A local volleyball player has swapped the community courts for the international Asian Championships where he will compete at a national level representing Australia.
From Piara Waters, Bodhi Hand has been selected for the men’s under 16 Australian team to compete in the Asia and Oceania championship in Thailand.
The 15-year-old began playing volleyball when he was in year seven and plays for both Horizon and Apex men’s local volleyball clubs.
Having played with an almost identical team in the previous interstate competitions, Bodhi said he was feeling “pretty confident” about the team’s chances of winning this year.
“It’s mostly with my team that I went to the last state competition with,” he said.
“We got to the gold medal match there but lost that, so I reckon we can do a bit better in this and hopefully get gold this time. “
Bodhi began competitively playing volleyball in year eight after he watched his brother, Riley, compete.
“He was mostly my influence in starting volleyball,” Bodhi said.
“I only really started playing because he did.”
Riley said it was great seeing his younger brother follow in his footsteps to pursue volleyball.
“It’s nice to have someone you live with that plays, there’s someone you can talk to,” he said.
“Talking to Dad and Mum is nice, but someone who’s actually playing and gets it is better. “It’s still very much a competition though.”
Bodhi said he was feeling “a bit nervous” about leaving the country for the first time but has worked hard to trial for the international competition, having completed many championships and camps for a spot on the team.
“From the Australian Youth Volleyball Championships, we went to a couple of camps called National Development Program and then from there we went to a national performance program,” Bodhi said.
“If you were good enough in the last one, you got sent straight through to the trial for the Asian Volleyball Championship, or you would get sent to a tournament in Warrnambool.
“I went straight through to the final selection, and then from there I got selected to be in the Asian Championships team.”
Bodhi’s dad, Brett Hand said the whole family will be in Thailand to support Bodhi in his first national volleyball tournament.
“We’re going to go up and watch, myself, my wife, and Riley. We’re initially going to spend a few days in Singapore, and then we’ll be there in time for the actual tournament because they’re gone for pretty much the full two weeks of the July school holidays,” he said.
“We’re going to go along and watch because there’s no guarantee.
“I like to think he’s good enough to stay in the national program and continue to progress, but obviously there’s no guarantees.
“It’s quite interesting to see the transition from this quiet, sweet kid into this competitive animal on the court.”
Mr Hand said he was excited to see his youngest son be selected for a national team and wanted to help him to “follow his dreams”.
“I was sort of excitedly nervous to see how he goes and see how they’d perform on the world stage. I think it’s only the second under 16s Asian Championships that’s been held. The first one was I think two years ago,” he said.
“It’s a learning curve because obviously volleyball’s not as big in Australia as it is in parts of Asia.
“Then we’ll have our sight set on 2032 in the Brisbane Olympics.”
The Asian cup will take up most of the July school holidays, allowing time for the team to train together in Thailand before the tournament begins.
The first five days will be an intense training camp between Australia and Japan, followed by the rest of the 14 day long experience the championship volleyball rounds which will include teams from Japan, China, Australia and India.
Bodhi said he was looking forward to experience playing the sport he loves in another country to represent Australia.
“I just want to see the level of other players from other continents and countries,” he said.
“I want to keep going, see how far I can go, if I can go professional, but I usually try to put my studies first at school.”
Volleyball has been a great way for Bodhi to make friends, both through his clubs and through the interstate competitions, being in touch with players from other states.
Mr Hand said the volleyball community has been incredibly supportive of each other, and of Bodhi’s selection to compete on a national stage.
“Having seen Riley and now Bodhie’s journey through volleyball, I found the local volleyball community, and Australia wide as well, to be a very supportive community,” he said.
“They all know each other.
“While they had the disappointment of missing out on nationals, and we feel for them, they’re always pretty supportive of Bodhie getting through to the national team.”
Bodhi will return from his third interstate championships tomorrow after competing in Adelaide for School Sports WA’s volleyball team, before heading to Thailand on July 5.
