Information courtesy of volleyball.org.au
The Women’s Volleyroos start their AVC Challenge Cup campaign on Wednesday, however one player forced to miss the tournament is Stef Weiler.
The outside hitter was an integral member of the Volleyroos team which finished eighth at the 2023 Asian Championships, and while she didn’t know if at the time, the tournament would end up having a major influence on the next stage of her career.
Weiler’s eye-catching performances in Thailand started opening the door towards her participating in the Asia Quota draft for Korea’s V League. Long story short, Weiler has hit pause an exciting teaching opportunity after being selected by the GS Caltex Seoul Kixx for the 2024/25 season.
“I have been focusing on my teaching career this year at Brighton Secondary School, which has been an amazing opportunity in itself,” said Weiler. “I feel so incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work at Brighton and learn from our nation’s best leaders in school volleyball including Cambell Baker, Jeff Healy, Shane Dubridge and Tara Olonga.
“The Korean league opportunity eventuated by an agent seeing footage of me playing Asian Champs from last year. It really highlighted to me how important these tournaments are and how vital it is for Australians to be competing and seen on the international stage.”
Having settled on the mindset that volleyball would not be her number one priority this year, the cards have since fallen such that Weiler is now in a position to undertake not only one of the most exciting opportunities of her career, but one she has dreamed of for a long time.
“Since I started playing Volleyball competitively when I was 18, it’s been my dream to experience the world and play volleyball on the world stage,” she said. “I’ve been lucky enough to have some incredible experiences, however over the last 10 years I was always just out of reach of that next level.
“It took me many years, but I had finally processed that maybe I wasn’t going to reach the highest level. I was finally content and proud of my journey even though I fell short of what I wanted to achieve.
“The second I accepted my journey, was almost the exact moment this Korean opportunity presented itself. I’m a huge believer in leaving no stone unturned and getting the most out of life, so when this opportunity came up it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it was too good to pass up.”
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Weiler has long been an admirer of the V League, having seen the likes of Rachel Orchard and Tom Edgar play there previously while Lincoln Williams has just completed his fourth year with the Incheon Korean Air Jumbos. She now has an incredible opportunity to participate in a three-month pre-season before the 36-match league which runs from October to March.
She also believes that a strong season has the potential to present more opportunities for her Volleyroos teammates which can only benefit the strength of the national team.
“I’m extremely excited to represent what our Aussie Women’s team are capable of in Asia, and I hope that my performance might open the door for other Aussie women to join the league in future years,” said Weiler.
“Everyone on the Volleyroos squad understands that for our team to be able to compete against the world’s best, we need to be training and playing against the world’s best on a regular basis.
“It’s so exciting to see so many Aussie women quietly hustling away overseas. Each year there are more and more women making the commitment to join college pathways or to play professionally.
“It’s making an incredible impact to the quality of our national team training camps and results and that is testament to the hard work, commitment and grit of the Australian girls for putting in the hard yards.
“The future of this team is very exciting, and it’s only going to get better every year.”
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