Nutrition X

Having just started a new season and with a good summers training behind me I thought now would be a good time to talk about one of my key sponsors. Nutrition X, a local based company working all over the world support some elite sporting teams including Yorkshire CCC and not to mention Gloucester Rugby!

I have been using there products for a year now and have found their products to have a massive benefit to my training. Firstly I know all of their products are HFL Tested which means I have no concerns or worries if I were to be tested. Secondly it allows me to maximise every session I put in and recover in time for the next one.

The main products I use are MRM (Maximum Recovery Matrix), Hydra 10 and Hypnos. I take Hydra 10 before and during tough sessions as I find it keeps me hydrated especially when I am playing abroad in places where it can be very humid. Also mentally it gives me the confidence I am constantly topping up the fuel I need to carry on playing at the intensity I want.

MRM is what I would take after most session to help my body recover quickly especially if I have another match or session later that day. Again its handy when I am away and I know I can have something straight after a game that works and I trust.

By far my favourite Nutrition X product has to be the Butterscotch Hypnos which is just like drinking milkshake and to top it off its good for you. I would normally take this just before bed if I have had a weights session or tough match during the day. This continues to help my body recover.

Nutrition X have been a massive help to the development of my squash over the last 12 months and I hope to continue that into the coming season!

Season End

I think its fair to say blogging isn't my strongest point but here we go, my season has just come to an end with my last two events being the British Open (The Wimbledon of Squash) and the Sekusui Open in Switzerland. 


I received a last minute call up for the British Open to play as a local, England Squash are given 8 places into the qualification draw to hand to whoever they see fit. I was over the moon to be given one of these spots as the British Open is arguable the greatest event in Squash! Although I would be lying if I said I wasn't slightly daunted to come up against one of the worlds best. I was drawn against Marwan El Shorbagy the current world junior champion and No.30 in the world! Not the easiest of draws but in some ways it was better than it could have been as I had played him before and performed well, so I knew what to expect and was looking forward to it. Sadly I went down 11/8, 11/7, 13/15, 11/2 (53m), although I wasn't happy to lose I was pleased with the performance and proved to myself that I can compete with those top guys if I perform at my best. I have put a link up to the match report  for those interested. http://bit.ly/15OTiyY

After this it was down to Surrey for the first of two weekends where I will be hoping to qualify as a level two coach come July, who knew coaching was such hard work! 

From there it was almost straight off to Switzerland for the last event of my season, first up I had a local and the wildcard for the event Patrick Miescher a tricky opponent especially on such warm courts. I somehow managed to squeeze through in four games not my greatest performance but very happy to get the win. Next up was the American No.1 Julian Illingworth who has a highest ranking of 24 from this time last year. Sadly Julian was to good on the day but another decent performance against a high ranked opponent.

All in all I am happy with my progress this year moving up 62 places to a career high of 101. I have also changed coach and tried some new training methods which have begun to help my game. But for now I am looking forward to some time off before getting stuck in to a good summers training!

Also as the selection process to which sports gets into the 2020 Olympic games approaches, I did a piece on BBC Radio Gloucestershire with Steve Kitchen all about squash in the county. Which you can listen to by following the link below, enjoy!
http://bit.ly/15EGMS1

Christmas and New Year

Festive greetings to you all, hope you had a nice Christmas and new year and aren't feeling to guilty after a few weeks of indulgence and are back into the swing of things now! No rest for the wicked as they say though and I ploughed through with training over the festive period with my next event coming up in Atlanta, America. The idea of training over Christmas doesn't sound to enjoyable but recently I am enjoying my squash a lot more and it stops my waistline increasing!

I leave Sunday in search of some wins and much needed sunlight, hope your not to jealous. Training has gone well, there has been a large emphasis on trying to get quicker and more powerful, but with just a few more sessions before I leave I am starting to feel the benefits. I am currently in qualifying and seeded to reach the main draw however it will not be easy with a number of strong English players also playing the event. This event is the start of a busy period for myself as soon after I get back from one event I am off to another, I leave for Finland with current temperatures around -25, before going onto the British Closed! Wish me luck and I will keep you posted on how I am getting on!

An Idiot Abroad- Asia

Its been a while since my last blog but here is the first of hopefully many! This years season has started well I have hit a good run of form and my ranking is now up to 117 in the world compared to 232 this time last year, and I have travelled to Japan, Malaysia and the Czech Republic for events.

