Olympians Schalk, Saxton hit the beach in Toronto tournament

For the first time in a long time, professional beach volleyball is back in Toronto.

The Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals are being held this week at Toronto’s Polson Pier as the best beach volleyball duos in the world go spike for spike in pursuit of a $100,000 grand prize for each gender.

TSN’s live coverage of the action begins Friday at 2pm ET/11am PT and runs throughout the weekend. Click here for the complete broadcast schedule.

Canada’s best hope to win the title on home soil will be the Alberta tandem of Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton. The pair competed at the Rio Olympics last month and made it to the Round of 16 where they fell to a team from the Netherlands.

“We feel when we’re enjoying ourselves and playing our hardest we give ourselves a chance to win,” Schalk told TSN.ca. “At this level, it’s kind of like odds. Give yourselves the best opportunity possible to win. And even sometimes you don’t win doing that. There’s no secret recipe to winning because literally all 12 teams in this tournament could win the tournament.”

Those 12 teams include 2016 Olympic champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil as well as Canada’s Josh Binstock and Sam Schachter, who failed to make it out of the preliminary round in Rio. On the women’s side, gold medalists Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany, three-time Olympic champ Kerri Walsh Jennings and her partner April Ross and the Canadian squad of Jamie Broder and Kristina Valjas will all be there. All in all, 21 teams from the Rio Games will bring their volleyball skills to the beaches of Toronto.

Canada hasn’t hosted a major beach volleyball event since 2011 in Quebec, while Toronto hasn't seen any action since 2000. The 27-year-old Saxton says the event should help grow the sport since it’s happening so close to the conclusion of the Olympic Games.

“I think it [interest] has been around for the last little while. People are just starting to notice how big it is and how good Canadian beach volleyball players are and how developed the sport actually is in Canada,” said the native of Calgary.

The tournament kicked off Tuesday with an intriguing matchup between former Canadian teammates. Heather Bansley and Sarah Pavan played together for four years, but split up shortly after their quarter-final loss at the Olympics. They said the main reason for the breakup was a lack of winning, but also partially due to an early 2016 incident when Bansley accidently broke Pavan’s foot during an in-game collision. Pavan and Bansley recently sat down for separate interviews on their decision to part ways.

Schalk, 30, says he could see something was up as the season progressed leading up to the Olympics and thought that their time together might be coming to an end.

“I don’t know so much about their relationship, but toward the end I know they weren’t on the same page over the last few months. It just sounds like something was inevitably going to happen just because the relationship wasn’t good. And that would not be a fun situation to be in I think.” 

Bansley, on her birthday, and new teammate Brandie Wilkerson beat Pavan her new partner Melissa Humana-Paredes in straight sets Tuesday in a country quota matchup to punch their ticket to the main draw.

Having a healthy relationship with your partner is vital for sustained success in a sport like beach volleyball, says Saxton.

“When you’re on the court, you’d like to know you have a teammate that you can rely on for an entire game,” he said.

Schalk and Saxton, who’ve been together since late 2012, say they’ve seen numerous teams spilt up after short periods of time simply because they don’t have the chemistry.

“If that’s what I’m doing my whole life, playing with a new guy and not having fun, even if the results are good, I don’t know if that’s worth it,” explained Schalk. “We’re lucky we have a good relationship and we are able to continue to get better all the time.”

The plan for Schalk and Saxton is to make another run at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. But, first they’ll finish off the 2016 campaign in Toronto.

Schalk, who was a setter in indoor volleyball, loves the game on the beach.

“Playing beach is just so freeing and fun. I get to hit, pass, play defence and do everything. Having all that control and touching the ball every single rally, you need to better the ball. That’s part of the reason why I love the game so much,” he said.

Schalk and Saxton open their tourney Thursday with a game against the American duo of John Hyden and Tri Bourne.

For more information on the Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals, check out their website.