By Breven Honda
The Mesquite Rotary Club Mudd Volleyball fund-raising event, scheduled for Sept. 23, has grown during the last 11 years.
From coming up with the idea of playing volleyball not just on sand or in a gym, but in a mud pit to involving sponsorships and the Mesquite community, Linda Gault, the event coordinator, knew that this could be the club’s biggest event of the year.
“We were trying to identify something that we could do that would be different, would be fun and encourage the community to take an active part,” Gault said.
Gault, who had moved down from Wyoming about 12 years ago, was new to the club at the time but was unafraid of stepping in and being part of any planning for the Mesquite Rotary Club.
Her experience paid dividends as she brought up the thought of mud volleyball at a board meeting for a potential idea.
“I knew of mud volleyball tournaments and other locations,” Gault said. “I went to one of the board meetings and I said, ‘Hey, here’s an idea. Do you think we could do this?’ So, they asked me to see what how I could put it together.”
The first year Gault and the Rotary Club planned this event, they started out with five teams in a small capacity, compared to what it is now.
The players from those five teams enjoyed themselves to the level that they attracted more people the following year and not only from Mesquite. Through the years, teams have started to come from St. George and Las Vegas.
Through the years of growth, the money that is raised benefits the people in Mesquite.
“Everybody had so much fun that word got out and then every year, we added teams, and it grew,” Gault said. “All of the funds that we raise are used for things here in the community. We give high school seniors scholarship to go on to college, or tech school. We support our food banks, whatever there is that we can help with.”
All those adjustments, including not having an event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to this year’s event, scheduled for Sept. 23 behind the Eureka Casino, the same site where this event has been held since the beginning.
This event has grown so much that it had a costume contest last year as Gault and her committee reached out to different businesses and organizations in Mesquite to support and sponsor teams and the event, including from local first responders.
“I went to the police and the fire departments and I said, ‘Hey, would you guys be willing to put together teams of six players? Would you be willing to put together teams and compete against each other for a trophy every year?’” Gault said. “And they go, ‘Oh sure. We’d love to do that.’”
“Whoever wins those matches becomes our studs of the month for the year. And (the winning department) get a big, tall trophy. They get to keep it at their office for that year.”
The Mesquite police and fire departments are two of the many sponsors for the volleyball event.
There are six players on a team and Gault said there will be about two dozen teams competing in this year’s event.
As the event coordinator, Gault is hoping to exceed expectations from the year before, but she is not focused on a specific goal.
“Last year, we hit our highest amount of $14,000, which is pretty good for a small club as small as we are,” Gault said. “Of course, every year you want to surpass the year before. We don’t really set a goal. We take whatever amount of money that we are able to raise and then we always used it within our community in some fashion.”
Even if people decide not to play because they do not want to get dirty or for some other reason, Gault said there are ways people can help or support.
“We’re always looking for volunteers,” Gault said. “It takes a lot of volunteers to help in all different ways. And we have four pits that are going constantly from the beginning until we’ve reached the end of the tournament.
“We need scorekeepers, judges, referees and because we have four pits, at all times, I need to have four people at each pit. We try not to keep people out there more than an hour or two hours at a time. So, we’re constantly rotating people so that everyone gets a break.”
Whether people are playing, helping out or taking in a Saturday afternoon watching mud volleyball, Gault and her committee are hoping people enjoy themselves in the sun.
She wants this year’s event to be successful, in addition to those in the future.
“We hope that the community will continue to support us, and we’ll have opportunities for people to come and see what we’re doing, enjoy it, have some fun for a Saturday and watch the activities and the fun out there,” Gault said. “That’s what it’s all about, giving us an opportunity to pay back our community.”
