Coota Beach 2010

Beach Volleyball and Cootamundra are not normally two things you would associate with one another. Think again. On the weekend of 20-21 February 2010 Coota Beach is once again hosting a beach volleyball tournament.

The tournament first started in 2001 after a drink over a beer had given birth to the idea of a tournament in Cootamundra. The visionary man was Simon Sutherland.

“I remember as a kid seeing the Kuta clothes brand and hearing about Kuta Beach in Bali and wondered if we could ever make a link to Coota,” he said.

“I was sitting in the bar at the Olympic Hotel having a beer one night and looked out at the intersection of Parker and Bourke Streets and thought that would be a great place to set up a beach volleyball court.”

That’s right the tournament takes place in the centre of town on the main road. This year there will be five courts in action and a total of 84 six-a-side mixed teams.  The sand is trucked in and dumped on the road to setup the courts.

Teams travel from Sydney, Canberra and Wagga Wagga to participate in the event.

How do I know all this? I am actually competing in the tournament. I got a phone call out of the blue asking if I could fill in at short notice so that is where I will be this weekend.

It is a long way from the beach volleyball action I am used to when I played on the Australian Pro Beach Volleyball tour in the late 80′s and early to mid 90′s.

According to the 2006 census in Australia, Cootamundra is a small town of 5566 . As the crow flies it is 306km south west from Sydney.

Cootamundra is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Australia’s cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman.

Check back next week for photos and a report from the Coota Beach volleyball tournament.

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