MOL Anders Berntsen

Previous teammates
Bjarne Nikolai Huus, Mathias Berntsen (beachmajorseries.com, 2016)

General
BEACH VOLLEY VIKINGS
His family are involved in beach volleyball, and in 2015 they launched the BeachVolley Vikings team which consists of Anders, his brother Hendrik, his cousin Mathias Berntsen and Anders' teammate and friend Christian Sorum. His father is their coach, with his uncle and mother serving as assistant coaches. "There are good and bad things about being in a team made up of family and friends. Being completely honest with each other is one of the good things. We always want to improve and help each other out with nobody else getting in the way. This means we push each other every day in the fitness room, supporting each other when we have bad days and giving feedback as to how we can do better." (olympics.nbcsports.com, 22 Jul 2019; beachmajorseries.com, 27 Nov 2017; volleyball.no, 2019; vg.no, 28 Jun 2019)

FOSTERING TALENT
In 2019 he announced that his BeachVolley Vikings team planned to start using their brand to foster young beach volleyball talent in Norway. He said he was inspired by a lack of post-high school volleyball programmes in Norway. "After the Toppvolley Norge [high school] programme, there was no development programme after high school. So we created our own project [in 2015], which became BeachVolley Vikings." Following the success of the group, they plan to use BeachVolley Vikings to support four to eight young Norwegian players, both girls and boys, to follow in their footsteps. "We can help them financially and with the experience and knowledge we have gained. I think it could create a positive ripple effect in Norwegian volleyball to have this type of programme, which has not existed before." (aftenposten.no. 02 Sep 2019)

PLAYING INDOOR
He decided to join Norwegian indoor volleyball team Forde VK for the first months of the 2019/20 season. He was a member of the team until January 2020, when he started his beach volleyball preparations. "I've missed being part of a larger team. In beach volleyball we are a small group that travels a lot together, and although I am not tired of them, it is good to get new influences. It's really fun to play indoors." (tv2.no, 18 Nov 2019; nrk.no, 26 Oct 2019)

'PERFECT' PARTNERSHIP
He teamed up with Christian Sorum in 2016. "It's like a marriage, we share everything with each other. We have an incredibly special relationship. We have no trouble living so closely, and only this way it can work so perfectly. I didn't expect that. We fully depend on each other." (vg.no, 14 May 2019)