Wombat’s message for would-be World Champs volunteers: “Just do it!”

As a stalwart of the Australian beach volleyball scene, Nathan McLeod is well-known to nearly everyone who has passed through a national event or a tournament played in his home state of South Australia.

Not that anyone calls him Nathan – he is universally known as ‘Wombat’.

It is no surprise that Wombat took time out from his work and beach volleyball commitments at home to volunteer at last year’s Paris Olympics, where Australia’s players got to see a familiar face courtside.

With the Beach Volleyball World Championships heading to Adelaide later this year, Wombat believes everyone should be looking for the chance to be part of such a wonderful event.

Click here for more information and to register your interest in volunteering at Adelaide 2025.

What was your role in Paris and how did you come to be a part of the Games?

I was part of the Operational Team in Paris which means we looked after the competition areas.

This included everything from preparing and maintaining training and warmup courts, to all equipment and field of play spaces in centre court, as well as some of the technical operations and court maintenance roles (such as raking).

I was lucky enough to be selected from a huge pool of applications and was one of only a handful from outside of Europe to work on the beach volleyball. It was almost a two-year process to obtain the position. We were lucky enough to get to work in Mat Meriaux’s team who looked after all of us Aussies so well!

What was the best part/s of being involved?

For me there were three things that stood out from Paris.

The first was the experience of being part of something so big. It was amazing to be a small part of something as big as the beach volleyball at the Olympics and to see what the absolute top level of event is like from behind the scenes. It is something that I will never forget. Volleyball under the Eiffel Tower at night? Come on…

The next was sharing the moment with the players. We were fortunate enough to know some of the players from all over the world from the years they have travelled to Australia and competed at our events. Seeing them over there at that level and being able to see their preparation and celebration was amazing. Especially one of the French teams that had travelled to Australia many times. That was really special. Best of all though, was being able to be there to watch, support and see the Australian cohort of players, coaches, managers and trainers. Knowing how hard they have all worked, and seeing many of them playing in Australia from literally their early teens was pretty special for me. Especially Zach [Schubert] – having an SA boy who I got to see grow up with the sport, who has basically been to every social event my local indoor club has had in the last 15 years, do his stuff over there was incredible.

Outside of that it was the people I got to work with. We were lucky enough to have a handful of Aussies working across indoor and beach volleyball at the games from roles like mine, to referees, FIVB roles, MC, etc. There was also so many over there supporting and watching too. But it was the people that I met that made it so special too. Some of these didn’t speak much English and I spoke no French but it was a special bond and very enjoyable. The staff that were at the beach were amazing and instantly welcomed you into the event family and made it pretty special. The people make the experience unforgettable.

Did you notice a lot of Aussies involved with the Games?

We had a heap. It was amazing that when you get to that level of event Aussies seem to be everywhere working at it. We must be doing something right in this space!

I remember looking around centre court on one of the finals days and there was Baz [Wedmaier] and I working on the net, a couple from broadcast that were Aussies fixing the cameras inside the posts, a broadcast producer going over the runsheet, an MC warming up, someone working with the rakers in preparation of their role and a challenge referee setting up. That is pretty impressive when you get to stop and think about it. I think we could have had a few more fans in the stands at our games but I am sure that will change in a big way in November!

Something that was very special to me was a more local connection. My local indoor club, South Adelaide, was well-represented over there. John Bennett was a Challenge Referee, I was on the Ops team and Craig Watson was over there watching. We are all past presidents of South, and to have Zach, his partner Britt [Kendall] and sister Simone there who have also played (Sim is our current Vice President) was a bit surreal. That was pretty special to me.

What advice would you give to anyone in the volleyball community about volunteering for a role at Adelaide 2025?

Just do it! We spoke to so many volunteers and staff over there that had done multiple big events, be it Olympics, World Champs or some of the really huge tournaments. They all loved it every single time and are already hitting us up about how they get involved in Adelaide!

It really is a once in a lifetime event to be involved in something like a World Champs, especially in our own country.

For me, it is in my hometown and I cannot wait for November 2025. If anyone needs more convincing, come find me at an event and I’ll talk your ear off about how good it was for hours!!

Click here for more information and to register your interest in volunteering at Adelaide 2025.