LIKE many great ideas, the Cootamundra Beach Volleyball carnival was literally born over a beer.
What started out as a pipedream has evolved into easily the biggest annual sporting event in town and this year will celebrate its 10th anniversary.
From 16 teams in 2001 to 84 in 2010 and from one court in the
centre of town, five are now needed to accommodate the masses.
The man behind the dream, Simon Sutherland remains gob smacked over the increasing
popularity of Coota Beach.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Simon said.
“If someone had told me in the lead up to the first carnival that we’d still be here 10 years later with 84 teams competing I would have told them they were crazy.”
Sutherland instigated the beach volleyball weekend more than a decade ago, admitting the idea came to him over a cold beer.
“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.”
The rest - as they say - is history.
Simon acted on his gut feelings and submitted a proposal to the then Business and Retail Committee in mid 2000 and by February of the next year the first ball was served at that very site.
“I recall walking into the meeting and being confronted by a number of prominent businessmen of the time,” Simon said.
“I thought to myself ‘what am I doing here’, but they were all very supportive.”
Since day one, Coota Beach has been relocated three times and its spiritual home is now Murray Street where four temporary courts will again be erected to match the one permanent court situated on the adjacent land.
Asked to describe the past 10 years in as few words as possible, Simon opted for ‘a massive
learning experience’.
“I am really proud of the fact we could come up with the idea, put systems and plans in place and
fulfill a dream,” he said.
Simon says we because he’s the first one to admit the success of Coota Beach is by no means a one-man show.
“There are so many people who have been part of the committee or helped out over the years in a
voluntary way and without them the success of the carnival wouldn’t have been possible,” he said.
“It’s the ultimate thing for a group of people to go about a job and get it done with a minimum of fuss and I think that’s what we’ve achieved.
“It’s impossible to mention everyone who has been involved, but I do have to give special praise to my sisters Denise and Liz who have been there from the start.”
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