How a begrudging training session created a volleyball star

Shanae Alvey is one of 10 athletes chosen by the Illawarra Academy of Sport for a 12 month volleyball scholarship.

However her love for the game happened almost accidentally.

When she was in year eight, a friend dragged Shanae along to the school volleyball training and try outs.

"I really didn't want to go," Shanae said.

"I didn't even know what volleyball was when I went but I remember thinking 'Oh wow - this is really fun'."

She describes it as "completely different" to the rugby league she had been playing up to that point.

"It is really active but there is a lot of strategy," she said.

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The coach asked her back again, and she was selected for the school team.

Four years later, Shanae has been selected for the scholarship with includes skills and strength and conditioning training and playing in state-wide tournaments.

She has just returned from a tournament in Sydney competing against other regional academies from across the state.

Her Illawarra Academy of Sport team won the tournament without dropping a set.

The year 12 student said the scholarship had opened many opportunities into the NSW volleyball network, as well as provided her great opportunities to hone her skills.

"I can feel myself getting better, and learning new skills," she said.

She has watched her game, particularly her setting - a key skill component of volleyball where a player 'sets' the ball for a teammate to hit - progress rapidly through the advanced coaching of the academy.

She made the NSW squad in 2019 as a shadow player and, though she didn't trial again in 2022 while she sat the HSC, she hopes to make the squad again next year, and pursue volleyball as far as she can.