After my summers training this year I decided to go away for a couple of events at a time as I found this worked well last season and it also helps spread the costs. So at the start of October I left for Japan which is probable one of the best places I have ever visited and somewhere I would love to go back to. The squash went well out there to I got through my first round and lost to Leo Au ranked around 60 in the world 3/1, I was happy with how I played and it gave me a real believe I could compete with those players well inside the top 100.

But no rest for the wicked though the next day I was up early to catch a flight to Malaysia which I have been to a few times before. This event was slightly different for me as I had to qualify and I was in for a shock as the courts we played on had no air conditioning whatsoever which meant slogging it out at around 30 degrees! For some reason though it seemed to help me as I beat a player of  similar ranking to myself in qualifying finals (Bart Ravelli) 3/0 and then bit a local player Elvin Keo who was ranked 100 in the world 3/1. Now as he was a local guy you can imagine I wasn't the most popular player there. However the Malaysians had the last laugh as I lost to another Malaysian player Kamran Khan (An ex-Wycliffe pupil) 3/0 the next day in just over an hour.

A good trip overall and now its about putting in a good block of training over the Christmas period before my next event which will be toward the end of January.

If you wnat to follow the results more closely you can find most of the events on
www.squashsite.co.uk/ the BBC Sport of Squash

Catch Up Blog and Travels a Plenty

Since my last blog quite a bit has changed I am now based in Cheltenham again and my ranking is starting to steadily go in the right direction.

In March I travelled to Kish Island just off Dubai for a $10,000 dollar event where I managed to come through qualifying and eventually get through to the quarter finals losing to World number 54 Mark Krajcsak of Hungary who went on to win the event.

Then I was involved in a Closed Satellite in Chesterfield at Brampton Manor squash club in I was seeded one for the event and it a strange feeling to have the pressure on me to beat people something which I haven't felt as much since leaving the junior age groups. I managed to put in some good performances and come away with the win beating Richard Birkes 3.0 in the final WR 270.

After these events I had a bit of time back home in Cheltenham having only recently moved back from a brief time in Manchester. It was good being back and getting a few weeks of hard training in before my next events.

The season seems to have disappeared a bit to quick after some time out injured but I still have a few tournaments left to go.  Last week I was competing in the Irish Open held at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin, the tournament had a high quality field including ex Gloucestershire man Ali Walker now ranked No.13 in the world and Borja Golan of Spain also ranked in the worlds top 20.


I managed to get through qualifying beating two players ranked higher than me, first Jaymie Haycocks ranked 102 in the world and the Steve London ranked just inside the top 150. I was massively pleased with both these results as I had only just sneak into the event and to get through qualifying was far more than I expected. In the first round I was drew to play Jonathan Kemp ranked 40 in the world its fair to say I had a baptism of fire at that level but on the whole a lot of positives to take! on top of this my ranking has now gone from 228 in March up to 163!

This Sunday I head of for a tour of the America's first I am in Atlanta and then I head off to Guatemala. Both events have a strong field and I will have to work my way through qualifying.

Also I would just like to say a big thank you and welcome to Airport Parking & Hotels Ltd (APH) who have recently agreed to sponsor me. They offer an excellent range of services for the independent traveller which include: Airport Parking, Airport Hotel & Parking Packages, Executive Airport Lounges, Car Hire, and Travel Insurance. I look forward to a long and prosperous partnership with them.

Nathan

Best of British

Every February the best in Britain come to Manchester where for the past 10 or more years the Senior British Closed has been held for both men and women. An event which year on year features some of the best players in the world, this year was no different as the mens draw featured the top two players in the world in Nick Matthew and James Willstrop.

But that was the main draw and I wasn't ranked high enough to get into that outright, I first had to fight my way through qualification which in itself is a tough task. Over 50 players all fighting it out for 8 qualifying slots which then put you into the main draw and potentially the chance to go toe to toe with some of the best players in the world.

Although seeded to qualify I knew it wouldn't easy first up was Liam Gutcher of Northumbria who had already come through one match. I on the Sunday night before a Monday match to avoid any potential risks posed by the weather. I had seen Liam play before at last years under 23 tournament in Huntington and I knew if I gave him time and space he is well capable of hitting any number of winners. The seedings suggested he was expected to lose meaning there was little pressure on him which is often a dangerous combination. Luckily I managed to get into it quickly and assert my authority winning in just over 20mins 11/3 11/3 11/1.

Getting off the court as quickly as possible is vital in tournaments especially when you are scheduled for two matches in one day. When I came off court I noticed my potential opponents for the evening match were still running each other around. Eventually the winner was Greg Lobban a young pro the same age as me and a Scottish international.

