Orewa College student and Silverdale Squash Club junior member Ben Forde has been raising a racquet in squash circles recently.
After a string of impressive performances this year, Ben is ranked No.3 on the Squash Auckland ranking list and No. 16 on the Squash NZ ranking list, both for boys U13.
Ben recently turned 13, and will find out his latest, U15, ranking soon.
The Year 8 student plays for the College’s 1st V squash team and is their number one ranked player. He helped them to second placings in the Auckland Secondary Schools Teams Championship in June, and the College Sport Auckland Division 2 Team Championships.
Last month, Ben and the team travelled to Palmerston North for the NZ Secondary Schools Squash Championships. Here they played six matches in three days, winning four of them, and while they did not place in the top 20, they did beat their seeding.
Earlier this year, Ben helped the Year 7/8 boys and girls squash team retain their North Harbour Champion status at the Intermediate Schools Zone Day and also represented Auckland in the 2018 Junior Quadrangular tournament in Whangarei.
Next up, Ben will compete with the Auckland District team in the National E Grade Super Champs Finals in Christchurch, September 26-29.
Also an avid football player, Ben says that the two sports are the perfect cross training.
“Squash helps me with my footwork on the football field, and when I play football, it helps me with my fitness on the squash court,” Ben says.
He has won a few squash matches in his career so far, but the one that he wants most is to beat his dad Tony. “It’s may be a year or so before I will be able to beat him,” says Ben.
Tony thinks it might not be that long.
