Jaclyn Hawkes (born 3 December 1982 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

) is a New Zealand professional

squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

player. Hawkes grew up in

and lived there until she was 15 when she moved to New Zealand. She started playing squash aged five because her mother Julie Hawkes was a New Zealand representative and is an ex-World Masters champion. While Hawkes played squash when she was younger she was much more keen on playing tennis (her father

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

was a

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

player for New Zealand), hockey and netball. However, when she moved to New Zealand she made the New Zealand Junior team and travelled to

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

for the World Juniors in 1997 and really began to enjoy playing squash. It was after making the New Zealand Senior team in 2004 and competing in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

at the World Teams event that she decided to make squash her profession. Hawkes is now based in Halifax in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

after having completed a double degree in law and commerce in 2004 and has been playing full-time since the beginning of 2005. She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 12 in December 2010.

References

External links

* * 1982 births Living people New Zealand female squash players Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists in squash Commonwealth Games squash players for New Zealand Squash players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Hong Kong emigrants to New Zealand Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen {{NewZealand-squash-bio-stub