EJS ambassadors

Aaron Allpress

Age25
Which were your Essex Junior Club/s?Lexden and Colchester Garrison
Who was your junior coach?Lauren Selby / Paul Allen / Chris Chitty
Current Club/sIpswich Sports Club
University?Loughborough University and Roehampton University
Highest WR? 212
Did you ever play in the Essex Junior Closed and if so, what was your best result?I won 4 Essex County Closed back to back from the age of 14 to 18.
Did you ever play in any inter county teams, if so, what was your best memory?Best memory was reaching the U19 intercounty finals and finishing 3rd. I was down 2-0 and 9-3 down and I came back to win 3/2, then our No.2 Joe Blackmuir won the decider to take 3rd place.
Who is your favourite player to play?In juniors it was Gus Beecroft, every match we played was always fun and played in the best spirit, it was also funny because he was about 6ft 6” and I was about 5ft.
Who is your nemesis? In juniors it was Josh Atwell from Sussex, I lost to him about 20 times before I finally beat him in my last year of U19s. In the Pro game, I guess it’s everyone above me in the rankings.
What skill would you want from someone else?I would love to have Amanda Sobhy’s mental strength; she’s come back from 2 Achilles Ruptures and she takes the game to the top players in the world and has beaten them when everyone didn’t believe she could.
Favourite pre match scran (food)?I would have to go with some sort of rice bowl, and it must be 3 hours before my match.
Top tip for future playersAlways seek out new challenges and try to take on board information from as many great mentors as you can.
What skill are you working on most this year?Mental strength, I think it’s the most useful but neglected skill for any athlete.
How do you prepare for a match?Caffeine, 20 minute warm up and music.
Who coaches you now?Lauren Selby and Ollie Pett
When you are not playing squash, what do you like to do?Play padel, watch Formula 1 and eat good food.
If you didn’t play squash, what other sport do you think you may have taken up?Padel or weightlifting. Padel because you get to work with another player and weightlifting because it’s fun.