\u201cI got the opportunity to go to Australia when I was 12 to play in a few junior tournaments over there, while my netball mates were getting trips to go to Palmerston North to play netball,\u201d Millar explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was quite an easy choice to pick squash as my number one, when we were getting to travel over to Australia, and the other sport is travelling an hour or so up the road,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n
Informal coaching started while she was still at school, but Millar never expected it to become a professional pathway for her. Studying sport and leisure studies alongside management studies at the University of Waikato, Millar avoided teaching and coaching papers \u2013 convinced that wasn\u2019t in the cards for her.<\/p>\n
But needing a part-time job to support her through university, coaching squash was a convenient way to do that, Millar already on the court sharing her knowledge, and then picking up formal, paid roles.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd generally getting paid more than your mates who were flipping burgers at Maccas, or serving drinks on a Thursday night at the Outback,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was something that I enjoyed, but I never saw it as a pathway. It was something that helped me pay my way through uni.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unable to see herself working in the corporate world, stuck behind a desk, Millar moved into teaching, working at a primary school alongside coaching, while still playing at a high level.<\/p>\n
In 2016, Millar was playing with the New Zealand national women\u2019s team, and suffered a bad concussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that time, I was told I\u2019d never play squash again, not to the level that I had been playing at,\u201d Millar says, the news destroying her dreams of playing at a Commonwealth Games one day.<\/p>\n
Even though she was working with ACC concussion specialists, a psychologist, neurologists and occupational therapists, she struggled to get back even courtside to squash, months after the concussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to watch a few sessions and I couldn\u2019t follow or track the squash ball on a squash court \u2013 just the contrast between the black ball and the white walls,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I was like, \u2018Well, I\u2019m probably not even going to be able to coach\u2019. My world got flipped upside down a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millar returned to teaching in 2017, accepting a fulltime position with the understanding that her squash dreams were temporarily out of reach. But she kept working, determined to not only return to coaching, but to play too.<\/p>\n
In 2020, Millar won a national title, and also began to realise where coaching could take her. Through Shelley Kitchen, an ex-player, and Squash New Zealand, Millar was given the opportunity to coach the NZ junior girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was an incredible opportunity really, and it was like this is where I want to be,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat kickstarted my desire to want to work in pre-high performance coaching in New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2021, Millar left her fulltime teaching job, wanting to be able to give 100% to squash. Her dreams may have evolved, but Millar is still aiming high in the squash world.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my goals when I got into high-performance coaching was to be the first female squash coach to go with the New Zealand team,\u201d she says, referring to the Commonwealth Games. With the 2026 Commonwealth Games running a reduced schedule, squash is one of the sports left off the list \u2013 a devastating decision for the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be tough going post-that for our country, we really need it to be a Commonwealth sport. From a New Zealand perspective, from a funding point of view, for our performance pathways,\u201d Millar says of its exclusion.<\/p>\n
Squash will be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, but only singles, with fewer qualification spots than the Commonwealth Games had for athletes. It\u2019ll be a tougher ask, but Millar is still determined to coach at a pinnacle event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had such a rich history but we\u2019ve never had a female coach go with the New Zealand teams. Things like that, someone\u2019s got to be the first,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Olympics, if we\u2019ve got athletes who are competing there, that now becomes a goal. There are so many firsts that you think in New Zealand should have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millar is involved with the national programme, having particularly worked in the girls\u2019 space. She knows from experience how having a female coach can be a game changer for young girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn squash, we\u2019ve never had a national female coach, we\u2019ve always had males, and for as long as I have been involved, they\u2019ve always been internationals. While we\u2019ve had a rich history of female squash players performing, we\u2019ve generally had male coaches,\u201d Millar explains.<\/p>\n
Kylie Lindsay, a former professional player, competing in two Commonwealth Games, was Millar\u2019s first female coach, an experience that inspired Millar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe difference in that relationship, it was a game-changer. She knew more about the female game, and how we as females operate than any male could,\u201d says Miller.<\/p>\n
To boost her knowledge and support system as a woman in coaching, Millar was selected to be part of the Te H\u0101paitanga programme \u2013 an 18-month long initiative that supports women pursuing high-performance coaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to be with like-minded people who more or less have all overcome similar challenges and faced the same challenges, the same barriers, is very cool,\u201d Millar says of her experience so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very cool to get opportunities like Te H\u0101paitanga, where you are able to, that are women-specific spaces because it definitely doesn\u2019t happen in our sport very often.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millar also works as a development officer for Squash Waikato \u2013 the only woman to hold that role in a district in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe increase in female participation, both juniors and even in our coaching personnel, the number of females we\u2019ve got in there is probably higher than anywhere else,\u201d Millar says of the Waikato region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can say it\u2019s because there\u2019s a female coach involved, there\u2019s nothing to back that, but I think across sports, it seems to be the general trend.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a year now, Millar has been working with Joelle King, the top-ranked women\u2019s squash player in New Zealand. King has won eight Commonwealth Games medals, including five golds, and reached the semi-finals of the world champs in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking with Joey [King] on an individual level has been an incredible experience \u2013 probably one of the more interesting parts of my journey,\u201d says Millar, who\u2019s three years younger than King and always looked up to her as a junior.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been a really cool relationship to navigate, learning more from her and being challenged in different ways as a coach, thinking outside of the box a little bit more.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not out there to see what other coaches have done and try that with her, you\u2019ve got to forge your own path and see where it goes, and take a few risks \u2013 some will pay off; some won\u2019t \u2013 and have a bit of fun along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an experience Millar didn\u2019t expect to have, particularly so early in her coaching career, but it\u2019s solidified what she knows she wants to do \u2013 coaching. Whether it\u2019s working with one of the world\u2019s best, or teaching someone how to hit the ball, it\u2019s all about enjoyment for Millar.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, for me, if I\u2019m enjoying what I\u2019m doing, they\u2019re going to enjoy what they\u2019re doing and vice versa,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat element of enjoyment, or fun, and what fun looks like for different people, is obviously slightly different, but I think that level of energy has to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n