Canadian beach volleyball teams set for London Olympics

Just like in business, in sports, it takes the right partnership to succeed. That's what Martin Reader and Josh Binstock learned this past season.

About 1,500 people were on hand at the 2012 Canadian Beach Volleyball Trials at Ashbridge's Bay in downtown Toronto on Saturday to witness Reader and Binstock become the latest athletes to join the Canadian Olympic team for the London Games.

The duo had each won championships in the past with different partners. However, it took and unlikely partnership for it to all come together.

"Josh was on the market," Reader explains. "We've always been playing against each other. He was always a blocker. I'm a blocker, so the team didn't make sense. But he changed to become a defender and became the best defender in Canada. It was an easy choice in September."

Reader and Binstock beat fellow Canadians Ben Saxton and Chris Redmann in the do-or-die match after the two teams joined forces just two weeks ago at the Continental Cup in Mexico to earn their country a berth in beach volleyball at the Olympics.

"The top two teams in Canada played against each other today," says Reader. "We pushed each other hard — mentally and physically."

On the women's side, Annie Martin and Marie-Andree Lessard had a similar task as Reader and Binstock — turn friend into foe in order to realize their dreams. They defeated former teammates Heather Bansley and Liz Maloney, and will soon be on their way to London as well.

"For anyone that's heard [of] the Hunger Games, [it's the] same thing," an emotional Lessard exclaims. "Allies to get the spot and then you eliminate each other. It's really cruel, it's really tough. I don't know how they feel right now."

Martin and Lessard have been playing together for four years. But whether they win or lose at this summer's Olympics, the pair has decided that they will retire. And for Martin, that's a perfect ending. "It's a great way for us to finish on a high."

It's already been an emotional summer for Canada's best beach volleyball tandems, who have less than three weeks to prepare for London.

While Martin and Lessard refuse to create expectations — Lessard even admits that they're not necessarily going for gold — Reader lays it all out on the table: "Represent our country well and come back with some hardware."