Modena Futures: Italian Beach Volleyball Dominance and the Lesson of a Development System

I was looking at the Modena Futures results table when a question came to mind that had nothing to do with tactics: how many countries can put five pairs on the podium at a single tournament? The answer lies in Italy, where beach volleyball is no longer a game for a few exceptional individuals, but a system in operation.

The court does not ask about gender, only whether you dare to stand up. In Modena, what I saw was not just women daring to stand up, but a country that had dared to invest so they wouldn't have to stand up alone.

Context: A Bottom-Tier Event That Mirrors the Top

Modena Futures belongs to the FIVB Beach Pro Tour system — the lowest tier, below both Challenge and Elite16. This is where new pairs accumulate ranking points, and where established players sometimes drop by to build match rhythm after long breaks.

But it is precisely at this "low" tier that the structure of Italian beach volleyball becomes most visible. Five Italian pairs claimed podium spots, spread across both men's and women's events. Three men's pairs: Andreatta/Acerbi, Di Felice/Borraccino, Ulisse/Spadoni. Two women's pairs: Gottardi/Orsi Toth as champions, Pelloia/Mancinelli taking bronze. This is not luck. This is the output of a process.

I used to sit in the stands clapping; now I sit at the commentary desk so others don't have to clap alone. In Modena, the stands didn't need to clap for just one pair — they had five to cheer for. That is a sign of sporting health that media often overlooks when they only count gold medals.

How the Italian Machine Operates

Gottardi/Orsi Toth entered Modena as a pair with Elite16 credentials. They had won a top-tier event — Hamburg 2026 — and that is the most important piece of information for reading this tournament. A pair with Elite16 caliber choosing to compete at Futures is not doing so for money. They come for ranking points, for match rhythm, or simply because this is an event on Italian soil.

The results are logically unsurprising: five matches, all wins, 10 sets won, only 1 lost. In the final against the Netherlands' Van Vegten/de Groot, they won 21-11, 21-12. A 21-point margin across two sets in a beach volleyball final is not common. It is tier stratification expressed in numbers that cannot be argued with.

But what is more noteworthy lies with the Dutch pair. Van Vegten/de Groot reached the final undefeated, but they had to survive a grueling three-set semifinal (19-21, 21-16, 17-15) against the 10th-seeded Puccinelli/Mattavelli. The third set ended 17-15 — meaning they had to exhaust themselves to get through. Twenty hours later, they walked into the final and were crushed.

There are two explanations, and both may be true simultaneously. First, physical and mental recovery from a match that went to 17-15 in the third set is not easy. Second, and this is the more interesting part: the Italian pair's style completely neutralized the Dutch pair. There is no detailed data on serve efficiency, blocking, or attacking, but the scoreline of 21-11, 21-12 is itself data. It says the Dutch pair had no answer for anything their opponents did.

The thought-provoking point is not the Italian pair's victory, but the existence of a lone Dutch pair among five Italian pairs. The Netherlands had one representative on the women's podium. Italy had two. And in the men's event, Italy had three. This imbalance does not come from individual talent — Van Vegten/de Groot have won three Futures medals this season; they are good players. It comes from structure.

Contrarian Angle: Italy's Dominance May Be Hiding a Problem

When one country dominates a lower-tier event, local media usually celebrate. I am not sure that is the right way to read it.

Look at the bronze medal match. Pelloia/Mancinelli won bronze because Puccinelli/Mattavelli forfeited. A medal with no match. In terms of data, that is a gap. We don't know what level the 10th-seeded pair truly operates at, because their semifinal loss to the eventual champions (21-13, 21-16) was not terrible, but it doesn't say much either. And we don't know the reason for the forfeit: injury, exhaustion, or a strategic decision to preserve energy for the next event.

This leads to a larger question about Italy's system. Five pairs on the podium at a Futures event is a sign of depth. But depth at the bottom tier does not automatically translate to depth at the top. Beach volleyball has a familiar development pattern: pairs that dominate Futures then struggle when they step up to Challenge, and rarely reach Elite16. The gap between tiers is not a step up — it is a chasm.

Gottardi/Orsi Toth are evidence for both sides of the issue. They won Elite16, then dropped down to Futures and won as if taking a stroll. That shows they belong to a higher tier. But their presence in Modena also shows that even an Elite16-caliber Italian pair still needs to accumulate points at the lower tier — perhaps because they just returned from a break, perhaps because they are testing new tactics in a low-pressure environment. Whatever the reason, it reminds us that the beach volleyball ranking system forces even the best players back to the bottom tier on a cyclical basis.

And here is the blind spot I see in how the Modena results are being read: we are celebrating Italy's dominance at an event where that very dominance may be hiding the fact that Italian pairs are stuck at the Futures tier. Pelloia/Mancinelli are a new pair who won bronze in their Beach Pro Tour debut. That is a positive signal. But to know whether they can break through the Futures ceiling requires a much longer data sample than a single tournament.

What Modena Actually Teaches Us

I have followed beach volleyball long enough to know that results at the Futures tier predict nothing about the future at higher tiers. But they do predict one thing: the health of the development system.

Italy had five pairs on the podium in Modena. The Netherlands had one. That is the difference between a country with a system and a country with individuals. The Netherlands is producing good players — Van Vegten/de Groot have won three Futures medals this season. But they are doing it without depth around them. When that pair retires or splits, the Netherlands will lose its representative at this tier.

Italy is different. They have an Elite16-caliber pair leading the way, and a new generation learning how to climb. Pelloia/Mancinelli won bronze in their debut. Andreatta/Acerbi, Di Felice/Borraccino, Ulisse/Spadoni — names that may not be familiar to Vietnamese audiences yet, but they are evidence that Italian beach volleyball does not depend on a few stars.

Equality does not mean everyone finishes at the same line, but that everyone has a fair starting line. In Modena, the starting line for Italian pairs was fairer because they had more teammates, more opponents at the same level to train with, and a national tournament system thick enough that they didn't have to travel far to accumulate points.

That is the lesson I want to bring back to Vietnam. Not a lesson about serve or block tactics. But a lesson about building a bottom tier wide enough for the top tier to exist.

I once filmed my first video about the Binh Duong women's football team and it got only 300 views. A week later, that number became 12,000. I learned that the community does not lack interest — they lack stories told the right way.

Modena is a story told the right way. A country with five pairs on the podium is not a story about exceptional individuals. It is a story about a system that decided women's beach volleyball was worth investing in, and then invested patiently over many years.

The question for us is not how to produce one Vietnamese pair of Elite16 caliber. The question is how to produce five Vietnamese pairs competing at a Futures event on home soil, with stands full enough that they don't have to play in silence.

That is the work of a decade, not a season. But Modena shows where it begins: with building a bottom tier wide enough, deep enough, and patient enough not to skip steps.