Who is Benjamin?
Benjamin is one of the greatest beach volleyball players of all times. Born in Brazil, he played indoor volleyball in prominent clubs such as Banespa, Suzano and Chapecó until an injury took him to recover on the beach.
Falling in love with the game, he stayed and played the Brazilian Beach Volleyball National Tournaments and the FIVB Beach Volleyball Tours for more than two decades, having competed for his country in the 2004 Olympic Games, in Athens.
Benjamin currently lives with his family in Naperville, IL (USA), where he plans to continue his legacy by creating a volleyball club where he will train and coach the future generations of the sport.
CONTACT
contact@benjamininsfran.com
FIVB Official Ranking
The Volleyball International Federation - FIVB is the entity responsible for the regulation of all modalities of volleyball in the world. It keeps individualized public records of players of all nationalities who reach international relevance.
To illustrate the magnitude of Benjamin`s achievements in his career, the chart below compiles and compares his FIVB records (prizes and podiums) to the records of the US beach volleyball most prominent players of his and younger generations.
- 1
Philip Dalhausser
Gold: 39 | Silver: 16 | Bronze: 14
1º - 9º - 5º - 9ºFIVB Prizes: $2,686,800
- 2
Todd Rogers
Gold: 25 | Silver: 8 | Bronze: 11
1º - 9ºFIVB Prizes: $1,822,200
- 3
Benjamin Insfran
Gold: 13 | Silver: 10 | Bronze: 11
9ºFIVB Prizes: $1,408,075
- 4
Nicholas Lucena
Gold: 12 | Silver: 11 | Bronze: 6
5º - 9ºFIVB Prizes: $1,395,001
- 5
Sinjin Smith
Gold: 10 | Silver: 7 | Bronze: 3
5ºFIVB Prizes: $688,876
- 6
Sean Rosenthal
Gold: 10 | Silver: 6 | Bronze: 4
5º - 5ºFIVB Prizes: $1,260,600
- 7
Randy Stoklos
Gold: 10 | Bronze: 1
FIVB Prizes: $200,500
- 8
Jacob Gibb
Gold: 8 | Silver: 10 | Bronze: 8
5º - 5º - 19º - 9ºFIVB Prizes: $1,686,375
- 9
Kevin Wong
Gold: 3 | Silver: 3 | Bronze: 5
5ºFIVB Prizes: $620,900
- 10
Eric Fonoimoana
| Silver: 2 | Bronze: 1
1ºFIVB Prizes: $369,750
- 11
Karch Kiraly
Gold: 2 | Silver: 3 | Bronze: 1
1ºFIVB Prizes: $167,500
- 12
Kent Steffes (G)
Gold: 2 | Silver: 2 | Bronze: 2
1ºFIVB Prizes: $127,050
- 13
Mike Whitmarsh
Gold: 2 | Silver: 5 | Bronze: 1
2ºFIVB Prizes: $296,550
- 14
Michael Dodd
Gold: 2 | Silver: 2 | Bronze: 1
2ºFIVB Prizes: $173,900
- 15
Dain Blanton
Gold: 1 | Silver: 1 | Bronze: 3
1ºFIVB Prizes: $414,970
Podiums and numbers
1000+
Official Plays
13
FIVB Gold Medals
10
FIVB Silver Medals
11
FIVB Bronze Medals
20
Years of career
200
Championships Played
Individual Awards
Individual Awards- Rookie of the Year - 1999 - Brazilian Beach Volleyball
- Most Valuable Player (MVP) - 2000 - Brazilian Beach Volleyball
- Best Spiker - 2002 - Brazilian Beach Volleyball
- Best Blocker - 2002 - Brazilian Beach Volleyball
- Most Valuable Player (MVP) - 2002 - Brazilian Beach Volleyball
Olympic games
Benjamin turned his dream into reality in 2004, when he and his partner Marcio Araújo qualified to be one of the two teams to represent Brazil in the Olympic Games, held in Athens. The team had a realistic chance of an Olympic medal, even gold.
His dream, however, was interrupted by an unexpected dramatic 2x1 loss (23x21, 19x21, 15x13) to the Swiss brothers Martin & Paul Laciga, whom Benjamin & Marcio had defeated so many times before.
Benjamin & Marcio finished 9th in the competition.
Marcio`s letter
I am Marcio Araujo, beach volleyball Olympic silver medalist in 2008, Beijing.
Benjamin was my longest partner during my career as a beach volleyball professional player, we played for more than 6 years together.
We started young, unknown and dreaming big, and have won dozens of tournaments together in Brazil and on the FIVB World Tour. We played together my first Olympic Games in 2004, Athens.
