Christopher "Chris" McHugh (born 31 August 1989) is a male

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

player from Australia. He represented Australia at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

and the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo, both with teammate

Damien Schumann Damien Schumann (born 12 November 1987) is a male beach volleyball player from Australia. He represented Australia at the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, both with teammate Chris McHugh, winning ...

, winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. Unfortunately, competing at the 2020 Olympics, the pair were knocked out in the group stage after finishing at the bottom of their pool.

Early years

In Year 3 at school, McHugh participated in Spikezone Mini Volleyball to avoid clarinet lessons on Wednesday afternoons. McHugh then joined the Henley Hawks Volleyball Club in South Australia. His ambition was to become a first class Beach Volleyball player. McHugh made his professional volleyball debut in 2006, at just 17 years of age. McHugh studied at St Michael's College in 2007 while training at the Australian Institute of Volleyball. McHugh is now an AIS Share a Yarn Ambassador, a program fostering connections and education with the ATSI (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) community.

Achievements

McHugh competed at the World Championships in 2013, 2015 and 2017. He won his first tournament at the 2012 AVC Beach Volleyball Championships partnering Joshua Slack (now retired). He then had Isaac Kapa as a partner for four years before pairing up with

. The Schumann/McHugh partnership has been very strong and they won medals four times before their

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

debut in 2018. At the

Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, they made the final undefeated. In the gold medal final they defeated Canadian pair Sam Pedlow and

Sam Schachter Samuel Schachter (born May 8, 1990) is a Canadian Olympic beach volleyball player. In 2010 he won the FIVB World Junior (U-21) Championship with Garrett May. At the 2013 Maccabiah Games in Israel, he and Team Canada won a silver medal. He and p ...

. Outside of beach volleyball, Chris is vice president of his first club, the Henley Hawks Volleyball Club. Here he helps mentor young athletes, as well as speaking at local schools to encourage early involvement in volleyball. Since he began competing on the FIVB World Tour in 2006, McHugh has played over 600 matches. He is a six-time Australian Champion. In 2019 McHugh became a father, with his wife, Denai, giving birth to Jack on 24 September 2019.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McHugh, Chris 1989 births Living people Australian men's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic beach volleyball players of Australia Sportspeople from Adelaide Beach volleyball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Beach volleyball players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games 21st-century Australian people Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games