At its peak of more than 1,100 people in attendance at the Coota Beach Volleyball Carnival this year, event organiser and former committee member Simon Sutherland supported the idea of not running the popular long weekend event in February 2021.
“It was just a logistic and responsible decision. With the current rules in place there are lots of uncertainties in planning,” Mr Sutherland said.
“It takes just one person to come into Coota with the virus and then leave with it, for questions to be raised on why the event was run and that could possibly tarnish the carnival’s name too.”
Meticulous planning for the tournament commences as early as mid-year and current COVID restrictions for a sporting event has made planning for the committee very difficult.
Under the Public Health (COVID-19 Restrictions on Gathering and Movement) Order (No 4) 2020, community sporting activities for both indoors and outdoors and with more than 20 participants, must not exceed a total of 500 participants.
These numbers include players, officials, volunteers and spectators.
With this year’s event achieving a record high of 126 teams registered, current co-chairperson Cootamundra Beach Volleyball Committee Janine Ricketts said marshalling for such a major event would be unpredictable and impossible for just six committee members and a few volunteers.
“This event has not skipped a beat since its inception so it was not a simple decision to call off 2021. But it feels like the right thing to do,” she said.
Mr Sutherland added that there were too many factors to control.
“With eight courts going at once, 16 teams having to be in the right place at the right time with respective umpires, and games starting with gaps of just two minutes, there’s so much policing that goes with it,” Simon said.
“Eight courts with eight balls and you have each player touching it and then the crowd if it gets to them. At the end celebrations with music going, it’s hard to police 1,100 people and have them adhere to social distancing guidelines.”
Coota Beach Volleyball Carnival was first played on February 24, 2001 with a total of 16 teams.
A year before that, local Simon Sutherland was just 24 when he sat inside the Olympic Hotel and pictured the main street being filled with sand for a weekend beach volleyball competition. I
nstead of sitting on his dream, Simon decided to approach CDC with his proposal and together they recognised proper planning was essential for the idea to be feasible.
Having wanted it on the main street, many have suggested hosting it on a side street or on Fisher Park, which Mr Sutherland said it had to be a “bold statement” or it would not have the effect he wanted.
Simon wanted an event that would be unique and one that would draw attention to Cootamundra.
It was certainly no easy feat to put together such a major event but with the help of council, the CDC, family and community members as well as the formation of a committee, Mr Sutherland said “the rest was history”.
At a November 2000 council meeting, the Coota Shire gave the green light for the competition to stage at the intersection of Parker and Bourke Street and Shire even entered a team themselves called “Shire Spikers”.
Although closing off the main street impacted some businesses, there was lots of support from local businesses.
In 2001, Furniture One’s Steve Turner and major bed making company Sealy agreed to offer a prized Queen-Sized Hyatt Bed Ensemble valued at $1600, to the player of the tournament.
Entrant numbers grew to 36 in 2004 with teams coming from cities such as Canberra and Sydney and towns in Temora, Cowra and Young.
Being used to staging it on the main street, Simon and other volunteers used to move 260 tonnes of sand in the dead of night to set the court up.
2005 was a highlight for the carnival when Olympian and Australian beach volleyball Gold-medallist Natalie Cook arrived in town to attend the weekend-long carnival.
That same year was the first time the competition was able to stage the tournament in three different courts.
Mr Sutherland eventually stood down in 2011 and existing committee of then five years decided to take over.
During that period there were three courts, approximately 60 teams entered and around 20 committee members.
Since then the committee has grown the event to accommodate the demand for space by adding more courts and lengthening the hours of the event.
The committee has liaised with local police to address under-age drinking concerns and added security has been installed for public safety.
Current co-chairperson Janine Ricketts said every challenge thrown their way over the years the committee has been able to tackle but COVID has been different.
“We can’t guarantee no outbreaks between now and the third weekend in February 2021. We don’t know if borders will be open for teams to get through and we don’t know what restrictions will or won’t be in place,” she said.
“If restrictions are relaxed and we are able to travel from state to state freely and hold events with larger numbers, then plans for the 2022 event would be made. We wish everyone well during this challenging time.”
Christopher Tan