Hawke's Bay's teenage squash prodigy eyeing Ivy League scholarship

Havelock North squash sensation Jena Gregory has her sights set on an overseas scholarship. Photo / Paul Taylor

Jena Gregory isn't just playing squash years above her age bracket. She's winning.

The teen prodigy, a member of the Havelock North Squash Club, has represented New Zealand since the age of 12 following a call-up to the national junior development squad.

The now 16-year-old won the under-19 girls title at the South Island age group championships in Invercargill last weekend.

She also recently finished runner up in the under-17 girls' division of the North Island junior age group titles in Hamilton.

Gregory has her sights set higher than the limited travel currently permitted under Covid-19 regulations.

Her ambition is to get a scholarship to study and play the indoor court game at an Ivy League university in the United States.

"I would love to take squash further and hopefully use it to receive a scholarship in an overseas university," she said.

"After that, I'd like to keep playing just to see where it takes me."

Gregory, who started playing squash at the age of 9, has been part of the New Zealand secondary schools transtasman team for the past three years.

"I started just hitting around with Mum and Dad before they played," she said.

"Over the years, I have moved into the junior elite squad and now the junior worlds squad."

Gregory has already won countless accolades for her squash skills. Photo / Paul Taylor

In her short playing career, Gregory has already won two North Island under-15 titles, a South Island under-15 title and a South Island under-19 title among other honours.
She is sponsored by Tecnifbire, Focus Health and Evans Osteopaths.

Gregory's mother Andrea Hewitt said despite her age, her daughter is already a "mature and capable young lady".

"Jena has an extremely good work ethic and trains very hard," she said. "I am extremely proud of her.

"She's very conscientious about her schoolwork and is aiming for the highest marks possible, hoping this will help her with her ambitions of receiving a scholarship to study and play squash overseas."

The Havelock North High School Year 12 student, who travelled to Malaysia, Canada and the US for junior competitions in 2019, has had to put international squash on hold.

"This year I made the New Zealand junior girls worlds team, which was supposed to be in Australia in August, but like most other events this was cancelled," she said.

"I loved being able to travel around New Zealand and the world. It's such good experience playing against people from different countries."

Gregory said she hopes to get into the worlds team again in 2021 and play as an individual in 2022.

Short-term, she is eyeing the under-17 girls national title in October and the Oceania under-17 girls title in December.