THE Bendigo Academy of Sport volleyball program will be strongly represented in Victorian squads at this year’s School Sport Australia 15-and-under Championships.
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Two players and three coaches will travel to Sydney on Sunday for the championships, to be played at Minto Stadium from August 22-27.
Scott Ross will coach the girls team, while Todd Broadbent will coach the boys, with assistance from Mark Jensen.
Lewis Roberts and Liam Clegg have won selection in the 10-player boys squad, which is seeking to topple competition powerhouses Queensland and South Australia.
Ross, who coached the 2014 girls team to a bronze medal, said Roberts and Clegg were rewarded for strong showings during a 10-week training program, which included a camp in their hometown.
He said both were representing Victoria for the first time.
"This is one of the more elite junior volleyball championships in Australia because each state only brings one team," Ross said.
"All the other championships, under 15s, under 17s and under 19s, that Victoria sends teams to there are two or three Victorians teams which go.
"There is a metro team, a country team etc., whereas these are the best 10 athletes in the state competing against each other.
"It's a good chance to showcase their skills in front of national junior coaches, who go and look at these championships to ID the next players who might go on to play for Australia."
Teams from all Australian states and territories will be represented at the championships.
They will play a series of round-robin games ahead of finals on the Saturday.
South Australia will start as reigning champions in the boys, after beating Queensland in the 2015 final.
Placings were reversed in the women's competition.
Ross said his girls team had set a goal of at least replicating last year's bronze medal winning effort.
He said the boys team, which featured a few national junior players in its ranks, was capable of pushing for a spot in the gold medal game.