Bournemouth 15-year-old volleyball player chosen for England

A 15-YEAR-OLD beach beach volleyball player has been invited onto England's National Junior Beach Volleyball squad.

Bournemouth Collegiate School student, Lucas Rijvers, 15, has been invited back onto the squad as the youngest member of the team.

His father, former Wessex and GB volleyball player, David Rijvers, 50, has said he is 'massively' proud of his son who begun to play in lockdown.

He said: "My son said to me 'I want to pick up a sand sport' so I told him to try beach volleyball and from there on, we started.

"Last year was a big achievement because he went to Israel and he also won the national junior beach tour."

Playing both beach and indoor volleyball, Lucas was 14 when he went to Israel and played international teams in the ISF World Schools Beach Volleyball Championships and finished ninth, England's best result in the competition.

Too young to be immediately considered for the squad after the competition, Lucas was chosen after his he helped England win silver in the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago.

David said: "He was part of that camp which was a fantastic experience for him. He's been called back this year and he has a shot, for the Northern European Volleyball Zone Association championship.

"He'll het there and he's confident with his partner that they will be a potential medallist in that group."

Straight after NEVSA is the European championships which Lucas will also be in contention to compete in, however, David is keen to balance his academic studies with beach volley ball.

Despite a promising career on the horizon, David is keen to help him set up for life once he is beyond being able to compete.

He said: "The opportunity is there because he's got an environment of people that have done it and can help him.

"Academic studies need to go hand in hand with this. You have a ten-year window to perform at this level and when you finish you need a plan B.

Lucas trains with both Wessex Volleyball and Bournemouth Beach Volleyball club.