{"id":316507,"date":"2026-03-06T20:17:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/316507\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T20:17:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:17:16","slug":"on-the-up-rotorua-teen-squash-star-animaia-payne-to-represent-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/316507\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Up: Rotorua teen squash star Animaia Payne to represent New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Animaia, a Year 9 student at Western Heights High School, will travel to Melbourne in April to represent New Zealand as part of the 2026 Junior Trans Tasman Test Team. <\/p>\n

She was selected in the U15 girls section of the juniors despite being only 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of myself for achieving something like that, it was my dream,\u201d Animaia told the Rotorua Daily Post.<\/p>\n

She said she started playing squash<\/a> aged 9 after seeing her dad play. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was always at the squash club with my dad, and there was this one little court. I just got super bored, then I was hitting the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now four years into the sport, Animaia had a successful 2025 squash season, winning six major titles.<\/p>\n

She was the Oceania Junior Squash Championships Under-13 champion, and at the New Zealand Junior Squash Championships, secured the national under-13 crown. <\/p>\n

She also took out first place at the Aims Games, Australasia\u2019s largest junior sporting event<\/a>, beating out 31 other squash players from around the country. <\/p>\n

\"AnimaiaAnimaia Payne will travel to Melbourne in April to represent New Zealand. <\/p>\n

Her dominance extended regionally, earning titles as the Waikato\/Bay of Plenty Regional Champion and the Bay of Plenty Primary\/Intermediate champion. <\/p>\n

She currently plays for Geyser City Squash Club but also has ties to Waikite Valley Squash.<\/p>\n

Her current grade is B1, and her goal is to get to A2 while she\u2019s still 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an individual sport, so you rely on yourself to do everything and not your team.\u201d <\/p>\n

Animaia said she loved the physical side of squash the most and \u201cgetting a good match\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said she felt \u201csuper proud\u201d to be representing New Zealand<\/a> and was excited about the experience. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be heaps of girls that are just crazy good and next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 10, Animaia will represent New Zealand in the Trans-Tasman Junior Test. <\/p>\n

She will then play in the Australian Junior Open from April 12 to 15 and the Oceania Junior Championships from April 16 to 19. <\/p>\n

Scott Payne, Animaia\u2019s father, said she was always the one pushing to play and wanting to train.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always the type, if you want to do it, do it, so I\u2019ve never had to push her or drive her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" Animaia Payne (13) won the Squash New Zealand U13 Girls National Title last year. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Payne said what stood out most was Animaia\u2019s determination and how she was \u201creally driven\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou watch her play, and she makes it look easy. But what people don\u2019t realise is that a lot of hard work and effort goes in behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the pair had a \u201cclose bond\u201d because they had been on the squash journey from day one together. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe go away and play tournaments together and she coaches me, I coach her, but now she gets a bit grumpy with me because she thinks she knows better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Payne said he believes if Animaia keeps going, she could \u201cdefinitely\u201d be a professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s the one who wants to do better herself, which is probably the best thing about it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Morrell<\/a> is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Animaia, a Year 9 student at Western Heights High School, will travel to Melbourne in April to represent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171526,117,111,139,69,90,62589,13117,1327,213,171525,2737,5163,223,61,810,80],"class_list":["post-316507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-animaia","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-payne","tag-represent","tag-rotorua","tag-sports","tag-squash","tag-star","tag-teen","tag-the","tag-to","tag-up","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}