Chetumal, Mexico, October 24, 2018 – The Galindo sisters Andrea and Claudia have been the face of Colombian beach volleyball around the globe for over a decade. They have already represented their nation in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in 14 different nations across each of the five continents and they are hoping to add a new destination to their list soon: Tokyo, in 2020.
Andrea, 36, and Claudia, 31, are currently the only Colombia players to regularly play on the World Tour, in which they compete at the Chetumal Open this week, and their journey started long ago, back in 2005, when they first shared the courts.
From a dozen national championships to taking their country to the World Championships for the first time in 2017, the Colombian sisters have already accomplished a lot, but they are eager for the next steps forward.
“Our hard work has had several positive results already,” Claudia reflected. “What we want now is to be present in the World Tour more often. The stars system made it more accessible for us and we’re looking for the resources to play in more events. We feel this is very important because if you are not constantly competing at the high level, it’s hard to keep the same performance level.”
Andrea and Claudia took Colombia to the World Championships for the first time in 2017
Andrea and Claudia have indeed been seen more frequently on the World Tour in the last few years. After playing in just one event in 2014, none in 2015 and one in 2016, the South Americans competed at five events in 2018 alone.
Their plans of playing in more events have led them to hire veteran Brazilian coach Adriano “Ticao” Araujo to lead them in the upcoming seasons.
“Our mindset is always to make the most of each tournament we play and get one step closer to our goal, which is qualifying for the Olympics,” Andrea said. “We know that every experience we have on the World Tour makes us better, especially know that we have a coach that has worked with several top teams and makes us see things a little differently after just one month of work.”
The sisters hope, however, that they are not the only Colombians on the World Tour in years to come.
“We’re very happy with what we accomplished so far,” Claudia added. “We’re the only Colombian team competing internationally and it means a lot to keep our country in the mix. But we hope some other teams can follow us soon. There are a lot of young players who are looking to compete overseas and that’s a goal we have too, to inspire other teams to keep improving and represent our country.”
Regardless of what happens in the next two years, however, the experiences the Galindo sisters have had together on and off the courts will always be remembered with joy.
“With all the ups and downs, it has been wonderful,” Andrea commented. “We’ve been through a lot together, for the bad and for the good. We’re family and sometimes it’s hard. Of course we trust each other much more than any other partner we could have, but we also fight more.”
“It has been like a puzzle, we needed every piece at its exact place so it could work. I think we grew a lot, both personally and professionally, and we learned how to deal with the situation in a great way.”