Being awarded an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit honour capped off an amazing career playing squash at the highest level for Kaitaia's golden girl Shelley Kitchen.
Ms Kitchen is following in her dad Colin's footsteps, who 13 years ago received the Member of the NZ Order of Meritfor his services to the NZ Fire Service.
Proud as punch, Mr Kitchen said it was the icing on the cake for his daughter, following her retirement from competitive squash after Women's World Team Squash Championships in Palmerston North last month.
Ms Kitchen now resides in Auckland with her partner Anthony Ricketts and their daughter Amalia, but she spent her childhood in the Far North, and started playing squash, aged 4, at the Kaitaia Squash and Rackets Club.
The 31-year-old was involved with squash in NZ and abroad for nearly two decades, during which she peaked with a continuous No1 ranking in NZ, and a highest world ranking of No6. She represented NZ at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games, and at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006, where she won a silver medal in the women's doubles and a bronze medal in the women's singles.
Ms Kitchen said she was "overwhelmed" when she was awarded a New Year honour for her services to her sport.
"I was definitely surprised when I heard I was getting this award. Obviously I have played a lot of squash but I don't really consider I have given a lot back to the game," she said.
However, it was an honour to be recognised for what she had achieved in the game - especially because she grew up in such a small and isolated town as Kaitaia.
"It's so far away from anywhere - we had to travel to all of the competitions, and I would never have gotten as far as I did if I didn't have such great support from the Kaitaia community and my family - and more recently the support from Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) and Squash NZ."