Benjamin is one of the most complete players Brazil has ever produced, always with a differentiated reading and understanding of the game, studious, strategist, disciplined, talented and totally dedicated to his own improvement and improvement of his team.
With his drive and attitude of a coach, Benjamin has helped not only me, but also other relevant names of the sport to develop themselves and achieve victory and stardom.
If you want to evolve your volleyball skills, either indoor or on the beach, I guarantee you have come to the right place. Enjoy your practices!
Marcio Henrique Barroso Araújo
Articles and News
Compilation of some articles and news in which Benjamin`s work is cited during his 20+ years of professional athletic career.
fivb - 2020
LinkOther beach volleyball Olympians celebrating birthdays this week are Lina Yanchulova of Bulgaria (45, 2000 and 2004 Olympics) on Sunday, Riccardo Lione of Italy (48, 2008) on Monday, Debora Schoon Kadijk of the Netherlands (51, 1996, and 2000), Danja Musch of Germany (49, 1996, 2000 and 2004) and Benjamin Insfran of Brazil (48, 2004) on Tuesday, Raul Mesa of Spain (38, 2008) on Thursday and Lenka Hajeckova of the Czech Republic (42, 2012) on Friday. Of this group, Benjamin ranks among the FIVB leaders in gold medals (13) and podium placements (33) as he played on the World Tour for 16 seasons (1997-2012) with 152 events played.
Olympic.com - 2021
LinkBehar and Bede added another silver in Athens in 2004, but this time round it was Brazil’s men who took centre stage. The pairings of Márcio Araújo and Benjamin Insfran, and Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos were seeded one and two respectively. And while there was disappointment for the favourites, Rego and Santos won gold after a scintillating final against Spanish duo Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera.
volleyball world - 2021
LinkTeams winning their first of several FIVB World Tour gold medals together this week were Norwegians Jan Kvalheim/ Bjorn Maaseide of Norway in 1994, the Laciga brothers (Martin and Paul) of Switzerland in 1998 and Brazilians Marcio Araujo/Benjamin Insfran in 2000.
RECOGNITIONS
CBV RECOMMENDATION
Rio de Janeiro, November 04, 2022.
Since 1954 and 1988, respectively, we have been the institution responsible for creating, developing, and managing the indoor and beach volleyball tournaments in Brazil.
We attest that athlete Benjamin Insfran played the Brazilian Beach Volleyball National Tournaments from 1996 through 2018, being the National Champion in the year of 2000, and winning Second Place in the years of 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Furthermore, we attest that athlete Benjamin Insfran was elected by this institution for the following individual awards:
Rookie of the Year - 1999 - Brazilian Beach Volleyball National Tournament
Most Valuable Player (MVP) - 2000 - Brazilian Beach Volleyball National Tournament
Best Spiker - 2002 - Brazilian Beach Volleyball National Tournament
Best Blocker - 2002 - Brazilian Beach Volleyball National Tournament
Most Valuable Player (MVP) - 2002 - Brazilian Beach Volleyball National Tournament
Benjamim represented Brazil in several international competitions on the FIVB Beach Volleyball Tours from 1999 through 2012, having won for Brazil 19 gold medals, 15 silver medals and 32 bronze medals in a total of 66 podiums on these international competitions.
The double Marcio Araujo - Benjamin Insfran won the bronze medal at the FIVB World Beach Volleyball Championships of 2003 and the silver medal at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tours of 2002 and 2003.
We further confirm that the double Marcio Araújo - Benjamin Insfran represented Brazil in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, finishing in 9th place in that competition.
Benjamin is one of the greatest beach volleyball players that Brazil ever produced, and one of the best in the world, having won more than 1,000 matches in official beach volleyball competitions, and his great deeds and example of determination, fairplay and love for the game continue to inspire generations of youngsters who love the sport of beach volleyball in Brazil and abroad.
Benjamin is a natural leader and has a great talent for developing and helping transform young players into professional athletes.
Sincerely,
Next Career Steps
Benjamin and his family moved from Brazil to Naperville, IL, in March 2022, where they intend to settle. Benjamin was immediately captivated by the way people love the game of volleyball in the region, specially young teenagers.
“Volleyball has taken me to all parts of the world, but I had never seen a complex with 70 side-to-side courts, all full of children playing”, says Benjamin. And he completes: “I am blown away, this is volleyball heaven.”
Benjamin wants to add his experience and knowledge on both indoor and beach volleyball to reach young players who want to develop and play the sport competitively. He is currently in the process of creating his own volleyball club, where he plans to offer training and coaching all year round.
