We count down our favorite memories from the finals…

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Markus and Lorenz celebrate during their elimination round win over Casey Patterson and Theo Brunner

This week we’re counting down our favorite five memories from the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Hamburg.

Here’s number 4…

Daddy cool!

There was an exciting added sub-plot to German wildcards Markus Böckermann and Lorenz Schümann’s involvement in the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Hamburg.

Markus revealed after their opening tournament victory over Canadians Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk that his girlfriend Juliana was expecting a baby!

As the duo’s participation in the competition continued, so did the anticipation of the impending new arrival. Markus was playing with a lot more than just beach volleyball on his mind - so much so the pair whizzed through their first elimination match with a straight sets win over American Casey Patterson and Theo Brunner.

“The plan was to win in straight sets!” joked Lorenz after the win. Markus had long gone after the match, skipping the mixed zone interviews to be at Juliana’s side.

That win over the Americans was even more remarkable as, because Böckermann did not train in the lead-up to the game because he had been at the hospital. Yes, the baby was on the way!

The next day, on the Saturday morning, there was celebration for the couple as Karl Johann came into the world. For Böckermann, who had a quarterfinal to prepare the same afternoon, it was too much. He and Lorenz, despite their best efforts, could not contain Polish entertains Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor who won in straight sets. “My attention was everywhere but not in the right spot,” the new father said.

Considering the German wildcards only trained once together before the tournament and Markus’ thoughts were quite rightly concerned with the arrival of Karl Johann, their performance on home sand was remarkable. Hats off to you guys!

Böckermann/Flüggen Beachvolleyball

Das war eine unbeschreibliche Woche für die Worte nicht ausreichen! 😍 Danke ans #HamburgFinals!