Merseyside teen named Young Coach/Volunteer of the Year

Mia Leahey has been named Young Coach/Volunteer of the Year at the 2025 England Squash Awards for her commitment to growing participation in squash among diverse communities.

Inspired by her own experience of being one of a small number of girls on her local squash scene, the Merseyside teenager is heavily involved with women’s squash charity Girls in Motion, increasing engagement through social media and supporting junior meets and festivals.

At St Helens club Capitol Squash meanwhile, she’s delivered junior and women only sessions as well as supporting a council sports programme for refugees and asylum seekers.

Alongside all of this, she’s balancing high-performance squash with studying sport and exercise science at Loughborough University.

“I know how the girls feel,” said Mia, who has earned praise for her welcoming attitude at Girls in Motion events. “In junior squash, the older you get, the less girls there are playing. The draw numbers are smaller and in sessions, you’re outnumbered by boys – it can be off-putting.

“I’m motivated by helping them feel comfortable and seeing so many girls in one space. It’s nice to make sure everybody feels comfortable on court and to stick with them until they come out of their shell.”

For Mia, another highlight is her starring role in the exhibition matches against current and former players which happen at every junior meet: “I played former world champion Laura Massaro at one! Some of them have never watched a top player before and we even get a few of them to referee. To see the smiles on their faces is really nice.”

On working with refugees and asylum seekers in her home town, where she started playing squash 10 years ago, she added: “Every week they try a new sport through the council and they wanted to try squash.

“I had 20 people on court and none of them had played before. We did a few drills and games and it got a bit competitive, which was good. It’s nice to see people pick it up so quickly. Everyone thinks it’s a hard sport, but it’s not as scary as it looks!”

Mia hopes to do more coaching in the future, but she’s also excited to see where her playing career takes her: “I want to play at the highlight level. Loughborough is probably the best place I can be. I’m excited to see how my game develops.”