WA Open: Perth’s major volleyball event ready for largest field yet, including former Olympian Jose Martinez

An Olympian and a Commonwealth Games gold medallist are set to join the cream of the local volleyball crop and a swathe of interstate rivals as the biggest-ever WA Open gets underway in Scarborough this weekend. Volleyball WA’s flagship event at Scarborough Beach will turn the amphitheatre into a hive of activity across Saturday and Sunday as 95 teams duke it out for glory. WA product and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games champion Paul Burnett will be among the biggest names on show — as will Jose Martinez, who represented Mexico at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Now based in Perth, Martinez said the profile of the competition had raised significantly in previous years and the increased field of both locals and interstate players was only a good thing. “It’s second level, below the national tour, in terms of importance so being able to have important tournaments locally, it’s really good, especially with being in Scarborough, which is such an iconic place for Perth,” he said. “It’s exciting to have people who might not be so aware of beach volleyball, being able to stop and have a look. “Because this tournament gives quite a bit of points for the national rankings, they come through (from the eastern states) so being able to face people you normally don’t face in the local tour also adds a level of complexity.” This will be Martinez’s third WA Open, but beach volleyball is somewhat new to the man who swapped courts for sand after a lengthy professional career indoor. “I’d never really played beach volleyball until I got here to Perth, because people love it so much,” he said. “It’s been really tough because in the position I’m in indoor, it requires me to have a very specific set of skills. You have six versus six so you get really good at what you’re supposed to do. “Transitioning into the beach, it is a completely different game. I’ve had to train really hard to then re-learn some skills. “And the fitness on the sand is on another level. You think you’re super fit playing indoor, but then the moment that you step on the sand, suddenly you’re jumping half, and then you take one step, and you’re just so exhausted. “The transition is really hard. It’s taken a couple of years for me to be in a position where I’m actually competing with some other people that might have been playing beach for years.”