|
LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 8, 2021 - It was a
funny moment for Chaim Schalk to identify as the
one that he knew his new partnership with Theo
Brunner would work.
They were playing their first match as a team,
against Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb in
the United States country quota, playing off to
see who would take the trip to Doha for this
week’s 4-star tournament. Schalk and Brunner had
lost the first set, 17-21, and as they were
sitting in their boxes, Schalk had to admit it:
he was having a blast.
“I was just like ‘I’m having so much fun. I’m
enjoying this. We lost the first set and
whatever, man, this is the start of a
partnership for us,’” Schalk said. “Sure enough
we started getting better every point and
started making more plays and ended up winning.
He trusts me and I trust him.”
It was no small moment, for either team. Bourne
and Crabb lost an opportunity to solidify their
positions as the second-ranked American team in
the Olympic race to Tokyo, with Phil Dalhausser
and Nick Lucena hot on their heels. Schalk,
meanwhile, finally just gets to put on a United
States jersey.
After competing in the Rio Olympics with Ben
Saxton – they finished ninth – Schalk played one
more season for Canada before transferring
federations to represent the United Sates. This
came with a two-year probationary period,
limiting Schalk to compete exclusively on the
AVP Tour in 2018 and 2019 – and then again in
2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic all but shut down
international competition.
It was this exact same country quota a year ago
where Schalk could have made his debut. He and
Chase Budinger lost to Billy Allen and Stafford
Slick, thus delaying – though nobody knew this
at the time – his debut as an American on the
World Tour until Doha of 2021.
“When we got through it was really cool because
I didn’t even think about it before,” Schalk
said. “It’s crazy to think that I’m going to a
top level tournament and I’m in the tournament
and it’s finally happened, which is just a
really cool thought. I’ve waited so long for
this and I finally get to play. It’s time to
start the grind again. It’s something I haven’t
done in a long time but I’m energised to do it.
It’s exciting for me for sure.”
It’s exciting on a number of levels, both
personally for Schalk and holistically for the
United States. With Phil Dalhausser and Jake
Gibb set to retire, after nearly two decades of
dominance, there are holes to fill, and nobody
is entirely sure how they’re going to be filled.
The budding partnership of Schalk, who has
already proven he can qualify for and compete in
the Olympic Games, and Brunner, who was on track
to compete for a spot in Rio before Dalhausser
poached Nick Lucena, adds an elite team to the
mix.
They’re close to the same age – Schalk is 34,
Brunner 35 – and phase of life. They both have
young daughters who play together while their
dads practise. They enjoy working with Scott
Davenport, their new coach. While Schalk is
reviving his international career with a new
jersey, Brunner is reinvigorating his with a
newfound sense of enthusiasm.
“We played pretty well,” Schalk said of the
country quota match, their first as a team. “We
were a little sloppy at first, just feeling it
out, figuring it out. We hadn’t played all that
much so we kinda just went into it and said
‘Let’s play and have fun and see what happens’
and we just got better and better. We just have
a good vibe between me and Theo.
We’ve got a good chemistry for sure.” |
