By Nikolay Markov
While the roles of a volleyball coach and a beach volleyball coach present distinct challenges, they share the fundamental responsibility for a team`s triumph. To offer fans a deeper insight into this crucial role and the elements of successful coaching directly from accomplished professionals, this “Secrets of Coaching Success” series features prominent European coaches from both disciplines, aiming to uncover their invaluable expertise.
This seventh installment of the series shines a spotlight on one of the most successful coaches in the world of beach volleyball today: Jetmund Berntsen. As a key figure behind the phenomenal success of Norway’s reigning world and Olympic champions, Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, his story is truly compelling.
Born in 1973, Jetmund was the second of five siblings, all of whom went on to become national team players in either volleyball or beach volleyball. His eldest sister, Merita (now widely known as Anders Mol’s mother), achieved the most athletic success, representing Norway at the Atlanta 1996 beach event with a ninth-place finish.
As a child, young Jetmund was an avid participant in ball games, favoring football in the summer and volleyball in the winter, among many other sports. He began playing organized volleyball at the age of seven, following in his older sister’s footsteps. By 17, he also started playing beach volleyball during the summer months.
His interest in beach volleyball was further cultivated by his indoor national team colleague Jan Kvalheim, who was a globally recognized professional beach volleyball player at the time, and significantly by his brother-in-law, Kare Mol (Merita’s husband). Jetmund and Kare formed a team and even secured a national championship bronze medal in 1995. Berntsen also competed in a couple of FIVB World Tour events, the 1997 Marseille Open and the 1999 Stavanger Open. His indoor playing career culminated about a decade later when he won the Norwegian national title and national cup with the Forde team.
Merita Mol’s journey to the Atlanta Olympics, with her husband Kare Mol serving as coach, ignited Berntsen’s own interest in coaching. They raised their children together and spent considerable time collaborating, allowing Jetmund to observe Kare closely, get his questions answered, and experiment as he embarked on his coaching path.
Eventually, all five of the Mols’ children and the Berntsens’ two children became involved in the sport, transforming beach volleyball into a family enterprise known as the Beachvolley Vikings. This initiative officially launched in 2016 with three players: Kare’s son Anders Mol, Jetmund’s son Mathias Berntsen (who had already achieved their first significant international win together at the 2015 CEV U20 European Championship), and Christian Sorum, who was welcomed as an “adopted” member of the team.
The young Vikings continued their impressive streak of achievements. Anders Mol won another continental U20 title in 2016 alongside Christian Sorum’s younger brother Aleksander. Later that year, he secured the U22 title with Christian, and in 2017, he earned U22 silver with Mathias Berntsen. That same year, Anders also reached his first senior international podiums, claiming a Ljubljana Masters gold on the CEV European Tour with Christian and an Espinho two-star bronze on the FIVB World Tour with Mathias.
During this period, the BeachVolley Vikings were still in a testing phase, with Jetmund Berntsen and the coaching staff exploring various player combinations. They soon discovered that Anders and Christian possessed a unique ability to read the game similarly and shared an incredible chemistry, suggesting they could elevate the sport to an entirely new level.
Mol & Sorum’s monumental breakthrough occurred in 2018 when they clinched five consecutive top-tier events: the Gstaad five-star, the CEV European Championship in The Hague, the Vienna five-star, the World Tour Finals in Hamburg, and the Las Vegas four-star. This marked the beginning of their remarkable journey to the top.
In 2019, Mol & Sorum continued their dominance, winning six out of the seven World Tour finals they reached. The Vikings also secured bronze medals at the FIVB World Championship in Hamburg and the World Tour Finals in Rome. They were crowned World Tour season champions in both 2018 and 2019. To their already impressive collection, they added two more consecutive European titles in Moscow (2019) and Jurmala (2020).
2021 proved to be another significant year for the Beachvolley Vikings. For Mol & Sorum, the year began with back-to-back four-star titles on the World Tour and reached its peak with the Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020. They followed this by securing their fourth consecutive EuroBeachVolley title at the tournament in Vienna and gold at the final edition of the World Tour Finals in Cagliari.
It was at this point that Kare Mol transitioned to a supporting role, entrusting Jetmund Berntsen with the leading position in their coaching team. The success story continued into 2022. The inaugural season of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour was highlighted by Mol & Sorum’s three Elite16 gold medals, but the pinnacle for them came at the World Championship in Rome, where they added the coveted world title to their glorious showcase. Following their victory at the Paris Elite16 in October, the pair reclaimed the number one spot in the FIVB World Ranking and have held it ever since.
Mol & Sorum finished “only” third at EuroBeachVolley 2022 in Munich, which interrupted their astounding streak of four consecutive continental titles. However, the CEV BeachVolley Nations Cup in Vienna was another major success for the Beachvolley Vikings in 2022. With Jetmund Berntsen as the head coach of the Norwegian men’s national team (comprising Anders Mol, Christian Sorum, Hendrik Mol, and Mathias Berntsen), they triumphed, standing atop the podium at the inaugural event. The pairing of Mathias Berntsen with Anders’s older brother Hendrik Mol also had a strong year on the Beach Pro Tour, claiming silver at the Agadir Challenge and ultimately finishing the year as number 13 in the World Ranking.
Jetmund Berntsen’s coaching success extends beyond men’s teams. At the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, he guided Emilie Olimstad and his daughter Frida Berntsen to bronze medals.
Since 2018, Jetmund Berntsen has also been involved with ToppVolley Norge, a private boarding school. This esteemed institution provides a unique environment where aspiring volleyball and beach volleyball talents can pursue high school education alongside rigorous athletic training.
Jetmund Berntsen
Beach volleyball coach