Needless to say I was up for a battle and was excited at the prospect of getting to play one of the top seeds. After his morning exploits I felt he may tire a little so tried to give nothing cheap away but at the same time not be too negative still using all four corners to work him.

I started well getting a few points lead but was pegged back to 8 all, but managed to close out the game 11/8. Now over any match nerves I felt like I would grow into the game but to my opponents credit he came out the stronger in the second and took a large lead which I was not able to recover losing 11/6. The next game was vital as I need to get back into the game and take back the momentum we were very close around 5 all and after a few lets I managed to break away and take the game 11/7. The fourth game was similar close in the early stages then I felt maybe his morning match took its toll and I closed it out to win the match 3/1 in 50minutes.

This was my first time of reaching the main draw in two attempts and I was pleased with the way I had played so far. But I had an even tougher test ahead as I got my wish and was drawn to play the reigning champion and world No.10 Daryl Selby the next day. I made sure to prepare well by warming down and and getting the right nutrition in.

The morning of the match I popped in to see the physio to look at one or two areas I had been struggling with over the past few weeks but game time soon came around. Playing such high ranking opponent is exciting but also daunting and in the opening stages it showed and Daryl had me running round like a headless chicken. I managed to salvage a bit of pride though with a late run of points to lose 11/7. I felt I to often got stuck behind him and therefore opened the court up to much. In the second I went on there with the aim to get in front and try and dictate the play more. It seemed to work as I levelled it at 1 game all winning the second 11/7. Although after catching him slightly off guard in that second I wasn't given a second chance and he took the next two games 11/5.

Overall though a successful tournament I achieved my seeding and qualified and put in a good performance against a quality opponent.

A Rocky Start

Think it's fair to say I haven’t had the smoothest of starts to this season, started out in Canada and then Barcelona on both occasions losing out in qualification. Slightly more disappointing were the performances but maybe expecting to much from myself instead of just going on court and enjoying my squash.

Although I wasn't performing in the tournaments I wasn't to worried as I knew I had put the work in and I was playing well in training. But squash is all about winning matches and it doesn't matter how well you train if the goods aren't there come match day.

After coming back from those first tournaments I had a bit of time to reflect before my next tournament in Ireland. The first thing I did when I got back was to evaluate the trip in a bit more depth so I sat down with my coach and we tried to diagnose what went wrong and how I could use my experiences to make me a better player.

I also had the opportunity through league squash namely national league and Yorkshire league to try and find some form and which in return would give me some confidence to build on. I also had a small tournament in Coventry the weekend before Ireland to give me some match practice and get me sharp. The week leading up to Ireland proved to be a pivotal one and I felt like I was finding some form with some good performances in league then down in Coventry where I felt I played some of my best squash of recent times.

Importantly I got some long tough matches in my leg and felt confident going into Ireland. First up was Roman Svec of the Czech Republic, I managed to pull through in three (13/11 11/2 11.7) a good performance if not a little nervy at times but I expected as much having not won to many matches recently. The thing that never fails to amaze me is the much higher importance PSA tournaments hold compared to anything else. After all we are playing for money and valuable ranking points.

But its amazing what a win does for you, after the first win it felt like a massive weight had been lifted. Next up was Alex Phillips #WR167 I felt I played well and was happy to come through in three (11/6 11/8 13/11). Just towards the end of the match I managed to slip while moving forward after all I am not the most elegant of movers. Although I managed to come through that match I rushed to ice the injury and tried to do everything I could in the knowledge I had a main draw match waiting the next day.

The next day instead of hitting in the morning before the match like myself and most players tend to do I rested up as the injury if anything had become worse overnight. But there was no way I was going to pull out, I decided to go on enjoy it and see what I could do, I was up against Ben Ford former top 100 player still very classy and with great experience. Didn't start off to well losing the first game in little to no time but as the body warmed up and adrenaline kick in I managed to do alright losing out 11/1 11/8 11/8. I had mixed feelings from the tournament on the one hand I had qualified which I wasn't expected to do but at the same time I had come away with what I knew was a nasty injury and which prevented me from being able to go out all guns blazing in the main draw which is what I needed to do to stand any chance.

Throughout the tournament I had a little bit of media coverage from BBC Gloucestershire which mentioned my results every night in the sports update so thanks to them and in particular Ian Randall.

Still on the mend and sadly was unable to go to Japan after further set backs but hoping to be back soon and have at least two more tournaments planned before the end of the year both of which are in Poland where I am in qualification. Thanks for all the support and words of encouragement recently means a lot. Feeling good and looking forward to a good end to the year.