Hillside’s Joanne Joseph used to watch her father Anil play squash every week.
She enjoyed her time mucking around on the courts so much that her dad enrolled her in Squash Logic Melton’s Oz squad program to learn the basic skills of the game in early 2016.
Now the 10-year-old’s game is going from strength to strength and she competed in her first major tournament in September.
Joseph said she fell in love with the sport straight away.
“I started playing as my dad would take me to watch him,” she said.
“He would let me and my cousins play on the courts and I really liked playing.
“Dad then signed me up to do Oz squad and my coach Richard [Calligarni] taught me how to hold the racquet and learn shots.
“I then started to play competition.”
Joseph quickly had an impact at a state level and has competed in Australian and international events.
In the past six months, she finished runner-up in Squash Victoria’s Xmas Cup, won bronze in the under-11 girls at the Oceania International and Australian Junior Open, first runner-up in the SSL junior age event in the under-15 girls and won the under-13 girls Tasmanian State Junior Open.
Most recently, she won the division C girls section at the Goulburn Valley Junior Age tournament.
Joseph has risen up in both the state and national rankings.
She’s now the number one-ranked under-11 girl in Victoria and ranked sixth nationally for the same age group. In December her national ranking was 18th.
The Bacchus Marsh Grammar student said she was slowly getting used to playing players of a higher ability.
She said she wasn’t surprised with her ranking because of all the work she had been doing. She’s started playing in under-13 and under-15 competitions to gain more experience.
“I’m practicing four times a week,” she said. “I train with the national coaches on Fridays and it’s good as they’ve taught me loads of stuff.
“I found it challenging playing tournaments to start with as I had never played them before.
“I started to get through a few tournaments and had a rough idea of how I should play against them.”
Joseph’s short-term goal is to win an Australian Open title and said there was no reason if she didn’t keep developing she couldn’t represent Australia.
She is earmarked to represent Victoria next year at the national championships as part of the Victorian team. Joseph still attends Squash Logic with her father, but now to play him.
Her rapid development has led to some serious matches with her father.
“I sometimes beat him,” she said. “He is really bringing his A-game as he doesn’t want to lose.”
