Fifteen-year-old Mariafe Artacho and her partner Zina Stone, 18, form the number one Women’s Beach Volleyball combination at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) in January 2009.

Artacho was born in Lima, Peru and moved to Australia when she was 11-years-old settling with her family near Manly in Sydney. As soon as she started playing beach volleyball she said “this is what I want to do for the rest of my life”.

“I feel great about being selected, I’m very excited, it is going to be a great experience,” she said.

Over the past two years Artacho has represented Australia twice at the FIVB Youth World Championships placing in the top 20 with Stone. During the same period she achieved top five results on the Australian National Tour.

Artacho believes her greatest achievements to date are “being selected to represent Australia at the U19 World Championships in 2007 and 2008 and being crowned U19 Beach Volleyball National Champion”.

Simon Naismith, AYOF Beach Volleyball Team Manager believes Artacho has a great passion for the game “She is an exceptionally focussed and determined athlete who possesses high quality skill level and has an exceptional ability to read the game to a high degree,” he said.

Artacho has aspirations to wear the green and gold at the Olympics.

"Beach volleyball is my passion,” she said. “I hope to be known as someone who represents Australia in beach volleyball. It would be my dream to go on to the Olympics and win a gold medal.”

The AYOF will be held in Sydney from 14-18 January 2009. Catch all the beach volleyball action on the sands at Maroubra Beach.

2009 AYOF Beach Volleyball Teams

Males: Robert Reeves, Yamanto QLD 4305; Patrick Mead, Stafford QLD 4053; Hamish Moore, Loxton SA 5333; Corey Leathart, Capalaba QLD 4157.

Females: Zina Stone, Seaford Meadows SA 5169; Mariafe Artacho, Elanora Heights NSW 2101; Karley (Eliza) Hynes, Maiden Gully SA 3551; Taliqua Clancy, Moorooka QLD 4105.