This one surprises me a little. Back when I wrote up a profile of Dutch beach volleyballers Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil, I figured it would serve as an effective retrospective of their entire respective careers. And they’ve had really good ones. The only thing that’s really missing for them is an Olympic medal together (Schuil has an indoor gold), something to which they came agonizingly close this past summer in London.
With Schuil turning 40 in a few weeks and Nummerdor 37 after this year’s FIVB season concludes, it seems rather unlikely that they’ll get another shot at Olympic hardware, and it didn’t seem likely either that they’d continue at all. But continue they shall. Who knows, maybe they’ve got some Karch Kiraly blood in ’em. (Okay, that sounds way grosser than I meant it) I’ll further remain skeptical that they hang on for much longer than 2013, but I’d delight in them proving me wrong. They’ll certainly have one up on close to every damn team on the circuit this year in that they won’t be first-time partners. That’ll be likewise for two of the prominent Dutch pairings on the women’s side, as announced at the same time as Nummerdor and Schuil’s continuation, though some of the lower-tier Dutch female pairings are swapping around a little.
And they, along with Emanuel, serve as a nice counter-point to the medically-forced retirements of Jonas Reckermann and Pedro Cunha. Beach volleyball (indoor, too, but beach more so) is a brutally intensive sport that just wrecks the body. And by the ages of 37 and 40, people’s bodies sometimes fall apart on their own. So it’s good to see somebody keep going. I’d say that I hope they’re not risking their health, but there’s really nothing happening in 2013 worth risking oneself for. I guess the world championships, but I don’t know how much extra special esteem that tournament carries, despite the title.
Nummerdor and Schuil were one of just 6 teams to win gold on the FIVB tour last year, doing so twice (as, rather remarkably, 4 other teams also did). I hope we don’t end up having to add them to the Ken Griffey, Jr list of athletes who hung on too long. Hopefully we see them on Sunday afternoon and on the podium at least a couple more times.
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