Hamilton pair hit the beach

DONNA WALSH/ Waikato Times

DYNAMIC DUO: Beach volleyballers Shaunna Polley, left, and Holly Sprosen have enjoyed a remarkable rise in the sport.

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They played hockey together for Waikato age-group teams and they play volleyball for their schools, but Shaunna Polley and Holly Sprosen are now leaving their mark in the sand.

The year 11 duo, both aged 15, have teamed up in beach volleyball and made big strides in a short space of time: they were recently named in the 18-strong New Zealand under-17 squad.

Sprosen, from Hillcrest High, had been playing for a year when she introduced Polley, from Fraser High School, to the idea of playing together.

"It's new to me, I'd never actually paid much attention to beach volleyball beforehand," Polley said.

They attended a camp in Tauranga where there was a division for more serious players and one with a more social aspect, and the pair did well in the latter before deciding to enter competitions in Auckland and Tauranga, where they performed creditably without getting any placings.

"It took us a while to figure out who went in different positions and stuff, but after a while we just worked really well," Polley said.

"We don't get angry at each other, a lot of teams get frustrated but we just keep going, it's really good."

The pair said there were clear differences to indoor volleyball.

"Because there's two people on the court you always get to touch the ball most times and being on the beach is quite good as well," Sprosen said.

"Trying to jump around in the sand is quite difficult but it's really easy to dive though."

Their good form continued with top performances at the Tauranga camp and wins in competitions at Mairangi and Karapiro.

With no real national aspirations, the call-up to the New Zealand under-17 squad was good reward for the pair, although not totally unexpected.

"After that camp that we were at we realised we had a pretty good chance because there's a lot of people that play but they're all just in for the fun of it and so when we looked at all the teams that were up the top, we thought we could take them on. We thought we might (make the national squad) but it wasn't on our list," Polley said.

The squad was to be cut down to play Australia under-17 in Brisbane but that trip has now been cancelled at the request of the Aussies.

Instead, the squad of 18 will be trimmed to 10 next month to play on the National Pro Tour in January, where they will take on some of the country's top players and earn ranking points.

"The other girls that are in there (the squad), they are around the same age as us but a lot of them have been playing for quite a long time, so it'd be good to just play at a bit of a higher level and I guess we'll improve with them," Sprosen said.

Polley and Sprosen still have a chance to play Australia next year if they make the national under-19 side.

- © Fairfax NZ News