By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

BETHEL – Cleats were in high demand at Saturday’s first annual Snow Volleyball Challenge off Route 2 at the BIG Adventure Center.

Frigid temperatures during the night froze the court’s trucked-in snow, presenting a challenge to stay upright for sneaker-clad players.

The tournament, sponsored by the Bethel Masonic Lodge, raised donated cash and food for the Bethel Food Pantry.

“We wanted to raise awareness, to get people thinking outside the box,” Lodge Master Randy Autrey said Saturday afternoon of the event.

“This was a last-minute idea, and it’s a great one, and we’ll promote it more next year,” he said of Lori McPherson’s idea to get more people involved by holding an outdoor volleyball tourney.

McPherson of Rumford, who works at Brooks Bros. in Bethel, plays volleyball twice a week, but had never tried it outdoors on snow. That’s why no one was wearing cleats. Many of the players were from her volleyball group.

With the official temperature at 20 degrees, according to Autrey, short pants, skin and spandex tops were nowhere in sight. Instead, players wore layered clothing, sweatshirts, sweatpants and jeans, jackets, and gloves.

Prior to the 1 p.m. start, several raked and chopped down ridges and tried to provide better traction for others.

Some players even took dibs on who’d fall first.

At one point, during the laugh fest and first game, three of one team’s six players had fallen on the snow trying to keep the ball in play.

Autrey did double duty, keeping the volleyball from bouncing or rolling into the nearby Androscoggin River, and selling pizza and water donated by Bethel businesses.

“We tried to get the Bethel Fire Department to take on Newry or Gilead firefighters, but I think it was too soon for them to do it. Maybe next year,” said Autrey, a Bethel firefighter.