Tony Raynor - the man who brought beach volleyball to the Australian Deaf Games - had not been in the Hunter long enough to put his feet in the waters of Lake Macquarie, but he had already fallen for the place and the people.
"They're lovely people," he said, "And you have the beaches, the country, the lake. I haven't touched it yet, but once everything quiets down here, I'm going down to the lake.
"We are so happy to be here."
Mr Raynor is from Melbourne in Victoria, where he plays regular indoor volleyball. But when he made his case to include the sport in the Deaf Games catalogue around 2012, he said the beach format was better suited to providing the athletes and spectators with a better, more thrilling competition.
Newcastle is playing host to the biennial Australian and Pacific Deaf Games this week, which are a selection competition for the Deaflympics, the next of which will be hosted in Japan in 2025.
The games have been billed to include more than 1000 competitions across a range of disciplines for the 10-day event, which is the first to be held since pandemic-imposed restrictions put a halt to the competition.
NEX on King Street hosted the opening ceremony on Saturday evening. On Sunday, Mr Raynor - the conveyor of the beach volleyball competition and president of Deaf Volleyball Australia - was on Nobbys Beach, where a handful of competitors from around Australia and New Zealand had met for a warm-up event ahead of the full competition on Tuesday.
He explained that the winners will be decided via a round-robin competition, with finals to be held on Wednesday.
"I'll be 70 this year," Mr Raynor said, "But I've never stopped playing sport. At my first Deaf Games, I played squash and then went on to play basketball. And then I thought I'd start up beach volleyball.
"It's easier to create a team for beach volleyball who are all on the same level (of play) and have a good competition."
The code was introduced to the Deaf Games roster in 2012 as an exhibition event before it was included in the Games proper, which is promoted as an opportunity not only to compete but to foster unity within the deaf community.
The imposition of COVID was a blow to the sport, Mr Raynor said, but he was hopeful that these first games to return since the pandemic would see the event recover.
"This is the first time that we have been able to get together since COVID," he said, "At the start of October, there was no team. But if you want to play in the Deaflympics, you must be playing here in Newcastle.
"We have two guys from South Australia here that play a very high level of volleyball, but if they don't come here, they won't get in. And they're very, very good."
The Deaf Games have been traditionally held in capital cities, Mr Raynor explained, but there has been a recent push to move the competition into the regions.
"We started in Geelong," he said, "We wanted to get out to the country and not be so centralised in the capitals. We went to Albury-Wadonga, and that was great. Then the pandemic messed everything up, and then when we went again, we thought of Newcastle.
"I'm very proud that the organisers were able to get us back on our feet and support us."
Kathryn Armfield, the Games' vice president, said having Newcastle and Lake Macquarie host was a "wonderful opportunity to celebrate our language, culture and heritage".
"The Australian Deaf Games will show that fair play, respect, and friendship are enduring qualities of the Australian Deaf Community," she said.
"The Games is a multi-sport event and a major social and cultural celebration of the Australian deaf community. We welcome old and new faces, with the hope that everyone goes home with new and renewed friendships and self-affirmation in themselves,"
The event has come to the region with support from the City of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie City Council and will see athletes competing in a total of 16 sports, including athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, chess, darts, futsal, golf, lawn bowls, netball, rugby, football, swimming, table tennis, tennis and touch football. The event will also include five demonstration sports: CrossFit, park run, sailing, surfing and triathlon.
