Thom Smith, 15, will take serve at the Australian Junior Volleyball Championships in Bunbury, Western Australia, from April 26 to 29.

The year 9 Ulladulla High School student only started playing “proper volleyball” when he joined the school team, he said.

Now he’s set to play for one of three NSW under 17s teams after he was selected from trials in Sydney earlier this year. 

“It was good [to be selected], because I’ve never been to Perth before and I’ve always liked to see that,” he said.

 Thom said he was also rapt to be joined by a good mate in the two v two version of the sport.

“It’s a great sport, good fun, I know my partner pretty well because we played indoor together as well,” he said.

“It’s a great help, you know how he thinks and he knows how you think so there is chemistry and that’s a big thing if you want to win games.”

The boys have worked on their game against some adult teams at various tournaments in Sydney since selection. They were better off for the experience, Thom said.

“Our coach recommended we go in these tournaments up in Sydney,” he said. 

“We didn’t win many games but it was a good learning experience against people that are much more experienced than us.”

Thom recently played for the South Coast in a Combined High Schools indoor volleyball tournament in Temora. 

He said there was no room for error on the beach compared to indoor.

“For one, you’re outside and you have got to deal with things like the sun and the wind,” he said.

“The court is bit smaller and you’ve only got two people, there are a couple of technical rules, and your skills have to be perfect.”