AS THE rest of year 9 from St Joseph’s Regional College enjoy their first day off after exams, 14-year-old Sabrina Lowe will head to Victoria next week for an intensive volleyball camp as part of the National Junior Women’s Development Program.
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Having recently returned to Australia after living in the USA, where she played on travelling power league teams in Colorado and Michigan, Lowe will be one of about 17 girls her age participating in the program.
The girls invited to attend the camp at Churchill are considered for selection to further national program camps and international competitions in 2013 and beyond.
Lowe was thrilled to head to the camp.
“Yeah I can’t wait,” she said.
Fifteen coaches, including Volleyball Australia’s national women’s team coaches, as well as state Institute of Sport coaches, will be there to guide the girls through seven gruelling days of training and tactics, which will also cover the importance of post match/training recovery, sports psychology, volleyball tactics, and pathways within the sport.
Port Macquarie Indoor Sports Stadium runs the local volleyball league, in which Lowe plays for two teams from St Joseph’s - the year 9 girls team (trained by Gordon West), and the seniors team (trained by Claire Goldie), which is made up of year 11 boys and a couple of this year’s graduating year 12 girls.
The stadium has been donating extra court time for Lowe in the leadup to the camp, and several members of St Joseph’s senior volleyball team have given up their spare time to help her train.
But it isn’t her only strong sport.
Lowe is a talented tennis player, and is already a coach at her young age.
“She has a few choices [of sports to play],” her mother Nerissa said.
“As long as she’s running around playing sport, she’s happy.”
n Lowe is on the lookout for sponsorship to help cover the heavy travelling costs.
If you can help out, phone Matt McLennan at the Port News on 6588 6620.
