Hero photograph
NZ Secondary Squash A Team
 
Photo by Squash

New Zealand Secondary Schools Squash Championships 6-8 August 2021

Squash —

The 37th NZ Secondary Schools Squash Championships 2021 has now come and gone. 52 teams, from 40 different New Zealand schools and over 312 competitors played at four different venues throughout the Bay of Plenty. This event is certainly the biggest squash teams event in the county and the pinnacle of the Secondary Schools Squash calendar. Tauranga Girls’ College fielded two teams, the A team was Captained by Lola Vahey-Bourne and the B team was Captained by Salma Hassan. All students played fantastically with pivotal matches both won and lost.

The A team won their first round to be in the top five but unfortunately lost their second round in a pivotal match that was lost by just two points and hence losing the opportunity to contest the quarter finals. The saving grace, Takapuna Grammar, the only team to beat them, went onto reach the finals and took out runner up. The A team went on undefeated throughout the remaining matches gaining a seeding of 5th overall.

NZ Secondary Schools Squash B Team — Image by: Squash

The B team lost their first round which placed them in a Division 2 round robin, and won all other matches. A fantastic result for some beginning players to experience national competition. They too carried on throughout the tournament undefeated and gained a podium finish, as Winners of Division 2.

Team members are as follows:

A Team: Ella Hill, Nuvraan Kaur, Lola Vahey Bourne, Kate Fitzpatrick, Izzy Brett-Kelly, Lucie Whitmore

B Team: Ella Vrieze, Brianna Lewitt, Salma Hassan, Ella Ryan, Liv Marshall, Mia Corney, Charlotte Wilde.

A new New Zealand Representative
Special mention should be made of Ella Hill who was one of five junior players selected to represent New Zealand in the NZ secondary schools squash Trans Tasman series.

This is the second time Ella has been selected to represent New Zealand as a junior player, but unfortunately due to Covid restrictions the team is unable to travel to Australia.

NZ Junior Squash Representative Ella Hill — Image by: Squash