28-Nov-04:
Life for professional players in two racket sports, tennis and
squash, is very different. In an interview by Frank Brownlow
in the Belfast Telegraph, Irish number one Madeline Perry
explains what it's like making a living as a squash professional ...
A sporting life:
Different ball game
TENNIS and squash may have similarities - but the financial
differences are stark.
While the top tennis stars travel the world in private jets and stay
in the best hotels, becoming multi millionaires in the process, for
squash players life is a little different.
Just ask Banbridge-born Madeline Perry, currently number 17 in the
world in squash and with designs on a place in the top 10.
"I couldn't survive on the circuit without Lottery funding," admits
the 27-year-old, one of Northern Ireland's few world class sports
stars.
"Squash players certainly get nowhere near the financial rewards
enjoyed by tennis players. Top tennis players lead a totally
different lifestyle."
Perry first picked up a squash racket as an 11-year-old at her local
club in Banbridge.
"My brother played at the club so I had a go and quickly got
hooked," she explains.
"As a youngster I also played hockey, football, tennis - most sports
really - but squash seemed to take over," recalls the former
Banbridge Academy pupil.
Perry was soon selected for Ulster and Ireland at underage level
before working her way up to become Ireland's number one player.
"After I became Irish number one I began to receive Lottery funding
through the Northern Ireland Sports Council on the Talented Athlete
Programme, and I was also put on the Irish Sports Council's Carded
Athlete Scheme, which has enabled me to go full-time," she says.
Perry was a late starter in the professional ranks, first completing
a geography degree at Queen's University.
"It's only in the last three or four years that I have began to go
up the rankings and hopefully I am still a couple of years short of
my peak," she states.
After that, Yorkshire-based Perry sees a future in sport in general
rather than squash in particular.
"I don't see myself going into coaching because when my career is
over I'm sure I'll need a break from squash. I would quite fancy
becoming a physiotherapist although I don't know if I could face
going through all the exams.
"But I see myself working in sport in some form or another."
Perry hopes to boost her world ranking further when she competes in
the Qatar Classic, which starts
tomorrow in Doha, before moving on to next week's World Open in
Kuala Lumpur. Then it's back home to defend her Irish title in
Dublin just before Christmas.
"I'm hoping to get home to Banbridge for four or five days over
Christmas, then it's back on the circuit," says Perry, who has won
two world ranking tournaments in her career to date.
And although squash is largely a solo sport at the top level,
Madeline particularly enjoys the few opportunities she gets to play
for Northern Ireland and Ireland.
"The Ireland team finished seventh in the World Championships in
Amsterdam in September which was our best finish in many years, and
I really enjoyed representing Northern Ireland in the last two
Commonwealth Games."
Perry adds: "Squash is pushing to become an Olympic sport and it
would be a big boost if that goal was achieved."
If tennis is an Olympic sport...
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