Lausanne, Switzerland, August 20, 2020 - Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler are set to compete at the King Of The Court tournament in Utrecht, Netherlands from September 9-12. They will look to keep improving as quickly as possible as they build towards the Olympic Games next summer. Last season's big match experience and the additional year of development could make a huge difference for the young German team looking to medal at Tokyo 2020.
"I never expected to be at the level I am at, at this age. A vice world champion, playing with Clemens at such a high level and surrounded by such a great team," says Julius Thole.
As the sport of beach volleyball continues to progress rapidly, German blocker Thole has opened up to us about the biggest influences on his career, winning a silver medal at the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, how he didn’t quite expect to be this far forward in his development at just 23 years of age, and how at 2.06m tall, he’s not even the tallest Thole in his family.
Thole and partner Clemens Wickler won the FIVB Most Improved Team award in 2019 after a year that saw them take second place at the World Championships in Thole’s home town of Hamburg and at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals in Rome. Those two results in the season's biggest events immediately propelled them to a ‘World Class’ status within the sport.
Like many professionals, Julius started playing when he was introduced to the sport by a family member. But it was a coach who lured him into taking the game up more seriously.
“My dad was a former indoor player and he took me to his games when he was playing in a league with his friends. Then when we were on holidays, he took me to the beach and I started playing football and tennis. But then at 11 or 12, I started playing volleyball. After I started playing, a coach saw me and advised me to play at a club. And now I am happy that I followed his recommendation.”
Julius is studying law in Hamburg whilst pursuing an Olympic gold medal, a task which could take its toll on anyone. But the athletic German sees it as a positive.
“It is really important for me to study while I play. It’s also important to spend time doing something completely different to beach volleyball. And I think studying different legal cases is fun.”
Thole and Wickler have improved quickly as a pair, and Thole recognises the people and the team who have helped them get to this position. But he has also admitted his surprise at how quickly they have developed.
“I never expected to be at the level I am at, at this age. I am really, really grateful and proud to have achieved so much.”
In an earlier interview with us, Clemens Wickler suggested that their support team is the best in the world, something that Thole echoes. The coaching team consists of Martin Olejnak (Head Coach), Markus Dieckmann (Technique Coach) Jurg Wagner (Athletic Coach) and Annette Szigeti (Psychologist) and between them they have the perfect mix of personnel who have won and experienced just about everything in the sport. And Thole shows gratitude to them all.
“They do such a great job. When I started becoming a beach volleyball player, I had to be really open. I said to myself, see how far you can go and really give it everything. And you can see how far has gone and so far I think it is going pretty well.”
Meet the team
Speaking about head coach Olejnak, Thole says: “Martin gives us great strategies and he’s really influenced and improved our game. When we first started working together with Martin around three years ago, we were ranked around 50-60 and now we are top 5-10 and he has had a big impact on that.”
About Dieckmann, he adds: “Meeting Markus Dieckmann, who is our technique coach, when I was 15 or 16, was a kind of a breakthrough for me personally. He changed my technique and developed me a lot.”
Jurg Wagner, who was been a key component in Germany’s success at the previous two Olympic Games, coaching Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann to gold in 2012 and Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst in Rio four years later, has taken the reins as Thole’s athletic coach.
“I am still a thin person, but earlier I was a really skinny guy. And I needed a big development of my physical constitution. I am still on my way but it's going in the right direction. Jurg Wagner was a huge step forward for me as he is my strength coach and he works really hard. I am an ambitious guy and I have really enjoyed getting there step by step.”
And in Szigeti the team have arguably a world leader in the psychology of beach volleyball. Laura Ludwig often speaks very highly of the work they did together in the build up to winning gold in Rio.
“She has a pretty important role within our team. We are working on really different things. It is not about making one big breakthrough, it’s more like step by step and really continuous work. We are working on communication within the team, what is helpful and what is not in each situation. It's really important to know what the other thinks under pressure. We are coming up with mechanisms during games to prepare ourselves. We believe the psychological component of the game can be the difference, so we are very lucky to have Annette.”
Brink/Reckermann inspiration
Thole remembers where he was when Germany won their first gold medal when Brink/Reckermann won the Olympic tournament in London. But he also remembers it as a key moment that has changed everything for the sport in Germany and also inspires him.
“Brink/Reckermann won the Olympic gold when I played my first German Champs and I remember it really well. I watched the game with my teammates and my friends and it was crazy seeing them win the Olympic Games.”
Another important moment for the big blocker was stepping up the training intensity with Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen.
“I had an awesome training group which included Bockermann/Fluggen in 2015 and I saw these guys practicing and we were young and they were trying to qualify for an Olympics. But they were really open minded, they took us seriously and they taught me and the other guys a lot, it's a good memory.”
As the Olympics were postponed this year, it brought a mixture of feelings for Thole and he needed some time to adapt to the postponement. But he is also aware that this could benefit the team and their rapid development.
“My first feeling was a little shock. I think it's also because at first we were unsure whether the Olympics were postponed or completely cancelled. I was pretty scared that we had qualified but wouldn’t play. When the postponement came, I took two weeks off, which was great as I could reflect on the postponement and also do some other things and find some distance. Now, myself and Clemens are pretty optimistic because it gives us more time to improve with the great team we have behind us.”
It’s also given Julius some time to concentrate on his studies and also play with his brother, who is an indoor volleyball player and is a full 6 cms taller than him.
“I started studying corporate law which is the next part of my studies. I study, and have played some matches with my brother and parents including some one-on-one in the garden over a small net. It was difficult as my brother is 2.12m-tall and is a good indoor player, so they were hard battles. But in the end, my beach volleyball skills and experience were good for me!”
The Olympic Games would be a first for Thole and Wickler, and it is clear that all of the positive influences around them have already been preparing them to understand the distractions that such a big competition can bring, and how to deal with those distractions.
“I am really looking forward to the Olympic Games. It’s my biggest dream to go there and it was the biggest goal for Clemens. My biggest goal is to enjoy the moment when it happens. So many players have told me it is so difficult to play at the Olympic Games because there are so many external distractions. It’s important to control what you can and not become too influenced by those external things. And that for sure will be really, really difficult. There are so many great athletes and it's such a huge event.”
Even if Tokyo is the team's first Games, they can certainly draw a lot of confidence from their 2019 season and Thole sees a lot of similarities between the World Championships and the Olympics in their approach.
“For us on court, I think we did it the same with the world champs. We will try our best, we know there are a lot of good teams, but we are confident we can play at a high level and know that if we play well then we have a chance.”