Aberdeen’s champion squash player Robyn Hodgson is being forced to look to America after being ignored by her country.
Despite being the best under-19 girl in Scotland, Hodgson has been consistently overlooked for her country – because she chooses to train in her home city and not in Edinburgh.
The 18-year-old showed her qualities this month when she beat leading French players Lea Moineau and Sarah Barnes en route to victory in the Welsh junior open championships in Cardiff.
Hodgson has been playing since she was seven and that win was her fifth European title.
She is Scotland’s leading under-19 player and is placed second in the national senior rankings. But in the last two years, representative honours have been denied her.
The latest example came on Monday when the under-19 squad for the European junior championships in Germany next month was announced. Hodgson was again left out.
Aberdonian Mhairi Charlton has been named in the squad – with Morgan McGuire, of Renfrew, acting as reserve.
Hodgson said: “I’ve not been selected to represent my country since I returned to Aberdeen for coaching.
“I joined the performance programme of Scottish Squash but felt let down by the whole experience. It cost a lot of money and the amount of travelling to Edinburgh meant I was away from home more than 35 weekends in the year.
“I had to combine this with studies and I was not treated particularly well. I felt squash was the only thing in my life and I was only 15. It also meant I couldn’t work with my coaches in Aberdeen as I simply didn’t have enough hours in the day.
“I get better training with Pat Nicol and Ali Gorrie in Aberdeen. It costs me less and I can sort out my schooling, but I never expected to not get capped for my country.
“I have the results and I have the rankings. I recently finished second in a Scottish senior ranking event but I've missed five Scottish caps so far and will shortly be missing another.
“I've questioned the decisions as my results are the best a junior has had in Scotland, but I have not had a satisfactory response and now I'm simply ignored.
“It’s a very sad state of affairs as Scottish Squash is a publicly-funded body but it is not helping me in any way.”
Hodgson, who trains in Aberdeen with Gorrie, of Aberdeen Squash Racquets Club, and Nicol, of the Peter Nicol Squash and Fitness Centre, is considering a move to America and is waiting to hear whether she has earned a sports scholarship.
She is working part-time as a lifeguard as she waits for her future education options to be decided.
She said: “My ambitions are to continue to play squash and, with a bit of luck, to represent Scotland in the Commonwealth Games in 2012. I’ve had the benefits of working with Pat and with Ali but I am waiting to hear if I have been accepted into Hartford University, where I will train with the squash team and study.
“The plan is to combine my studies in America with a career in squash.”
National performance director Paul Frank would not comment on Hodgson’s case, or give reasons why she was not being selected, but confirmed she was not being considered by national coach Roger Flynn.
Frank said: “Robyn does not meet the selection criteria, which is why she has not been selected.
“If people are unhappy with the national coach’s selections then there is an appeal process but no one, including Robyn, has appealed a selection.”
The junior selection criteria states players must be eligible to represent Scotland, be a member of the performance programme and attend a minimum of 70% of the squad sessions, have played at least one domestic junior event in each quarter of the year, be within the required age group and be an individual competitive member of Scottish Squash.
Hodgson claims national coach Flynn turned down her offer to discuss the reasons for her exclusion in December. An appeal about her absence from the squad for next month’s European event was submitted yesterday.