King’s Fork High School junior outside hitter Aireon Leary may only be 5 feet 3 inches tall, but he’s a giant on the volleyball court.

The boys’ team at King’s Fork accomplished more this season than any before, and Leary was one of the team’s captains in this endeavor.

His performances this season helped the Bulldogs become Ironclad Conference 18 regular season champions and, most recently, conference tournament champions.

For his contributions in the semifinal and title matches of the tourney, Leary has earned the title of Duke Automotive-Suffolk News-Herald Player of the Week.

He expressed confidence in his production against Denbigh High School (nine kills, one ace) and tourney runner-up Heritage High School (nine kills, four assists and three blocks).

“Honestly, I think I did good, what I had to do,” he said.

Bulldogs head coach Joseph Burns commented on what Leary has to offer the team.

“He’s got a lot of drive, a very good athlete, very quick, tremendous passer, and for his size, he really jumps well, so he’s able to get a number of blocks, and he’s a very good hitter — a total, small package,” Burns said.

Despite his lack of height, Leary has proven to be quite effective on the front line at the net, the usual domain of teams’ tallest players.

“I just try my best to out-do the big guys,” Leary said.

So valuable is Leary to the Bulldogs that Burns said he is one of only three people who stay in the entire rotation during a game. Very rarely will he come out of a match during the season.

Leary has grown up as a volleyball player on the King’s Fork team. He said his mother, a former Nansemond River High School volleyball player, was most instrumental in getting him to play. He first started participating in the sport when he joined Coach Burns and the Bulldogs as a freshman.

“From that point on, they helped me out with digging, jumping, learning how to hit the ball, bumping it and just getting the fundamentals of how to play volleyball, and it was fun,” Leary said.

Good teachers were crucial, but Burns deflected credit back to Leary on why he has become such a skilled player.

“He’s very conscientious,” Burns said. “He’s definitely a hard worker. He’s one of the first people at practice.”

He listens well to his coaches, Burns said. One of them actually is his mother, Angelique Gatling, the Bulldogs’ assistant coach. Sometimes even after practice concludes, “He would stay and work with her for quite a while afterwards,” Burns said.

Leary said he has worked to improve his abilities, particularly jumping.

While he has yet to expand his horizons in the sport to travel ball, that could change this coming year.

“I’m trying to go out for Coastal (Virginia Volleyball Club) this time,” Leary said.

He also plays basketball, but made it clear, “Volleyball is my all-time favorite sport right now.”

He said he feeds off of the intensity and the pressure of a match, “just knowing that every block, every kill, every set counts.”

Leary has plans to return to the Bulldogs for his senior year, but the plans do not end there. “I plan on playing volleyball in college,” he said.

The drive to play his best on the court is fueled by a desire to improve the standing of volleyball, one of the less popular fall sports.

“This sport does not get any love,” he said, and he wants to do anything he can to show how exciting it can be and raise its profile at King’s Fork.

This year was a great start.