YASMIN Kaashoek wrote her name in the history books this summer – and there is more on the horizon for the Bournemouth-based athlete.

Kaashoek returned from the Youth Commonwealth Games in the Bahamas where she and partner Ellie Austin became the first pair to represent Team England at the multi-sport event.

And after finishing in a respectable fifth and agonisingly missing out on making the semi-finals after losing a pulsating third set by three points to New Zealand, Kaashoek has singled out her junior Commonwealth debut on the sand as the highlight of her career so far.

“It was a really good experience and such a cool environment where we made new friends,” said the 18-year-old, who moved to Bournemouth to pursue beach volleyball four years ago.

And the LeAF Studio School pupil believes her and Austin could have gone all the way, had it not been for tournament’s seeding policy.

“We played really well, but we felt the tournament let us down in terms of how it was organised,” she added.

“We went into the competition on a high ranking and thought we would be seeded on our ranking points – but the organisers decided that all the teams would be unseeded, which didn’t work in our favour as we had to face Australia – one of the tougher teams – in our pool.

“We even went out to Miami for a training camp a week before to acclimatise to the conditions – it was very humid out there and some athletes who arrived a day before struggled to adjust.

“It was a shame to not come away with a medal, because we felt we were good enough to finish on the podium.

“Even the Australian and New Zealand coach said to us we should have been in the final. It was a difficult one, but it was a still a great opportunity to represent England for the first time.”