KEY POINTS:
Despite being New Zealand's top female beach volleyball talent, few outside of the sport would have heard of Tauranga's Susan Blundell.
Perhaps that's because, as Blundell herself jokes, she is more commonly referred to as "Anna Scarlett's playing partner".
With strong performances over the early rounds of the
this year's Beach Volleyball series, the pair are shaping up as one of the top contenders for the New Zealand Open, which begins in Auckland today.
Though Blundell is more experienced and regarded as the stronger of the two players, as a former Silver Fern Scarlett enjoys a much higher profile. Blundell said it was a fact she was resigned to when the two first joined forces for the 2007 New Zealand series.
"When we first teamed up last year I knew I'd be known as Anna Scarlett's partner for a long time," she said. "But hopefully people will come to know us as a team rather than 'oh that's Anna Scarlett and that girl she plays with'."
Still Scarlett's high profile does have its advantages. With plans to embark on the world tour this year, Blundell believes Scarlett was instrumental in helping secure sponsorship.
"Because of her profile in New Zealand that was very helpful otherwise it would have been like backing two unknowns really."
Their assault on the world tour is just the beginning of a long-term goal to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London and Blundell is gearing herself up for a busy 12 months.
"The end of this tour has come around so fast it's just sort of dawning on me that that's the next step where we're going. We've got 13 world tour events, training in the States, World University beach games in Germany - there's a lot happening, it's very, very exciting."
While travelling the globe and playing volleyball on the world's most beautiful beaches may sound like a glamorous life to some, the life of a beach volleyballer can be gruelling. With spots for only 32 teams available in each of the tournaments on the pro circuit, just making it into the main draw can be a battle. Of those 32 places, the top 24 world-ranked teams qualify automatically, while the remaining spots are decided through qualifying tournaments of which up to 100 teams are fighting it out for eight places.
Only the athletes that make it through to the main draw have their food and accommodation paid for.
Blundell has already had a taste of the world tour, having competed alongside former playing partner Lucy Todd five years ago. The pair never managed to make it through to the main draw, but Blundell believes she is now much better placed to launch her assault on the world series.
"If I was to do it again I always told myself that I needed more funding behind the team as I travelled around and that there'd be more people moving within the team to help us out because it's hard when you're just trucking away at it by yourself," she said. "I also think that I'm a more knowledgeable player now, I have better skills and those will continue to improve as well."
But Blundell's immediate focus is finishing off the local series in style with a good result in the Open.
Of the four rounds to date, Blundell have Scarlett have made two finals, each time falling to highly regarded Brazilian duo Camilla Saldanha and Lili Maestrini.
The South American pair have dominated the New Zealand series winning all four rounds. Having gone into the series with limited training time together, Blundell believes her team are capable of an upset in Auckland.
"They're definitely the strongest on tour and we've had some close games with them. If we've gone to three sets with them it's usually just the third set where we fall down a wee bit, but if we can hold on there a wee bit longer, I'm sure we're capable of changing the results around."
In the men's draw, Kiwis Kirk Pitman and Jason Lochhead are one of the main title contenders.
The tournament begins today with finals on Sunday.
