Lucas Rijvers finishes atop national U16 beach volleyball rankings

Lucas Rijvers earned the medal in the UKBT Championship title race ranking titles, finishing atop the national leaderboard.

The 15-year-old is a student at Bournemouth Collegiate School and has represented England Juniors at U17 level.

This season, he has competed in 16 UKBT national adult tournaments across the country, racking up 869 points to win the U16 junior title.

Rijvers finished 19th in the adult rankings and in doing so made history, becoming the youngest U16 junior to win seven adult tour medals with two gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

This is his third consecutive age group title, taking the U15 and U14 golds in 2023 and 2022.

His father, former GB and England volleyball player David Rijvers, is his coach.

His dad said: “This is a great achievement and is down to Lucas’s dedication and commitment to training five times per week on the beach after school in all-weather at the Bournemouth Beach Volleyball Club courts in Boscombe and competing on weekends often on the road to various locations such as Canterbury (Kent), London (Crystal Palace,), Worthing (West Sussex), Weymouth (Dorset), Poole (Dorset), Exeter (Devon) and Wales (Cardiff).

“Thanks are also given to beach partners who have helped Lucas achieve this result: Matt Hunter, Marcos Perez Martin, Sam Reid, Mindaugas Ivanauskas J-Jabez Gillead, Kian Safaee, Tio Constantinou, and Troy Simpson.”

Rijvers has also represented England at the U19 Small Nations Beach Volleyball Championships in Cardiff, finishing fifth.

He was part of the England Junior Brach selection programme for the U18 European Championships and the U18 Northern European Volleyball Zonal Association Beach Championships.

Coach David thanked Lucas’ school, Volleyball England, Bournemouth Beach Volleyball Club, BCP Council, Bournemouth University, LeAF Studio, UKBT, Bournemouth Daily Echo, and The Mount Stuart Hotel for their support of him throughout the season.