the economy is. But hopefully we've got enough to get to where we need to this year."