Te Puke girls bring home bronze

The bronze medal-winning Te Puke High School girls squash team (from left) Deane Reynolds, Deeanna Shaw, Iyra Stewart, Chanel Wotten, Ashley Taylor, and Amy Horscroft with coach Chris Brewer at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Squash Nationals in Palmer

The Te Puke High School girls' squash team returned from the national secondary school squash championships at the weekend with a bronze medal.

Team members Iyra Stewart and Amy Horscroft were also selected to represent New Zealand at an upcoming Trans-Tasman series with Australia.

Success on the squash court is not unusual for the school, which has a strong affiliation with the Te Puke Squash Club.

Club communications officer Jenny Wotten says the club has always had well-seeded junior girls, thanks to talented club coaches, a strong junior training programme and club stalwart Norma Brown's continued involvement identifying juniors at intermediate level and training them up to participate in AIMS games where they get a taste for competitive squash.

The Squash Bay of Plenty schools programme also nurtures and develops young talent, says Jenny.

Five of the six successful team members will be leaving school at the end of the year but Jenny says there are younger players coming through who will be able to step up to replace them.

Iyra, Amy, Chanel Wotten and Ashley Taylor will be joining the Te Puke Squash Club's women's B grade team this weekend for regional eliminations at the Geyser City Squash Club in Rotorua. If successful the team will travel to Cromwell for the New Zealand SuperChamps in September.

Amy and Chanel have also been named in the Bay of Plenty under 19 team travelling to Christchurch to play in the New Zealand Junior Nationals in October.

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