John: Now’s the time to up my game
Renfrewshire squash talent John Meehan hopes his lockdown training has prepared him perfectly for a move into the senior ranks.
The 18- year- old was enjoying a stunning run of form and was the top- ranked junior Scot before the coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on his season.
After moving home to Bridge of Weir last March, the Edinburgh University economics student is now ready to get back into Scotland’s Sports Performance Stadium at the Oriam to reconnect fully with the Scottish Squash coaching team.
And he can’t wait to put his new moves into practice as he gears up for the most important part of his sporting career as he looks to successfully move up from the junior ranks.
He told Express Sport: “I’m really excited to get back into Oriam. It’s been a long period away from court and just being on a squash court will be brilliant.
“My coach Kevin Moran and I made the decision to actually up my training during lockdown and I’ve had just one week off.
“There’s been some massive areas I’ve managed to really focus on like my physicality, strength, flexibility, movement and technical stuff.
“I’ve done a lot of ghosting in the garden and can see the difference in my movement when studying the video analysis compared to January.
“Yoga sessions have been good as well, something I haven’t really done before which can help with strength getting around the court.
“And I’ve also been tracking my sleep patterns with Marek Anestik which has been really interesting in terms of recovery.
“So between Marek, Liam Mitchell and the Scottish Squash coaches, we’ve tried to leave no stone unturned.
“I’m realistic enough to know that off court training is very different to competitive squash, but I’m looking forward to putting into practice what I’ve worked on.”
The former Strathgryffe junior was naturally left disappointed when his 2019/20 season was curtailed.
Meehan won the Scotstoun Junior Gold event at the beginning of the season, before a fifth place finish at the Welsh Junior Open and securing a bronze medal at the JC Lindsay Scottish Junior Open.
Meehan also won silver at both the Scottish Under-19 and Under-23 championships.
It had set him up well for his final European Junior Championships and last month’s scheduled World Junior Championships in Australia, which were both postponed.
Meehan said: “I was happy with my form and was pretty gutted when the season was cut short, especially missing out on the World and European Championships.
“I’m not sure if there will be many junior events before I turn 19 in December, but at my age now I need to look forward and prepare my game to go up a level.
“So I try and look at the positives and during the time away I’ve been able to step back and think more long term about areas I need to improve ahead of the move into seniors.
“If there had been full- on tournaments I wouldn’t have got the opportunity to do that in such depth.”