LONDON 2012 contender Dan Hunter insists Wessex Volleyball Club deserve more credit for putting eight hopefuls on the road to the Olympics.
Hunter is one of eight potential Games competitors to have emerged from the successful Dorset-based outfit.
And the Poole-born international, who plays professionally in Holland, believes his achievements would not have been possible without the grounding provided by Wessex.
He told the Daily Echo: “I don’t think many people across all the Olympic sports could lay claim to an achievement like Wessex.
“It is amazing to have eight people in with a chance of competing and the club doesn’t get the recognition or reward that it deserves for this.
“I would not have been in a situation like this if Wessex hadn’t been there.
“Lynn and Geoff Allen, who have been coaching for many years along with many other volunteers, have done such an incredible job and should be very proud of what they have achieved – not just for the athletes that could potentially represent GB in the Olympics, but for raising volleyball’s profile and winning 30-plus national championships in the past 30 years.”
Hunter is among three Wessex old boys in Team GB’s provisional 16-man indoor squad for the summer showpiece – with Oli Kimber and Danny Weemes also in the frame.
Fellow Wessex graduates Lucy Wicks, Vicky Palmer and Nicky Osborne are in the running for the women’s indoor team, while local products Zara Dampney and Gregg Weaver are bidding to claim beach volleyball spots.
Despite closing in on an Olympics berth by earning a place in the initial squad, Hunter is not taking his position for granted.
He added: “Nobody is confident they have a place – and rightly so. The team has become very competitive over recent years.
“From being an amateur sport when the Olympic bid was won, we now have 25 men playing professionally in Europe and fighting to be in a 12-man Olympic squad.
“There would have been more if the GB development squad had not been cut in 2010 because of funding issues.
“In my position, there is only one place available in the 12. I have to make sure that I am playing to the best level I have ever played and make every match and training session count between now and the end of the summer.
“I will do everything I possibly can to make that squad and I will be very proud if I get to put on the Great Britain shirt again this summer.”
• For more Olympics news, see the Daily Echo’s Going for Gold section, which is published every Saturday.
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