Jacob Lin’s fast-rising squash career means a different high school path come September.
The Grade 7 Pebble Hill student is headed to Magee Secondary to be part of the Vancouver school’s SPARTS program — designed for high performance athletes and performing arts students that require a flexible schedule.
It goes with the territory of being a two-time national champion.
Lin accomplished the feat at the recent Canadian Junior Championships in Toronto where the tournament’s top seed completed a dominant three-year run at the U13 level.
Two years ago, he produced a surprise bronze medal. That was followed by his first national title in 2017. Pushing him along the way is good friend and training partner Joseph Toth. The pair are part of a stable of top young players from the West Coast Squash High Performance Academy.
The Richmond-based club dominated Junior Nationals — winning four age group titles while Lin and Toth squared off in an all-B.C. final.
“Every day these two are training together. They were in the final against each at provincials and lot of other junior tournaments in B.C. too,” said Lin’s coach Marco Toriz a former top ranked player and Mexican national team coach. “They train so hard together and the goal is to keep facing each other (in the National finals) over the next seven years.”
Lin’s success goes beyond his own country.
Back in 2016, he become the first-ever Canadian to win an individual title at the prestigious Hong Kong Junior Squash Open — capturing the the 120-player U11 Division in the sanctioned platinum world series tournament. Lin was third at last year’s event at the U13 level and is returning to compete in the same age category again this summer.
Another impressive feat was a fifth place showing at last year’s U.S. Junior Squash Open.
He took up the sport when he was nine and his first club tournament win followed at the Junior Evergreen Open. By 2015, he captured silver in the U11 Division at the B.C. Junior Squash Open Championships and hasn’t looked back since.
The long term goal is taking his game to a high-profile American university — following a similar journey of some of his club mates, including U19 national champion Andrea Toth who is headed to Princeton this fall. However, Lin’s parents are also making sure his interests go beyond the squash court.
His hard work in the classroom resulted in being accepted into Magee’s Math 8 Honours Program. He also plays the piano and enjoys sketching.
“We owe a great thanks to Jacob’s coaches, training partners and school teachers,” said his mom Alice. “They have been giving Jacob full support.”
