Silver Fern calls for young volleyball stars

Two local volleyballers, Lola King and Jobe McAuley, have been selected as part of the wider New Zealand squads.

The pair have been named as one of the top 16 junior players in the country and will now trial to be part of the 12-person team to represent their country at next year’s Asian Volleyball Championships.

If they do not make the cut, they will join the junior New Zealand development squad to play in the 2024 Australian State Championships, joining fellow local players Luseane Uia, Seb Lams and Cameron Mullet who have already been selected for the squad.

For Jobe, it’s been rapid growth both on and off the court that have seen him have his most successful season to date.

Despite starting to play the game late in primary school, he says he’s since dropped all his other sports to focus on volleyball.

“I play volley all year round now.”

While he says it was always a dream of his to represent his country, he hadn’t actually ever thought it was possible.

Alongside earning Waimea College’s most improved volleyballer last year, he joked that growing five inches hadn’t hurt his chances either.

Playing in the post position, he expects the competition for spaces in the team to be tough but he has a plan to stand out above the rest.

“My defence is the biggest kind of part, I want to be a bit different than everyone else.”

While he says his spiking is the biggest part of his game, he believes he’s a well-rounded player and is excited to take the next step.

As a year 12 in school this year, he will also have the chance of earning selection in the team next season as well.

For Lola, who just graduated from Nelson Girls College, it may be the last chance she gets to play for her country before she leaves to continue her playing career in America.

She says there are ongoing talks with several coaches and schools as she looks to gain a scholarship to play NCAA volleyball.

“This is the first time (I’ve been selected for a national team). It feels like it was always a goal.

“I wasn’t expecting it, there’s lots of competition but it’s nice to be recognised.”

Lola, who plays libero for Pines Nelson, says she is excited to take the next step and learn from the country’s best.

“You can always improve everywhere, but I’d say (I’d like to improve) my serve receive and reading the play.”

Being in a specialist position, she expects to be one of only “two or three” liberos in the squad but will wait to see what everyone’s like at camp before she tries to work out her chances of selection.

While Lola is the one out on the court making it all happen, she says she didn’t get here by herself and wanted to thank all the people behind the scenes who were instrumental in getting her to this point.

Both players wanted to thank Josh Ovsenek for his ongoing work with Volleball Tasman and their personal progression, while Jobe also wanted to thank Colin Redpath and Lola wanted to thank Harriet Ogilvie and her parents.