{"id":41066,"date":"2025-02-10T09:20:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T22:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/?p=41066"},"modified":"2025-02-10T23:37:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T12:37:06","slug":"humans-of-country-week-meet-the-coffs-coasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/news\/2025\/02\/10\/humans-of-country-week-meet-the-coffs-coasters","title":{"rendered":"Humans of Country Week: Meet the Coffs Coasters"},"content":{"rendered":"

1,250km for the Love of Country Week<\/h3>\n

As we launch our first Humans of Country Week<\/em> story for 2025, we take a closer look at the Coffs Coasters, a team that has made the long journey from Coffs Harbour, in New South Wales (NSW), to be part of the action.\u00a0Drawn by something they can\u2019t find back home: the magic of playing on grass courts and the sheer size of the iconic tournament.<\/p>\n

In order to get from Coffs Harbour to Swan Hill it generally takes around 13\u201314 hours to drive. Which is a big commitment for the team! Some of them have been making the trip for five years, others four or three but the passion is the same.<\/p>\n

So, what makes Country Week so special?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The team is drawn to the unique atmosphere of the tournament, which brings together more than 1,300 players on 96 grass courts. “This is a unique tournament\u2014it just cannot be matched anywhere in the world,”<\/em> one team member shared. “We just love it to death, and we\u2019re always going to keep coming back.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Playing on grass is a rare and exciting experience for the Coffs Coasters, as their home courts don\u2019t offer this surface. The chance to compete on grass courts is something they truly appreciate, making the event even more special.<\/p>\n

Getting to Country Week is an adventure in itself. Since the journey is long, the team broke up the trip this year with an overnight stay in Dubbo, turning the journey into a fun experience by spending the night at Dubbo Zoo. \u201cIt was an experience in itself,\u201d they said. \u201cHalf of it\u2019s about the journey as much as the tournament itself.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

While they come for fun, the Coffs Coasters also train regularly in the lead-up to the tournament. \u201cWe hit pretty regularly and do some training just to get some rhythm before the big event,\u201d they said. This year, they\u2019re competing in Section 3, ready to take on some strong opponents.<\/p>\n

When asked to describe Country Week in one word, the team captain didn’t hesitate. “Awesome. It\u2019s great to get away with your team, hang out, and try to get a win\u2014but it doesn\u2019t matter if you don\u2019t. There\u2019s a real carnival-like atmosphere.”<\/em> Each team member had their own word to sum up the experience, with responses including\u00a0unreal, fantastic,<\/em>\u00a0mates<\/em> and team.<\/em><\/p>\n

The words may be different, but the feeling is the same. Country Week is an experience like no other.<\/p>\n

And for the Coffs Coasters, Country Week is more than just a tournament\u2014it\u2019s an annual tradition filled with camaraderie, competition, and unforgettable memories.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re thinking about signing up? Captain Cameron has one message for you: “Just try. It has this carnival like atmosphere, you know, biggest tournament I’ve ever seen!\u00a0I just love it. So, thanks for having us.”<\/em><\/p>\n

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February 10: Day 1 Coffs Coasters from Coffs Harbour. Tennis Victoria Country Week Swan Hill<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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February 10: Day 1 Coffs Coasters from Coffs Harbour. Tennis Victoria Country Week Swan Hill<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get to know the Coffs Coasters team!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6423,"featured_media":41072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-41066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-country-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}