Volleys and verdicts

From diving in the sand to defending in court, Nelson’s Alice Zeimann has made an impressive leap – from international beach volleyballer to full-time barrister, as Britt Coker finds out.

Alice Zeimann was tall. Not freakishly so, but tall enough at aged 13 for her PE teacher at Burnside High School to suggest she take up indoor volleyball.  She did and she loved it. And even better, she excelled at it so well that it got her to the University of Minnesota on a volleyball scholarship. Minnesota is Great Lakes territory where both the temperature and the snow drops heavily in winter. However, Alice is a strategic thinker so three years into her degree she makes a good, solid move. She switches from indoor volleyball to the beach programme, seeing it as more achievable in terms of a funding pathway and career. It also saw her move to Florida State, where the weather is tropical and beach volleyball is hugely popular. Alice adjusted to the different style of game and loved it. She was also fortunate to receive coaching from fellow Kiwi, Jason Lochhead, who at the time was coach for the US Men's Olympic team. Then 2020 came along and ruined everything for everyone. International borders started shutting, motivating Alice to return to New Zealand. Being back home did present her with the opportunity to play at international level for New Zealand, which she did, partnering with Shaunna Polley for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“I still wanted to play, so I reconnected with the national team, and did the Commonwealth Games cycle, and then that first Tokyo [Olympics] cycle, and we didn't qualify for Tokyo, but it was my first world tour event and it started the next four years of my life playing on the world tour. During that time we played all over, we would do six months on, six months off, or a few months on here and there.”

The major differences between beach volleyball and indoor is that playing inside there are six players a side and the court is nine metres square, while on the sand, there is just two players who have to cover eight metres square.

“Six people on the court, all with various positions, you're a lot more selective in what you're doing and what you're contributing, whereas beach, you kind of have to be good at everything. And there's the element of heat overseas, that's a massive factor. You've got to be really fit. And the conditions - so not just heat - but wind and rain, and your skill level has to be pretty high.”

Alice’s skill levels are pretty high. So are her mid-air spikes. Her specialist position is as blocker, positioned at the front where she commits to hard-out lunges, blocks and dives in all directions.

That heat that can be so challenging will be a big reason the sport has so many players in countries with long, hot summers (it began in Hawaii, 1915). When you start as an amateur you probably avoid the hottest part of the day to play in, but once you’re at professional level you have to play when they say. A key drawcard becomes a major nemesis.

The formula for a country to excel at beach volleyball seems to be - great weather, large audiences, professional coaches and major funding. Alice says it’s massively popular in hot zones like Asia, Brazil and Europe, and it’s those teams that are hard to beat.

“Tauranga has a pretty big beach culture, so it's quite popular up there. But I think in New Zealand, a lot of the funding goes into mainstream sports like rugby or netball or hockey or rowing. A lot of the sports that we fund are the sports that get medals. So that kind of regenerates itself in that way.”

They’ve had some decent backing though.  “We had really good funding from High Performance Sport [New Zealand], so we're really lucky that they supported us, and then we had a little bit of individual funding as well.”

The attire of female beach volleyball players has come under public scrutiny in recent times. They wear bikinis typically, but the men do not. In 2021 a Norwegian women’s beach handball team was fined for breaching dress codes by the European Handball Federation, purposely choosing to wear shorts rather than bikinis in a bronze medal play off in a European tournament. Singer Pink offered to pay their $USD1,700 penalty fees. However, beach handball and beach volleyball had different dress codes at the time.

“There's quite a misconception on the uniform, because people think it's something that you are forced to wear, but it's actually been a rule for quite a few years now that it's a choice. You can wear tights if you would prefer, or shorts, as long as it's matching in colour. So for me, it was always about what's comfortable, and in a similar way that swimmers, divers or gymnasts would feel, they wear the leotards and they wear the Speedos, and it's for performance. So it's a similar thing for us.  For me, personally, if it's 40 degrees out, you don't really want to wear tights, and there's the whole dynamic of sand chaffing and everything that people don't maybe know about. So that's why people wear sport bikinis. But I think just being comfortable is everyone's focus. Also, I think it's interesting. The people who I found have had a problem with it, they're usually projecting their own feelings about it, whereas everyone who wears it feels comfortable in their own skin.”

Several months after the Norwegian team’s protest, the International Handball Federation updated their uniform rules permitting women to wear shorts and tank tops.

When I ask what attracted her to beach volleyball, Alice’s natural preference for tactical thinking comes to the fore. “I think it’s the strategy I love the most about it, because you build a whole game plan. It's so subjective, your game plan, and it's got things that you can't prepare for, like the elements, and it's a lot of mental strength. So, I like that aspect as well… There's also always the pressure because a lot of the time our funding was riding on it. And we'd flown halfway across the world, because we're so far away in New Zealand, that we would live for months at a time. So you're on the road months and months by yourself. At the time, I was also studying full time law, so that was interesting, just a lot of pressure around it.”

Her career highlight was a two-part set up that started with Shaunna Polley at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“We got a fourth so we were just off podium. But the podium consisted of the current world champs and then the Tokyo silver medalists, and we were winning, and then we lost it, and it was just bad. But then a month later, we beat the Tokyo silver medalists at Asian Champs, which was one of our biggest wins. …It was just two years of build up to Commonwealth Games and a pretty rough ending, and then to bounce back, I was pretty proud of that.”

Volleyball is currently the second most popular sport with high school students in the country, says Alice.

“It's super popular, and a lot of kids are going over on scholarships at the moment to the United States. There's no progression really beyond high school here so a lot of good players go overseas, and for beach volleyball, we're pretty lucky. We have Jason Lochhead, who's national team coach here, and he's been through two cycles, one with the Canadian Olympic team, and then another with the US Men's Olympic team in Rio.”

Jason came back home from Florida in 2020 also. Their loss was our gain.

Since relocating to Nelson she’s continued to play beach volleyball here over summer, and will be swapping to the social, indoor version this winter. Alice has also switched from blocker on a court, to defence, in a court. Very different outfits though. She is one month into a career as a barrister.

“I was always interested in criminal law, but I think there's a lot of misconceptions about defence lawyers… I think it explores the human condition. It's dealing with people in their worst moments, and you know, there's heaps of feelings around that alone. I find it really interesting how you can empathise with people, how you can work with people, of all different backgrounds and facing all different charges. I just think it's quite rewarding, but definitely challenging as well.”

While Alice is mostly still in observation mode, she’s learning a lot. “My co-worker has a saying, ‘You win or you learn’. I really like that. I think you do your best and you put your client’s interest before the court, and ultimately, you're not making the decision, and you're just helping the court find the truth. So I think it removes the sting out of it.”

She sees a crossover of skills between the two courts citing the fast paced, ever-changing nature of law and the adaptability required for it. The need to stay cool under pressure, to have mental fortitude, to be confident in your decision-making. A lot like high performance sport.  “In court, it doesn't always go your way, and clients can be up and down. You definitely have to be resilient. I find that I've learned to be quite objective in my thinking and not have emotional attachment as much to outcomes, which I think makes you grow faster because you're looking at mistakes, or you're looking at outcomes way more calmly.”

With beach volleyball requiring long periods of time away from home and the role of a barrister requiring you to be fully present, the sporting sacrifice is unavoidable for the time being. But Alice is not in blocking mode now, preferring to keep her future playing options open.

“You never know what will happen before LA [Olympics] 2028.”

Either way, she’ll be courtside somewhere.