The 193cm centre has taken up a scholarship with Basketball Australia's Centre of Excellence program in Canberra to help nurse her back into top form after a second knee reconstruction.

Penaluna spent the past two WNBL seasons at Bendigo Spirit, but did not play after injuring her right knee against Dandenong on February 8, 2014. 

Following the heartbreak of missing the 2012 Olympics and last year's world titles due to injuries, she is in the Opals training squad ahead of Rio qualifiers in August. 

Australian coach Brendan Joyce threw her a lifeline when he approached her last year about joining the Australian Institute of Sport program - usually reserved for up-and-coming teenagers - as a mature-age athlete.

"When he called me about it in October, I was still well off playing so it was an easy decision to make to go up there," the 26-year-old said.

Penaluna began training in Canberra on February 15 and is due to make her comeback with the Centre of Excellence side in the SEABL on April 23.

The fairytale script is so far intact.

"My knee hasn't felt this good in a long while," Penaluna said.

"I'm doing a combination of rehab and training but I am on court every day, whether it's team training four days a week, my individual program three to four times a week, or three weights sessions. I'm definitely getting stronger.

"In the early days, I got nervous about my knee. But now I have a lot of training under my belt, I'm feeling much more confident.

"We had an Opals training camp in Canberra recently and while I didn't do all the sessions because they didn't want to overload me early in the year, I did as much as I could and it was good."

Though she can't wait to return to league games, Penaluna's eyes are on a prize that would compensate for past pain and disappointment.

"Rio is my goal, my dream," she said. "Whether it happens, who knows, but hopefully everything I do now will help me get there."

Penaluna, who is married to Spirit assistant coach Jonathan Goodman and was back in Bendigo over the weekend, said being away from home and family was not an easy lifestyle.

"I didn't think it would be quite so hard," she said.

"(Jonathan) understands exactly why I am doing it and I do, too, so basically we are making it work."

Penaluna's contract with Spirit has expired and she is on the free agent's list, waiting to see where she ends up next WNBL season.

She has another Opals camp soon and hopes to make the team for a European playing tour later in the year, before the Oceania group Olympic qualifiers.