SideOut Beach Volleyball is 10 years old.
Did you know that London’s first permanent beach volleyball facilities were built in 2011, following the London Olympic Test Events for the 2012 Olympics?
Before that, Londoners only had one place to play beach volleyball: the single makeshift sand court that was set up at Shoreditch Park by London Beach Volleyball Club, which was also co-founded by our very own Mark Kontopoulos back in 2005.
One of the London 2012 legacy beach volleyball facilities was built at the Score Centre in Leyton, which would then go on to become SideOut’s home until 2018! In October 2018, SideOut moved home venue to its current base at Ive Farm Playing Fields in Leyton and it has since also expanded to the seaside with a 2nd home at Worthing in West Sussex!
Did you know that it has now been 10 years since three friends joined forces to offer quality coaching and events to the volleyball & beach volleyball community? You know who we are talking about! You see them day in day out on the sand! It’s Alex Chevau, Mark Kontopoulos, and Vangelis Koutouleas, who founded SideOut in August 2011 with a distinct philosophy and approach that always puts the sport first!
They already had a huge amount of combined experience coaching volleyball and beach volleyball and running events of all levels and sizes in the UK and abroad, but they were convinced that more could – and SHOULD– be done to grow the sport in and around London, especially with the London 2012 Olympics that were just around the corner!
Ive Farm Playing Fields in Leyton, 2021