Big thanks to Declan, who helped me to compile his player profile over the weekend. Declan is currently one of mine, and a lot of people's, favourite players to watch on the tour. Great movement, attacking play and getting better all the time. Last year's win in Nantes was a great result and the squash on display was top quality! Declan is one of a number of top players to have recently started wearing Eye S-Line Shoes, which are proving a real hit on tour. Like Diego Elias,

What are ‘factory strings’? You’ve probably heard players, coaches and stringers mention the term before, but I think it’s important to understand the mechanics of a racket coming straight from the factory. Factory strings are quite literally the strings which are placed in the racket in the factory they were made. Most manufacturers assume (rightly) that advanced players will cut the original strings straight out of their rackets upon receipt, replacing them with their prefe

This month's player profile comes courtesy of Millie Tomlinson, currently ranked No 22 in the world! Millie likes to play at a fast pace and on her day is capable of causing some big upsets, most notably beating, arguably the greatest female squash player of the modern era (and one of my all time favourite players), Nicol David, towards the back end of 2018, As a professional stringer, its always useful to gain some knowledge on what the pro players are stringing their racket

Having spent a couple of years stringing Eye rackets, I've learnt that there's a quick way, a slow way and the right way to string them. Rather th​​an waiting until the end of the blog to tell you how long it takes to string them, I'll say now. Approx 1 - 2 minutes longer than a comparably patterned racket with a generic bumper/grommet setup. For anybody who hasn't restrung an Eye racket before, or gets frustrated with them, they need a little extra attention as they don’t ha

This week, I have been mostly - to coin a phrase from ‘The Fast Show’ - stringing rackets for some of the County Juniors I coach and for competition winners from, events I’ve helped to sponsor or donate prizes to. Even though there have been a couple of freebies (I’m good like that), the care and attention to detail I apply doesn’t diminish. I love stringing - it’s a passion, more than a chore. As already mentioned in previous blogs, I’m a sucker for presentation and general

This week has been a pretty cool week for me as I discovered the ‘Time Lapse’ feature on my iPhone XS. I had a bit of fun playing around with it whilst stringing. Ideal for providing a (very) quick video demo without boring people to death! I’ve averaged 3 rackets per night so far this week (racketball, squash, tennis and badminton), with the number looking to exceed 30 for the week with me stringing at a tournament this weekend. There have been some interesting sites! For th

In the first of a series of interviews with professional players, I am delighted to share the profile of Mike Harris. Mike is a teammate of mine (though considerably better than me) and full time Squash & Racketball Professional at Exeter Golf & Country Club, Devon. I also string Mike's rackets for him! Mike has built a strong reputation as a Coach, helping to rapidly grow the junior, senior and women's game in the South West, whilst still managing several strong PSA performa

On 2nd July, after stringing for a few years, I finally had the opportunity to formalise my experience by sitting practical and written exams with the aim of becoming an ERSA Master Professional Stringer. Following a number of conversations, meetings at tournaments and a course with my stringing mentor, Nick Down, universally accepted as THE man for stringing squash rackets, I am happy to say that I passed - apparently, I’m the first person in the world to have gained the new

Stringing Machines - What's Best?

Whilst stringing a few rackets over the Bank Holiday weekend, I decided that it may be useful to compile a list of rackets that I've restrung. So, I compiled a list from the last 500 squash restrings that I've done. The below is based purely on my experience. Others may have a different view. I thought it would be useful to gauge where loyalties rest within the squash community that I string for. It was really interesting to note that whilst there have been a few issues with