\u201cWe did good enough,\u201d Polley, 31, replies.<\/p>\n
Macdonald: \u201cGood enough to want to play with each other again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Polley says it\u2019s funny how it all worked out: \u201cFinally we could be on the same side of the net, rather than always butting heads.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week in Adelaide, Polley and Macdonald will represent the Beach Ferns at the world beach volleyball championships \u2013 the first Kiwi women to reach this pinnacle event in 24 years.<\/p>\n
They got there by sheer hard work, resilience and a lot of laughs.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a historic year for the pair. After winning three major events in Asia, they made the semifinals at the Veracruz Challenge in Mexico \u2013 the best result by a New Zealand women\u2019s team at this level.<\/p>\n
And Polley had to dig deep after she put her back out, got gastro and ended up at a local hospital just days before the event began.<\/p>\n
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics now loom as a future goal, but first, they\u2019re aiming to claim some big scalps at the world champs.<\/p>\n
Shaunna Polley (left) and Olivia Macdonald hug after winning in the Philippines. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
They aren\u2019t alone in Adelaide \u2013 Brad Fuller and Ben O\u2019Dea have also qualified for the men\u2019s event, the first appearance by the Beach Blacks in 10 years. It\u2019s also the first time both teams will compete together on the world\u2019s largest stage.<\/p>\n
Qualifying for the world championships wasn\u2019t even a target for Polley and Macdonald at the start of the year. \u201cWe were just playing to see what happened. And then very quickly it was, \u2018Oh wow, we actually have a chance!\u2019\u201d Polley says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d gone into this year wanting to have fun \u2013 being present and enjoying it for what it is, rather than always having this big goal you\u2019re grinding away at. But we just kept on winning.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking jokes definitely helps.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t an instant bond. \u201cGlued together\u201d for four months as they travelled the world, the duo went through a period of figuring each other out. \u201cThen we realised we had a similar sense of humour and we were able to live together and have a good time,\u201d Macdonald says.<\/p>\n
Volleyball NZ\u2019s director of coaching, Jason Lochhead \u2013 a two-time Olympic coach and professional player \u2013 threw the pair together.<\/p>\n
Around that time, Polley, who played at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and 2022, was trying to decide whether to retire and start a family. Her long-time Beach Ferns partner, Alice Zeimann, had switched one court for another \u2013 admitted to the bar as a barrister and solicitor in March.<\/p>\n
Macdonald\u2019s partner, Julia Tilley, had her first child in July. (Funnily enough, Macdonald originally played with Zeimann, in the days when Polley and Tilley were a pair.)<\/p>\n
When Polley and Macdonald both returned from holidaying in Europe during the Paris Olympics, Lochhead suggested they join forces and try a couple of events together.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were both back in New Zealand, Jason said, \u2018Oh there\u2019s a few events you two could do\u2019. But we\u2019d always played against each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginally it was going to be a five-week stint together and I thought, \u2018Yeah, I can manage that\u2019,\u201d says Polley, who won the 2022 Asian champs with Zeimann. \u201cBut we kept doing well, then winning, and it became eight weeks \u2013 then we had a chance to make the world champs, so we headed to Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Olivia Macdonald practising her serves at Mt Maunganui. Photo \/ Ella Carlsen<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been absolutely hectic\u2026 an insanely wild ride,\u201d Macdonald says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so enjoyable having someone else who\u2019s a \u2018Screw it, let\u2019s do it\u2019 kind of person. The way I live my life is pretty much going wherever, whenever. If I hadn\u2019t had a partner who was a go-getter, who could just drop everything and go, there\u2019s absolutely no way we could have done what we were able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair, who\u2019ve spent more than six months of this year travelling the globe, both call Waikato home. Polley lives in Auckland with her partner but home remains Hamilton where her parents live. Macdonald is \u201ca bit of a gypsy\u201d \u2013 her hometown is Piopio, but she stays with friends when she and Polley meet at Mount Maunganui to train.<\/p>\n
Unable to survive on high-performance funding and prizemoney alone, both women hold down a couple of part-time jobs.<\/p>\n
