Lucy Wicks from Poole is vice captain of the GB indoor volleyball Olympic squad. You can follow her on Twitter @lucywicks2 for regular updates.

On July 28, 2012, I will be on court for my first Olympic Volleyball match.

It’s a massive honour to wear a GB shirt, and to compete at a home Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

It’s been an emotional rollercoaster – elation when London was awarded the Olympic Games, despair on getting an injury that could have been career ending and shock when a funding cut could have shattered the dream.

But, I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

It all started when I was 15 and joined Wessex volleyball club in Poole. I fell in love with this exciting, fast paced sport and went on to represent England and then GB.

Volleyball is one of the most widely played sports worldwide and international opposition is tough.

The game is smaller here and the GB team had to catch up fast to compete.

In 2007 a centralised program started in Sheffield and work began in earnest. For development sports, every day counts, so I made sure I was there from the start - initially on crutches after major ankle surgery.

The squad spent three years together, until other nations started to take note.

I have now been playing professionally for three years, currently in the German Bundesliga, one of the strongest in Europe.

Each week I play in front of sell-out crowds against some of the world’s top players.

I feel ready to play my part in making history as part of the first GB Women’s Volleyball team ever to compete in an Olympics.