Q - When did you first play on the World Tour?

PL - First World tour event was in Clearwater, USA in 1995 (finished 37th)

Q - What is the main difference you see on the World Tour of today?

The main difference between today's World Tour and back then is that there is much more competition now, particularly in the number of teams trying to qualify. It is also far more professional as everyone wants to get into the top positions.

Q - Who are the hardest/best teams you have played against?

The Brazilians, and right now it is Tande and Emanuel. It seems to change a little bit every year. We have played against Karch [Kiraly] two or three times, and we won a few of them. Kiraly is very different. He is very focused, he is a very strategic player - he knows exactly what he is doing - no big mistakes. He is different than playing other players - you feel he is very different - he is very serious about what he is doing. I feel we are a little like that on the court - very focused on what we are doing. No silly things during the match.

Q - How do a couple of Swiss brothers with no formal volleyball training become #2 in the world in beach volleyball?

The most important thing is that you have to practice hard. It is not talent, it is not anything else - it is just a lot of practice.

Q - When and how did you get into beach volleyball?

We were playing tennis for a long time. I started playing beach volleyball very late - 18 or 19 years of age. My father was playing volleyball, so we started playing volleyball and in the summer we started playing beach volleyball. Straight away our results were better on the beach than with volleyball. As time went on, our beach volleyball season went longer and longer, and our volleyball season became shorter and shorter. And now we are professional beach volleyball players.

I played volleyball for only about five years, two years just amateur, then three years as semi-professional.

Q - Most of the beach stars of the late eighties and early nineties came from a national team volleyball programs, which is where they developed their technical skills. You and an increasing number of players on the tour today do not have that formal structured grounding. How did you acquire the skills?

We are not the best technical players, but the trick is to keep trying new things, watching and studying all the teams, and lots and lots of practice. We figured out by ourselves what is the best way to make points. There is not, and never was a coach. Whenever someone can join us for practice they do. My father has always been there as much as he can, and mother has spent a lot of time picking up balls. Sometimes there are other Swiss teams, but most of the time we practice by ourselves.

Q - What is it like playing with your brother, Martin?

It is definitely a secret point that we have, a strength that we have as a team. We are together all the year long, traveling the tour or training. The difference between us and other teams is that we communicate without talking. That is our main strength - we know each other very well. People always want to know what is wrong, saying there is no talking or communication between us. Just because we may not talk a lot, it doesn't mean there is no communication. We just have a different way of communicating. I think we have proved that there must be communication.

Q - What are your strengths?

My strength is that I am very focused. No one can disturb me during a match. I just do my job. Martin is a very good jump server and blocker, but our real strength is that at the right moments, the critical moments in a match, we are a little bit stronger than normal. I think this is very important. As a team I believe we are may be better than most other teams, even though as individual players we may not be as strong.

Q - Your favorite World Tour event?

The one's I win.

Career Highlights - Paul Laciga 

Player's website: www.laciga.ch  

81 World Tour events - 2 x 1st place, 10 x 2nd place, 5 x 3rd place, 56 x top 10 finishes.

Five consecutive 2nd place finishes in 2001. All matches played with Martin Laciga.

2nd - 2001 FIVB World Tour Ranking

1st - 2000 Tenerife ( Canary Is), Spain

1st - 1998 Mar del Plata, Argentina

5th - 2000 Sydney Olympic Games

Career World Tour Prizemoney - US$184,525

Age (DOB): 31 (11/24/1970)

Nationality: Suisse

Hometown : Kerzers (FR)

Languages: Eng/Fre/Ger/Cze

Playing Partner: Martin Laciga

Physical Data

Height : 193 cm

Weight : 85 kg

Block: 350 cm

Spike: 348 cm