Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2020

41 www.sheffieldcricketlovers.org.uk In his youth Nick was a handy cricketer, captaining High Storrs School, Sheffield and opening both batting and bowling. There must have been a touch of Geoffrey Boycott about him as, whilst scoring 50 for Sheffield Centralians in a Yorkshire and Derbyshire League match, he managed to run out his Dad! Cricket wasn’t his only sporting interest. He captained the school football team, ran cross- country for Sheffield Schools and played tennis. It was via tennis, and the Hallamshire Tennis & Squash Club, that he got involved in squash, becoming the country’s best junior at 18. It became evident that elite sports stars are never satisfied with the status quo; there is an insatiable desire for self-improvement. Aware he had some technical deficiencies at 19, Nick changed his coach, teaming up with David Pearson, national squash coach. It was no quick fix and took three years of hard graft, including countless hours practising alone on the court. But he enjoyed it, made it work and achieved a top ten world ranking with a British Open title under his belt. Elite athletes are also adept at turning adversity to their advantage. A two-inch labral tear in his shoulder kept Nick out for five months in 2008, long enough for him to analyse his whole game, with the aid of his psychologist. The complete change of strategy dictated that he would concentrate on his particular strengths (eg volleying and physicality), rather than trying to excel in all aspects of the game. It liberated him, and within 18 months he had become the world’s number one player, at the age of 30. The four key elements of his game – tactics, technique, mentality and physicality – were working together better than at any stage of his career. By retirement in 2018 Nick had won three World Individual titles, three World Team titles, three British Opens and three Commonwealth Games gold medals, but no Olympic medals – the absence of squash at the Olympics is his biggest disappointment. He insists his greatest achievement was his Commonwealth gold at Glasgow in 2014, just five weeks after knee surgery and against his greatest rival, James Willstrop, in the final. One gained the impression that Nick, who contributed so much to the global popularity of squash, could have made the grade at any of the other sports he enjoyed playing during his school days. The mind of a Champion 15 April 2019 Nick Matthew Former Squash World Champion Nick Matthew