“I used to be the kind of person who put so much pressure on himself; which definitely worked in big parts of my career. I mean I was able to get to the top of the rankings at 23 this way. But I felt that if I wanted to have a long career, I couldn’t do that for a long time because it takes so much out of you mentally.” - “That’s why a lot of athletes who lose their Number 1 spot struggle to get back again, because it’s not easy to accept that someone has raised the bar over you. And that’s the toughest part, is knowing that the level you played at when you were World Number 1 is not acceptabl ..read more

“I believe in total squash; I think some coaches are obsessed with making you hit the ball cleanly or having the perfect hitting technique, but hitting is only a small part of the game.” - “When I retired in June 2016 I was just really happy to stay at home, to be in one place for a long time. Retirement felt like a warm bath!” - “I discovered this almost by accident during my career, that some of my best results were not the times when I was most disciplined, but actually the times when I just let go.” - “I think this is great about being a writer, now it’s not about me. Suddenly I’m a fly on ..read more

Meditation is something I'm very passionate about and take great joy in guiding people through.  Here is the most common one I share. I hope you find it helpful x  ..read more

“I don’t think there was ever one particular moment when I thought I want this to be my profession, I just loved playing.” - “I remember when I started having good results as a kid, two of my friends started to say I was a bit arrogant and gave me a hard time, and I think that just stayed in my mind.” - “If you keep on working hard and believing that you can actually achieve something, even though you were not the best in juniors, you can still achieve as a senior.” - “A few months ago, we tried to change my game a little and I went too far and lost my personality on court.” - “Everyone is wor ..read more

· We talk about my early years playing and the biggest influence on my squash. · We talk about my experiences as a young boy and how squash very quickly became a huge focus of my life. · We discuss the transition into training as a professional. I share a story about already trying to train more seriously when at sixth form / high school. · I talk about the relationship I had with England Squash during my transition into playing pro and share a story of how influential Peter Nicol was in my decision surrounding university. · We talk about my early years on the PSA and how I ended up working wi ..read more

SHOW NOTES: I open the conversation by talking about Saurav’s recent run of form. He shares some of the reasons why he feels he has made progress. We talk about India. Why he has decided to stay there and his thoughts on it. He shares how squash made its way into his life and how he used to avoid any hard work until he moved to Chennai when he was 15. This was a seminal moment in his life which lead to him winning the Under 19 British Junior Open. He talks about seeing James Willstrop winning the World Junior Championships in Chennai and being inspired to train with him after his junior career ..read more

Show Notes:  I introduce Marsh with a brief history of his achievements and what he continues to do now.  He reflects on what stands out the most and we take a deep dive into retirement from professional sport. What the transition is like, ways to manage it, and thoughts on preparing in advance. (00:00 – 17:50) Marsh talks about his early life growing up and the influence that Jonah Barrington had on him. Despite achieving an incredible amount, he shares how his love for the game outweighed everything else and expresses his concern of too much focus on outcome at an early age. (17:51 ..read more

Vicky talks about the moment that gave her the confidence to turn professional (00:00 – 03:45) We speak about her early life and the positive influence playing many sports had on her. And although being very good at several sports, the enjoyment always came from just playing. (03:45 – 13:38)  She shares how external pressures started to increase as she got older, and suggests the type of advice and support she believes is most important for juniors. (13:38 – 21:00)  - “All of a sudden you’re in this amplified bubble of pressure, and you’ve not been prepared to deal with it.”   V ..read more

“The day I finally stopped singing, when I had to say I can’t do this anymore; I knew that whether I made that decision or not, the issues that contributed to them wouldn’t go away. And oddly, I then chose probably the most extreme sport to expose all of those things!” --   “It’s given me the opportunities to work on the things I want to work on – not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, which cannot have anything other than a benefit to the rest of my life.” -- Book Recommendations: How will you measure your life by Clayton Christensen  Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda  S ..read more

Final introductory episode by Tom Ford, explaining the main reasons why the podcast is called Finding Balance and how these ideas will be applied and threaded into each conversation.  ..read more