BELLE FOURCHE - Some opportunities for high school students tend to come just once in a lifetime.

Three Belle Fourche High School athletes have the opportunity to play volleyball "Down Under" in Australia from July 7-18.

There will be beach volleyball among American teams in the program, then a two-day international tournament.

That's all on the Gold Coast of Queensland, the northeast state of Australia where the sunshine almost always is bright, and the weather is - by U.S. Northern Plains standards - always warm.

Courtney Tschetter, Jennifer Jeitz and Samatha Doolittle make up the Belle Fourche contingent of a North and South Dakota team coached by Annika Russell. The girls will fly out of Rapid City to Los Angeles.

Russell is a Mitchell High School coach. She is a Blunt native who attended Sully Buttes' schools.

She said other South Dakotans on the team include Josephine Derr of New Underwood, Alyssa Gouldin of Sturgis, Whitney Olson of Howard, Amanda Dailing of Madison, Cassi Quale of Summit and Megan Simon of Cheyenne-Eagle Butte.

The girls have three things in common: They're from the Dakotas, they're excellent volleyball players with statewide reputations and they need all the help they can get to fund their trip.

The girls are raising money through different programs such as selling cookie dough and looking for corporate sponsors and - on April 27 - they get half the proceeds from a local Dairy Queen blizzard sale.

"This trip is not cheap, and we need as much help as we can get," Jeitz said.

The trip's price tag is about $4,500.

The full payment has to be made by May 1 and the girls said they're about halfway there.

They'll happily take donations and Debbie Tschetter, Courtney's mother, will take them by calling her at 723-4526.

The girls have their passports ready and are looking forward to the all-American beach volleyball tournament, then the competition with the Australians that will include 10 games for each team.

The teams will be competing for trophies and medals under international rules with Australian officials.

The Down Under International Games began in 1998.

Volleyball was introduced into the program a year later. The girls will be playing in the 10th annual set of tournaments this year.

When the competition is over, the team will head home with a stopover in Hawaii.

Courtney and Jennifer are juniors and Samantha is a senior and they had a decent year with the Broncs.

They will have the advantage of being the South Dakotans who know each other best and who have playing experience together.

Samantha is 18, Courtney is 17 and Jennifer is "almost 17."

Jennifer said she was a bit worried about getting her passport in time for the trip, but it only took about three weeks.

She added that the tournament "sounded interesting and I wanted to go to Australia and play volleyball. I love playing volleyball."

Courtney said the girls like volleyball as a real team sport. "There can't be just one star on the team. You can have a star in basketball and they can make up a team."

Each player has a special role in making the team work, but everyone has to make their own position work.

It's a complex game that requires overall teamwork and an instinct of where and how to pass the ball to make things work.

Jeitz said she's looking forward to the opportunity to meet people with different backgrounds but who speak something like the English she's used to.

"They say some funny things," she said. "I think we'll be able to figure out what they're saying all the time. 'G'day mate.' I'm going to have fun with that one."

Tschetter said she's hoping to gain some new experiences and see a part of the world that's different from what they're used to.

Samantha said she realizes, "you have to experience this sort of thing now."

The girls fly into Brisbane, then drive to Surfers Paradise at the Gold Coast. They'll practice for a few days, play at Surfers with other American teams on the beach and then have the international event - probably at Beenleigh Arena.

"This is definitely an experience of a lifetime," Russell said.

For more information, go to http://www.issi-usa.com/ sports/volleyball.aspx.