By Shaanaaz de Jager
EASTERN Province’s No 1 junior squash player, who recently returned home from two international tournaments, says hard work and dedication is needed to succeed.
Ashleigh Schepers, a Grade 11 Collegiate Girls’ High School pupil who is ranked No 1 for EP junior u-19, represented South Africa in Malaysia during the Junior Milo International squash tournament in Kuala Lumpur, where she was ranked eighth, and during the Penang Junior Open 2012 in Penang, where she was ranked 13th.
The 16-year-old from Newton Park in Port Elizabeth, is also ranked sixth in South African u-19.
She is also ranked her school’s squash champ since Grade 9.
“It was my first time overseas [Malaysia]. It was amazing. What stood out for me was that some of the older players could keep the ball going for longer while they play,” she said.
Ashleigh who practises “a lot during the week” also plays league matches on a regular basis.
“I’m not a morning person so I practise after school,” she said.
The two international tournaments were played during school exams and Ashleigh said it takes hard-work and dedication to get good marks in the classroom and to succeed on the court.
Before being selected for the Malaysia tournaments she participated in trials in Bloemfontein and Johannesburg, as well as the interprovincial tournaments in Paarl and Stellenbosch.
Ashleigh, a member of the Westview Squash Club, started playing squash in Grade 4 at Collegiate Junior.
She is “serious” about her sport and school work and said it was important to “never to give up”.
“I barely made EP squash in Grade 7. Now I represent South Africa”.
Even though she wants to continue playing squash after high school she would like to either study veterinary sciences or BCom Chartered Accounting (BCom CA) and would like to live in Australia someday but says it would be “hard to leave her family behind”.
This is a shortened version of an article that appeared in the print edition of the Weekend Post on Saturday July 21.
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