Camp on Tenerife

Digging separately, but cooking together

Paul Pascariuc and Laurenc Grössig.(Bild: Paul Pascariuc)

Paul Pascariuc and Laurenc Grössig are sweating it out with their beach volleyball partners for the new season. At a hotspot where Olympic champions also do their preparation.

Los Cristianos on the largest Canary Island of Tenerife - this is where Paul Pascariuc and his new partner Moritz Kindl are preparing for the beach volleyball World Tour season. "It's looking really good in training," reports Pascariuc of intensive shifts twice a day - with 20 to 25 degrees, sunshine and not too much wind.

His explanation as to why the coaches separated him and his old partner Laurenz Leitner in the fall: "We are both good players and athletes, but we lacked experience." That is set to change alongside the 26-year-old Kindl, who had to fight for his comeback for some time after tearing his cruciate ligament.

"The wit is there now," says the 26-year-old, who is playing with a Viennese on Tenerife but shares an apartment with a man from Salzburg: Laurenc Grössig reels off his preparation with Mathias Seiser, the Viennese used to be at Kindl's side, and also uses huge sparring sessions - like with European and Olympic champions Hellvig/Ahman (Sd).

One Viennese each as a beach partner, but united in the kitchen: Salzburg's Laurenc Grössig and Paul Pascariuc (left).(Bild: Paul Pascariuc)

In the Salzburg flat share, they watch the money and cook: "Egg dish with brown bread and prosciutto is very popular at the moment," grins Pascariuc, "that works for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

The flight home is on February 16 (Leitner will then arrive with Alex Horst), the first Challenger is in Mexico in March. The big goal for the season: the European Championships in Germany.