He looked concerned – probably looking at my pale and exhausted face. ‘How are you feeling?’ he asked me. I could hardly catch my breath as I replied ‘I’m absolutely stuffed!’ He came even closer to me and looked right into my eyes and said ‘ Well, it doesn’t matter how tired you are – what matters is how badly you want it. Do you want it more than him?’. I seemed to be hypnotized by what he said and repeated after him ‘I want it more than him’. I went on to win the 5th in the tie-break and with it the match - one of many with Paul by my side.
I met Paul Wright for the first time in Cairo in July 1996. I was a part of the Pakistan junior team at the World Junior Championships and he was the English national coach. I had seen him once before at the World Men’s Championships in Karachi where he was coaching the cream of English Squash with Jonah Barrington. Peter Marshall, Simon Parke and Chris Walker being their top players at the time. I had enjoyed watching him talk to the players as I sat behind them unnoticed. So when Paul gave me the compliment of having ‘good touch’ in Cairo – I was over the moon. It always reassured me that I had good touch – coming from the English national coach that I respected greatly.
When I moved to New Zealand I felt lucky that he was around. After settling in, I wanted to start training again and set myself goals. One of them was to get help from the legendary Paul Wright. I went to him one day after work uncertain of how he would respond and asked for his help with my Squash. To my delight and surprise, he welcomed me with open arms and our partnership began. Despite his heart problems he worked hard with me to get me up and running. Apart from helping me with all my 5 national titles – most of them sitting courtside – he also helped me in my initial PSA successes. A notable one for me was winning the South Island Champs where I was a qualifier went on to win my first PSA title and mark a successful return to the World Tour. Paul was right there behind me.
Playing career
The list of Paul’s local titles are far many to mention but he is very proud of have won the Essex championships seven times. Paul has come from the amateur era and was considered as a professional because he coached for a living which meant that he was not eligible to be nationally ranked in England during the years he played the domestic tournaments in England. He would have been ranked amongst the top ten players in England. When the game finally moved on to the professional era Paul decided to have a family and stop traveling. Paul’s highest world ranking was 32 but with only on 4 tournaments up against his name in the ranking for the whole year.
Coaching Career
Paul started coaching in 1973 and has 38 years of experience working as a club professional firstly at Wanstead squash club then at The Connaught club and moving onto Brenfield Squash club where he was the Head professional for 12 years. During that time he was hired by the English SRA firstly as regional coach which encompassed 6 counties. Paul was then hired to work with the English junior national squads and then was soon asked to become the Young England team manager/coach in charge of developing a group of young professionals. These players were to become the core of the English teams of the future. The mandate was to produce a group of players who were willing to work together and would be supportive of each other in World events. Most of the players involved became part of the England team and certainly were a close knit group their successes are many. Paul has been involved in the production of many coach qualification syllabi and has tutored up to and including the English level 4 award which was the top award at the time,
Paul worked with a lot of English players who made the top ten in the world. These include Peter Marshall, Del Harris, Simon Parke, Chris Walker and many more. Since moving to New Zealand in 1996 Paul worked with former British Open Champion Leilani Joyce, twice World champion Carol Owens and has helped with many team successes including Philippa Beams and Leilani Joyce at World doubles championships, NZ junior women’s team 2nd place in Brazil, Paul has also coached England teams and individuals to world junior titles plus many European and home international wins. He has also been the force behind our local hero Gary Duberly’s 2 World masters championships.
Future plans
His future plans are to slow down but at the same time try to put as much of his vast experience to good use helping others to be as good as they can be. He has a variety of ideas that he wants to work on with players in New Zealand and they all sound very exciting. He is currently Head pro at the Remuera Rackets Club in Auckland and runs programmes for a vast range of players and coaches. His products and activities include The Racket Academy, Courtfit and Squash the Wright Way.
Paul Wright is an asset to Squash and we are lucky to have him in New Zealand. His service to the sport - despite numerous setbacks - is invaluable. He is very well respected in the Squash circles of New Zealand and continues to offer help unconditionally. I feel privileged to have learnt so much from him. His ideas are remarkable and he makes training far more interesting than I have ever seen. His skill and talent are immense and his personality unique. Thank you very much Paul.
