Western Heights High School volleyball player offered US scholarship

Western Heights High School volleyball player Tyran Gillespie has been offered a scholarship by the University of Mount Olive. Photo / Stephen Parker

The only thing taller than Tyran Gillespie are the heights his volleyball career could reach.

The 18-year-old Western Heights High School student has been offered the opportunity to take his game to the next level through a scholarship to the University of Mount Olive in North Carolina.

He got in touch with some US universities through former schoolmate Billy Johnstonein search of an opportunity and Mount Olive responded.

While nothing had been signed yet, Gillespie said he was "buzzing".

"I was over the moon, even when they first contacted me I was stoked. I would go over to study for four years while playing volleyball and travelling the States.

"They're a big volleyball school, they're division one. Over there would be nothing like playing here - on the big college stage, playing against the top colleges around the United States," he said.

He started playing volleyball at Western Heights when he was Year 9 and has loved every moment.

"I was actually in the coach's class for PE, so we just started playing there and I got hooked on it and enjoyed it. We play every lunchtime, every interval here, there's always good vibes in the gym.

"[The team bond in volleyball] is pretty important, we probably spend every day together so it's pretty big. I play passer/hitter which is a bit of everything, you have to hit, serve, pass, pretty much everything, it's a bit of an all round position.

"I've definitely got some good memories playing for the school, some bad memories too. In the juniors we lost in the final at nationals, a couple of years ago we lost in the quarters at nationals and last year we lost the semifinal."

After coming so close during the last few years, Gillespie and his teammates finally took out the national final this year. He said the losses provided extra motivation.

"We worked really hard this year for what we wanted to achieve and we did it. I can't even explain the feeling, just knowing how hard we worked for it and finally getting the result we wanted."

If he does take up the scholarship offer, he is looking at heading over in July or August.

"I haven't really got any goals at the moment, just play and see what it's all about over there, but definitely excited. It will be a whole different experience, a whole different level."

He said his biggest highlight so far, other than the nationals win this year, was "just being with the boys".

"Yeah I will miss it, we've been playing together for five or six years. The school's influence on me has been huge; without the coaches I probably would've never played volleyball. They turned me into what I am today.

"They've helped a lot with the scholarship, all the paperwork and stuff. The scholarship will cover half of everything - travel, volleyball, accommodation, study. I'm saving up for the other half."

He is looking at studying sports science at the college and is well aware of how important it is to have something to fall back on.