KELSO High School's under 17s team have been a force at nearly every event they've attended but now they're ready to push themselves to the limit.
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The girls squad is one of three Kelso teams attending the upcoming Australian Schools Volleyball Cup on the Gold Coast, and while they're no strangers to the event they have never taken part in the top honours division.
Until now.
The team will be pitting themselves against the top schools volleyball teams for their age group from across Australia.
The expectations won't be immense for the Kelso team testing themselves at a new level, but with five NSW representatives in the mix it would be wrong to rule them out of the hunt.
Kelso will face Rossmoyne (WA), Billanook (VIC), Brighton (SA) and Cleveland (QLD) in a division showcasing talent from every corner of the country.
Coach Jerry Sheader said it's a challenge the team are ready to tackle head on.
"It's a big change going from division one to honours and that's something we've only ever done once before with one of our previous year 10 boys teams," he said.
"This is the dream team who have been training together since year 7. They're lost very few players in that time and it's the same team who won the state carnival earlier this year. They win a lot of games and they've been doing a lot of work.
"Hopefully we can go up there and win more games than we lose. To medal would be astounding though."
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In the space of a year the team have ascended to a new level of play, according to Sheader.
"The amount of time and effort they've put in throughout the years should allow them to be very competitive and consistent," he said.
"We've got some real power. There's three girls who can hit the ball really hard now. The level of maturity between a year 9 and 10 girl in terms of strength can be big. Our attacking weapons are starting to strike.
"We have a really good centre, Harriet Fitzsimmons, who trains with the Australian junior side. Having a player of that calibre at that position is a big thing."
Kelso's other two teams will feature in boys year 10 division two and girls year 9 division three.
The boys side are looking for back-to-back titles after taking out the year 9 division two prize in the 2018 event at Melbourne.
Sheader said the team has a handful of players capable of seizing momentum from opponents.
"The boys have gone back into that division with a really good track record. We have no senior any more so they've basically been our senior team and have been playing at a high level," Sheader said.
"Three of the boys have played in the under 17s NSW side so they've got some strength there.
"Our year 9 girls are new to volleyball this year and experiencing what the sport has to offer. They're all really good athletes.
"While volleyball's not the number one thing for them, as they play other sports, they're a great group of friends who have been trained by one of our ex-players, Brooke Wright, and that's been wonderful to see."
The tournament runs from Friday through to December 14.