Jacob Bird, Ethan Bird and Tanai O’Brien played individually and as part of the NSW team during the eight-day Australian Junior Championships (AJC) 2016.

They’ve been playing in competitions at the local squash courts for the past few years and practice together regularly.

This year the championships were held from September 24 to October 2 at the Thornleigh Squash Centre. The first four days saw individuals play, with the following four days dedicated to the team games.

This was the second AJC Jacob, Ethan and Tanai have attended; Jacob and Ethan played in Perth in 2014 and Tanai played in Cairns in 2015.

All competitors must qualify by attending a certain amount of squash events and State title competitions, plus six to eight training camps throughout the year. 

The top three, male and female players, in each age group, are chosen to play for the State.

Jacob played in the under 17s as an individual and in the under 19s for the NSW team. He really enjoyed playing with the team because of the group support throughout the matches.

“It can really help you get over the line,” Jacob said.

Ethan played in the under 15s, enjoying the independence of the event, which has all the team age group players staying together in an apartment. He said he played a lot better in the team than as an individual.

“I’ve been inspired to up my ranking to be in the top eight in time for next year. It gives me a better chance of getting into the third round,” Ethan said. 

He’s planning to do more training session and go to Sydney fortnightly to train with a coach in Thornleigh.

Tanai played in the under 13s and placed better this year as an individual than she did the year before. She liked having the coaches available to help her train, one on one. “Next year, I might take the year off and not push so hard. The under 15s players will be a lot harder to play against,” Tanai said.

South Australia will host the 2017 event with most States attending: NSW, VIC, SA, NT, ACT, WA and Tasmania.