College Sport: Westlake adds Yam to elite squash list

Top squash player Rafa Yam, 16, from Westlake Boys High School, is the No 3 ranked Under-17 player in New Zealand. Photo / Dean Purcell

School star has already come to the attention of top players and coaches

The McHugh name is writ large in the annals of Westlake Boys' High School squash. Now you can add the Yam name without fear of contradiction.

For the 2015 Westlake premier squash team is coached by Manu Yam, his son Rafa Yam is the captain and top player, and Rafa's cousin Gabe is also in the side.

A glance through the Westlake squash history shows the McHugh Family Trophy up for grabs, while Matthew, Nick (x2), and Josh McHugh (x4) dominate the winners of the Michael Sumpter Trophy from 2004-10.

But Rafa Yam, now 16 and in Year 12, has his sights set on helping Westlake, champions in Auckland schools squash, back to the top of the national tree. Tauranga Boys' College have won the past three national schools teams' crowns and is a perennially strong squash school.

"Westlake is probably one of the strongest squash schools in New Zealand," he says.

"We've won it a lot of times [eight since 1985] but not too much lately. Hopefully we can change that this year."

The Westlake squash team, captained by Yam, is young but full of talent. There is just one senior student in there and the likes of Gabe Yam and Matthew Lucente are also nationally rated in the Under-15s.

Rafa Yam is the No 3 ranked Under- 17 player in New Zealand, just ahead of his main schools rival in the Auckland scene, Tydyn Lonergan of Massey High.

Yam's squash journey was not one of wielding a racquet in the cradle as soon as he could grip it, though his genes are impeccable. His father Manu was a multiple national champion in his native Philippines. The family shifted to New Zealand when Rafa was 7 and he was soon into it when his father started coaching. He admits he turned out to be "pretty good at it". Now it is very much his passion, and he trains every day to be the best he can be.

"People think it's not a hard sport and it's kinda looked down upon, but really it's one of the hardest sports you can play. Everyone who plays it says that," he says.

It may not be an optimal TV sport, but it has a large recreational following and New Zealand has plenty of top talent to look up to: Martin Knight, Campbell Grayson and Lance Beddoes among the male contingent.

Yam's fitness and ability to "kill" the ball are his strengths.

"I kinda play my own game, because if I try and play what's not my game, I don't feel comfortable.

"It's an individual sport, but you have to think about the team. You know you are representing your school and your teammates, so you always try your hardest," he says.

There is no doubles played in school squash but the opportunity to train with his teammates keeps Yam fresh mentally.

"It's good to train with them because you don't get bored and you get pushed by them."

Squash is not an Olympics sport, but Yam has high ambition.

"The Commonwealth Games are the peak for squash. If all goes well, maybe I could go one day. Hopefully if I keep trying, I'll get to the top level, but you never know what can happen." He has already come under the eyes of the top players and coaches - having played with Beddoes, for instance - so he has had a taste of high performance sport, and his name has received wider prominence after winning the boys' squash award at the ASB YSPOTY night last November and Squash Auckland's Young Sportsman of the Year.

Yam will be the player to beat when the Auckland premier schools squash competition starts in late April. Before then is an intense three-tournament series in the South island - the NZ Junior Open, and a trans-Tasman and Oceania series.

3 facts about Rafa Yam

1. He has made the long list for the World Youth Championships later this year.
2. He plays for the Belmont Park club and is on the verge of A grade status.
3. In a rarity for a Year 11 student, he captained the 2014 Westlake premier squash team.