Macdonald takes her work in an accounts department on the road with her. When she\u2019s back at the Mount, she works at a sports recovery centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the earlier stages I wasn\u2019t funded at all and I had to find the money myself,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I\u2019m trying to start up a few side hustles too, because I like to be busy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking on the road is really good for my brain. But the downside is I\u2019m not able to spend enough time rehabbing my body after an event. And sleep isn\u2019t a priority when we\u2019re on opposite time zones in Europe \u2013 and I like my sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Polley is in the country, she spends 15 hours a week helping out Volleyball Bay of Plenty and marketing for the Weet-Bix Kids Tryathlon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last cycle I was funded and got a living allowance, but unfortunately this cycle we\u2019re no longer getting individual support, so we\u2019ve had to pick up a few more side gigs,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Polley is also an emerging beach volleyball coach. One promising young player has travelled three hours to work with her through the Coach Squad platform.<\/p>\n
Olivia Macdonald (left), with teammate Shaunna Polley, celebrates her first time on an international dais. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
When the Beach Ferns won silver at the AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open in the Philippines in April, it was Macdonald\u2019s first time standing on an international podium, in six years\u2019 trying. It was quickly followed by another silver in Thailand and three golds \u2013 in China, Vietnam and the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Macdonald and Polley were then in the running to grab one of three Asia continental spots at the world championships. Sarah Drummond and Lucy Todd were the last Kiwi women to qualify \u2013 finishing 33rd at the 2001 world champs in Austria.<\/p>\n
They knew a placing of fifth or higher at the Veracruz Challenge in Mexico last month would secure their spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuckily, we came away with a fourth \u2013 the first time we\u2019ve made a semifinal at a challenge event,\u201d Polley says. \u201cUnder pressure when we needed to perform, we got it done.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking the semifinal was a highlight in my career. Ideally, I\u2019d love to make the podium at a challenge or elite level, but it was still special \u2013 after having a bit of adversity that week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Polley arrived in Mexico with bad stomach cramps after the pair had played in Brazil. \u201cI may have drunk a whole glass of water there,\u201d she sheepishly admits.<\/p>\n
Three days before the Veracruz Challenge, she hurt her back and then was vomiting throughout the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to go to the hospital, because I still wanted to compete and I needed to be hydrated,\u201d says Polley.<\/p>\n
Macdonald thought there was no way they would play, and joked with the assistant coach travelling with them, former player Antonia Harrison, to get ready for a call-up.<\/p>\n
But with medication, meditation and stretching, Polley was able to take the court \u2013 and play some of her best volleyball. \u201cIt was definitely worth it, but I paid for it the next week,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n
Shaunna Polley digs at the Nuvali Open event. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
The Beach Ferns have pushed their way into the world\u2019s top 30 teams, but are confident they could upset higher-ranked pairings in Adelaide.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeach volleyball is so temperamental that on the day, you can beat anyone. You\u2019ve just got to bring your A game,\u201d Macdonald says.<\/p>\n
The Beach Ferns have the benefit of three coaches with them \u2013 Lochhead, Harrison and Craig Seuseu, a former professional player and coach of the German women at the 2012 Olympics.<\/p>\n
Lochhead and Seuseu have been able to coach the men\u2019s and women\u2019s squads year-round, with funding from the global body FIVB, and its Volleyball Empowerment programme. It\u2019s gone a long way to getting the Beach Ferns and the Beach Blacks back in the world championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting out, we\u2019d look at Japan and Brazil \u2013 they\u2019d have three or four coaches, and we\u2019d have none. We had to warm ourselves up, and ask mates to come help us out \u2013 and suddenly, we\u2019re one of the big dogs now,\u201d Polley says.<\/p>\n
A year ago, Macdonald couldn\u2019t imagine she\u2019d be playing at the world championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, not at all. In my beach volleyball career, I\u2019ve played a lot and had some amazing partners, but in reality, I hadn\u2019t really achieved a lot. But I knew there was more I could achieve, but I had no idea I would pair up with Shaunna to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy. You have to find someone who\u2019s willing and able to do the grind, but it\u2019s the most beautiful, wild ride to go on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Polley pays credit to Macdonald\u2019s determination.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiv really stuck it out for very little return, but she waited for the right opportunity \u2013 and now it\u2019s paid off,\u201d she says. \u201cOthers would have given up four or five years earlier. Her tenacity and perseverance are a real credit to her \u2013 I don\u2019t know if I could have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FIVB beach volleyball world champs start in Adelaide on Friday, with the Beach Ferns playing the United States. Games can be watched via https:\/\/www.fivb.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n