22 Mar 2024
Super League preview round 17: Life’s a Beach for Polonia’s Sviridova
For while the 29-year-old has played a starring role for indoor club Team Sideout Polonia in their rise to the top of the table going into the final stages of the 2023-24 campaign, it is beach volleyball that is her biggest passion.
Back home in Russia, Maria joined forces with her twin sister Elena to rise through the ranks and play professionally as a beach player.
Eventually, the pair went their separate ways, once their studies were completed, to pursue other interests and establish respective careers outside of sport.
But Maria has never lost her love of the sand and, since moving to the UK in 2019, has continued to play beach volleyball either side of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
That’s why, while her indoor team-mates take a break in the summer, she will spend many of her weekends on beach courts around England competing on the UK Beach Tour.
She has regularly – and successfully – partnered fellow Russian and Polonia player Julia Tokarenko, as illustrated when the pair were crowned champions of the Women’s UKBT Grand Slam Series in 2021.
With Julia having taken a sabbatical due to pregnancy, Maria has played with other partners in the intervening period, but the partnership could be renewed this year – if all goes according to plan.
“My parents always loved volleyball – playing it for fun – and they passed that love on to me and my sister,” she said. “They got us a trial at a sports school and they were fantastic with us, supporting us and driving us to all the training sessions.
“There is a good sports system in Russia, particularly for volleyball, where every school has a team. There is a lot of opportunity to play and we took that opportunity, which helped us develop.
“I grew up in a small city called Volzhsky in the Volgograd region. We started playing when we were 11 and took up beach at 16 and it was then we moved to a bigger city, St Petersburg, to study and continue with our volleyball.
“What I liked about beach was that you took more responsibility for how you played than in the indoor game, and you were 50% of the team.
“As someone who was always “greedy” for the ball, and wanted to get as many touches as I could, I liked the fact that you were digging and setting the ball as well as spiking and blocking it, as I did when I played indoor as a middle blocker.
“We got better and better until we were entered into Russian junior tournaments and, from there, we were invited to selection trials for the Russian junior team and ended up going to some European and World events.
“We weren’t super-successful at that level – we usually got into the main draw but got no further – and the same was true when we played professionally for a while.
“Pretty soon we realised we weren’t earning much money, which was fine when we were still studying, but when you start growing up, you have to earn enough money to live. Even so, it was an amazing experience to play and travel as we did. I’ve made so many great friends along the way – all through volleyball.
“It’s been great to carry on playing beach in the UK, but now it is for enjoyment. Playing all year round, rather than having a break, helps me to stay fit. I would like to play beach in the winter as well, and some clubs do run sessions, but it is too cold outside!
“I’m hoping my knees hold up as I’ve had a few problems, but I’ll hopefully be ready to go when the new season starts. Hopefully that will be with Julia, who is planning a comeback, but nothing is decided yet. I will be looking to play with someone and hopefully it can be her.”
Maria will go outdoors on the back of a hugely impressive indoor season where she has twice won the Super League Errea Player of the Month award for her consistent performances.
Her form has helped Sideout to success on two fronts – reaching the National Cup Final which will be part of Cup Finals Weekend 2024 – and moving up to top spot in the MAAREE Women’s Super League to clinch a place in the Final 4, where the overall champions will be decided.
In both cases, Polonia will be looking to overcome their familiar arch rivals, the Durham Palatinates, who pipped the London club to domestic success on both fronts last season.
Having beaten the North East sided in straight sets in their latest encounter earlier this month – part of a run of six consecutive wins – Maria and the team are optimistic the crunch matches to come can turn out differently this time.
She said: “I didn’t expect to win the Player of the Month award twice, but it is nice to have done so.
“I’m quite tough on myself, so I don’t think I have played quite as well this time as when I won it earlier in the season.
“The player rankings are really good motivation for everyone and it has been great to see they have been introduced for this season.
“Now, as well as thinking and believing that someone is playing well, there are the stats there to prove it and teams can see who is doing well.
“It’s also very good motivation as a player to do well because everyone can see how you have performed, so you want to do well and be consistent.
“As a team, we have been good, but we could always do better, and there are some games that we have lost that we should be winning. Sometimes we have been our own worst enemies and made problems for ourselves.
“I think we have a good chance of winning something this season. We lost people at the end of last season and had injuries, but this season seems to be better, and we are all motivated to achieve something.
“The win (over Durham) has given us confidence, but we haven’t won anything yet and there are still some very hard games to come.”
Maria has noted with interest the difference in approach to volleyball since settling in London compared to back home, noting that, for the majority of players the emphasis is on enjoyment.
But she also believes that the sport in the UK is going in the right direction and points to increasing interest in schools and the players who are coming through – such as Alice Jagielska – as evidence of that.
Maria, who works in her day job as a HR analyst in the capital, said: “It’s totally different here and obviously not as many people are aware of, or play, volleyball as in Russia.
“Over here there are more older players who are not just playing volleyball because they are desperate for it to be a career for them. They are just playing for the enjoyment and that takes away a lot of the pressure and stress you can experience.
“We are starting to see more people getting involved in volleyball in the UK now. My boyfriend is coaching volleyball in schools and is seeing more and more kids wanting to play.
“With some good young players coming through, they are able to play with some of the international players who are now playing in Super League, and that is helping to raise the standards.
“We have Alice Jagielska in our team and even though she is still playing for the Junior England team, she can more than hold her own playing at adult level, as she has shown this season. She is amazing and a talented prospect for the future.
“There are other players who have come through, or are coming through, as well, so hopefully we can see things continue to improve.”
As a senior player, Maria has been able to use her experience to help the development of some of the younger Polonia contingent when needed.
However, she says that Head Coach Mark Kontopoulos deserves much of the credit for shaping the current team and making it a force to be reckoned with.
“Mark is a fantastic coach and does so much to help the players, so they don’t really need that much guidance from me!” said Maria.
“It is difficult to give every player one-to-one attention when you are only training twice a week and then playing, but he does his best to do it as much as he can and has created a great team atmosphere.
“The girls are all really friendly and want to do well for each other and help each other out, so it is a good place to be. Hopefully we can finish by winning a trophy to make it even better.”
Polonia round off their regular season with a short trip to fellow London side the Malory Eagles who are third in the table.
Cover image by Steve Smith
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