Young squash player three-peats at SportPEI awards

Emma Jinks' trophy case is getting a little full lately.

The 17-year-old Charlottetown Rural student added to her long list of accomplishments at Thursday night's Sport PEI Awards, winning her third consecutive award for junior female athlete of the year.

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"It was such an honour for me to be nominated and chosen for this award three times in a row," she said.

It was such an honour for me to be nominated and chosen for this award three times in a row.— Emma Jinks

"I'm going to continue to work hard and hopefully I'll be back here next year maybe."

Jinks had a stellar 2017 winning the U19 Canadian Junior Championship when she was just 16 and finishing top 10 in the world with Team Canada at the World Junior Squash Championships.

"It was pretty cool to be there playing my favourite sport in this amazing country," she said about Team Canada's ninth place finish at worlds in New Zealand.

"It was surreal, I was so happy I got the chance to do that."

'I wouldn't give it up for the world'

The squash court has become Jinks' "second home" as she trains nearly every day and hopes to keep competing well past high school. 

She said several Ivy League schools have had their eye on her sporting career and have been recruiting her to join. Although she's still weighing the options, she said, and may even consider a gap year.

Regardless, the Stratford, P.E.I. native said wherever she ends up after high school the racket will be going with her.

"It's just such a rewarding sport, the experience I've had and the people I've met through it, I wouldn't give it up for the world," she said.

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