THE State’s best beach volleyballers have played off on the sands of Boambee Beach as Coffs Harbour hosted the latest round of the NSW Beach Volleyball Tour event.

Coffs Harbour’s Will Morrall and Ethan McDonald teamed up for the Youth Beach Volleyball Tour event, as they took on the state’s best junior beach volleyballers.

The pair come from an indoor volleyball background having played each Thursday night in the weekly Coffs Harbour Volleyball Association competition at Sportz Central.

Morrall explained to News Of the Area the differences between indoor and beach volleyball.

“Beach volleyball is a lot tougher and much harder work running in the sand and jumping is a slog,” he said.

“And with the environment it’s harder to play with the wind.”

Taking part in their first beach volleyball tournament, the Coffs Harbour pair had set goals for their hometown event.

“We started the day slow, but we smashed our goals,” Will said.

“One of our goals was to get some big hits, which Ethan did.”

Having had a taste of big-time beach volleyball, Will Morrall said they would be playing it locally to help prepare for their indoor season.

“I’m interested to see how it will prepare us for the indoor season,” he said.

“It will keep us fit for the next season as we are going to play beach volleyball over the break till our next season.”

The NSW Beach Volleyball Tour is the highest level of beach volleyball in the state providing a competitive environment for NSW’s elite and dev.

The Coffs Harbour event was the latest in an eight-round tour held across NSW.

 

By Aiden BURGESS