The Bayfield High School pupil recently returned from the Gold Coast, where he played for the South Island under-17 men's team at the Australian Junior Volleyball Championships.
There he played against many of Australia's best young players in a tournament that had 14 teams representing the country's states.
The team played in the top division, finishing sixth, two places ahead of the North Island. With no national under-17 team it was the top team for the age-group.
Playing in Australia brought plenty of challenges and exposed Dawson (15) to a new level of competition.
''Australia's the sixth-best volleyball nation in the world, so it was a big step up from what we play in New Zealand,'' he said.
''It took a few days just to get used to the heat and stuff, so we couldn't really play to our best for the first few days, but then we got into it.''
He had learnt much and was able to bring new things back to his school team.
''Spiking and setting, putting it in different positions,'' he said when asked the key things he had learnt.
''I'm helping a lot of my [school] team-mates a lot of the time. When they're struggling with their footwork or things like that, I always help them out.''
The 1.87m athlete had played for Otago at under-15 and under-17 level and had been to the South Island championships. Last year he trained eight times a week, although cut it back to three this year.
All that training has paid dividends as he has come a long way in a short space of time.
''I started in year 9 [2014]. When I first started I didn't know what it [volleyball] was. But the teacher was like 'come along', because I was tall. So I went along and since then I've been hooked.''
Dawson had played a variety of sports, including athletics, rugby, football and futsal, although was now putting the majority of his time into volleyball.
That has not gone unnoticed, with his name being among the list of Skeggs Foundation grant recipients released last week, one of only three volleyball players.
Next year, he hoped to trial for the same under-17 team, before having a go at the New Zealand under-19 team.
