Director of island squash Ben Rosec working with children on the Investec Squash in Schools programme. (0814813)

GUERNSEY’S squash owes a lot of its success to a thriving primary school programme which has been running for some eight years.

Thanks to the financial support it has received by Investec Bank, the programme has given thousands of primary school children the chance to get a taste of what the sport is all about.

First introduced back in 2002, the Investec Schools in Squash programme has lured more than 200 juniors onto the court on a more regular basis and at the same time produced some outstanding players.

Those who are particularly noteworthy are 17-year-old Natalie Dodd and 16-year-old Issey Norman-Ross, who were both introduced to squash at La Houguette School six years ago, as well as Katie and Chris Ozard, Euan Melrose and Alisha Brehaut.

More recently, other promising juniors have emerged including U-11 Junior Open winner Jack Turvey and 11-year-old Niall Adams, who is progressing rapidly up the England Squash rankings (currently number 19 U-13).

With Investec’s funding, a portable squash wall is transported to schools.

Group lessons are given to pupils in Years 4 and 5 by Ben Rosec, island director of squash, and some of the older junior players (recently awarded a UKCC 1 squash coaching qualification) using mini squash rackets and large bouncier balls.