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 WISPA
recently caught up with Scottish number one Lisa Aitken.
The bubbly and charasmatic 21 year old has been making leaps
in the rankings in recent months, she was outside the top
200 last December and is now poised to break into the top
75.
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How did you get into
squash?
I went along to junior coaching at the local club when I was
9 (Mum made me) I think it quickly turned into my new
favourite sport as my friends came along and we spent more
time eating sweets from the café rather than productive
court time!
 Always
squash or could you have competed in another sport?
Oh god where do I start?! I Think I’ve tried every sport in
the book! But I mainly played a lot of football growing up
and athletics whilst going through school, mainly 800/1500m
but running in a straight line isn’t that fun and definitely
didn’t give the adrenaline rush that I got whilst playing
squash!
Tell us about your family
My family is joke sporty ... (apart from my mum, unless
“going for a walk” is classed as a sport) my Dad was a
footballer and my brother currently is, so I'm not the only
sporty one in the family.
What is your coaching situation at the moment?
I’ve been living in Edinburgh for nearly three years now
working with Roger Flynn, we are lucky to have him in
Scotland, he puts a lot of time into the squad, and it’s
done wonders for my squash.
What do you hate most about training?
Ugh! Getting up at 7am … without a shadow of a doubt. I’m
lucky that I actually enjoy training hard, I don’t even mind
sprints and ghosting!…( don’t judge!)
Struggling to think of something I hate bar getting up
early…
 If
you could steal a shot or attribute from another player,
what would it be?
I’d have to say, my Mum's backhand / forehand /
everythinghand mishit that she hits 99% of the time, its so
effective she doesn’t even know where it’s going.
Apart from that … Hisham's Mizuki shot or Nicol's rapidness
… standard!
Favourite tournament you have played at
Commonwealth Games by far! Apart from being eaten alive by
mosquitoes it was without a doubt the best experience of my
life. Delhi opened my eyes and gave me a real drive for
success and made me hungry for some medals in the future for
sure!
You have been out in Australia playing the circuit out
there, how have you found it and why did you decide to play
it?
 I
started playing the wispa tour seriously at the beginning of
this year and saw the chance of getting a fair indication of
where I’m currently at by playing the group of tournaments
together.
Unfortunately getting injured whilst getting off the plane
on arrival wasn’t in the schedule, so squash-wise it hasn’t
been the best, otherwise I have learnt a lot along the way
and hopefully it will set me up for more successful half of
the year.
Do you feel any pressure being Scotland's top player?
Haha, you would have to ask Clyney that one!
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How do you find life on
tour?
Just now … its fresh and exciting …b ut ask me again in 5
years time! Being fairly new to travelling and competing
full time I'm loving it, travelling the world doing the one
thing you love the most can't be that bad right?!
The commonwealth games are in Glasgow in 2014, it must
be very exciting for you to be at home, especially after you
played in India last year, is it one of your goals?
 Having
a Games on home turf is pretty exciting. Being able to have
family and friends at such a huge event on your doorstep
will help a lot for sure. In terms of doubles I definitely
have medals in my sights, getting the big win in Delhi
against Nicol and Bengy showed me that anything is possible.
So as long as I put in the work in the next 3 years …
fingers crossed.
Have you got any other goals for the future?
Definitely. Climbing as high as possible in the wispa
rankings and commey games medals are what it's all about for
me, lucky I have plenty of years to try and achieve this!
Did you have a squash idol growing up?
Fitzy for deffs! I remember going to watch the Scottish Open
in Aberdeen (back when Scotland had a professional
tournament) in 1999 and loving her attitude on and off
court, and then even more so when I grew up a bit and
understood more about squash. Even still she is my idol, she
chops everyone and is retired … that’s when you know you're
special!
 How
do you relax and fill in time between matches?
Relax? What's that…? Anyone who knows me well enough will
know I'm not too crash hot on the old relaxing… I'm working
on it though! Between matches is mostly filled with
sleeping, being on my phone or falling asleep with my phone
in my hand…
Any squash superstitions?
I wish I could say yes and have some weird and interesting
superstition, but I’ve never been superstitious … maybe
that’s where I'm going wrong?!
What non squash skills do you wish you had?
Have you seen the film “Limitless”? I’d love to have my
brain working at 100% of its capacity rather than the 20%
its capable of…However without having to take the drug and
have the side effects…
Describe yourself in one word?
Someonewhohatesthedescribeyourselfinonewordquestion! |
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