Hannah Craig is buzzing. Her recent trip to Ireland was a success, winning her latest Senior Nationals title, and a detour on the way home to Calgary saw her pick up a Steel City Open opening round win to nudge her to No.64 in the rankings, just three places short of the career-best No.61 achieved in May last year.
That’s a glass ceiling she now hopes to shatter before the season is out. “The sky’s the limit,” she enthused on an early morning Zoom before more training ahead of next week’s hometown Calgary Open.
“I’m not really focused on a number necessarily, I’m just trying to get better and better each match. Even playing last week there, I had that win (in Pittsburgh) and then played Rowan Elaraby.
“In a match like that, with somebody who has been top 10 in the world, you just come off and you learn so much very quickly, so I am trying to get those opportunities, reflect on them and then for the next event get better, but I guess in the long run I would love to target the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games. I would really like to get my ranking as high as it can possibly go.
“I feel like I’m in a really good place physically, mentally and super excited for the rest of the season. I want to end the season definitely within the top 60 at least,” she added. “I’ve a few more big tournaments coming up, so as long as I can be consistent and hopefully get a few good results there, I am confident I can get to my highest world ranking by the end of the season.’
That’s a groundbreaking position she couldn’t imagine happening due to an injury last year. “It was a disc bulge in my lower lumbar spine, so I just had to do loads of rehab,” she explained. “Unfortunately, it needed two months off in the summer, so I didn’t really have a pre-season. A few weeks before my first event, the disc bulged again.
“So, a lot of pain. There were days when, honestly, I would go to the court solo and just to hit drop shots, and I wouldn’t be able to walk home because everything would seize up. It was a pretty dark time, but I try to remind myself now how nice it is to go off and train and how I wished that (I could do that) a few months ago.”
Craig’s catch-up with Squash Ireland is to help promote Sport Ireland’s latest Women In Sport (WIS) Week. It’s a cause close to her heart. “I’d say my key message to young girls in sport, whether in squash or any other sporting endeavour, is to really go all in.
“I’ve learned most of my biggest life lessons through playing sport at a junior level, at a professional level, and it just teaches you a lot about dealing with pressure, uncomfortable situations, diversity, I could go on. But it will enable you to take on leadership roles and excel in all other areas of life.”
Squash was Craig’s sanctuary as a teen. “When I was younger, probably my teenage years, I would say squash was always my safe space to just go, whether it was academic pressure, stuff at home, my parents unfortunately got divorced when I was a teenager.
“So, all of these different things that you deal with that age, and you are not necessarily equipped or mature enough for, sport gives you that community and that kind of area to let things out more or less.”
Bridging the inequality gap in sport is something on Craig’s mind in WIS Week. “There is unfortunately times when we have to take a step back and re-evaluate as female athletes,” she said. “I’m sure you saw in the US the kind of scandal with the men’s hockey team and that call, and it puts a chill in your bones in terms of people having these perspectives.
“I’m hopeful that it’s on men, women and parents, leaders to continue, as we were saying, with the same energy and be mindful of what that actually looks like. All that female athletes can do is continue to show and excel what our capabilities are, and I hope that over time these very outdated and disrespectful views are no longer.”
Craig’s role model growing up was Aisling Blake, the former Ireland international who got as high as No.21 on the PSA rankings. “Aisling Blake was a very big role model for me. Her fighting spirit and just how sharp and strong she is as a woman and as a female athlete, I always really admired her and her spirit.
“I continue to be in touch with her and get advice and support from her. No one can really understand what it means to be an Irish pro, so having someone there I can talk to about it is so helpful.”
That mentorship is reflected in her advice to the numerous girls involved in the new Squash Ireland Junior Performance Academy. “My message for the junior academy females would be to believe in yourself and to work as hard as you possibly can.
“You can say a lot, but what you actually do, and show is the most important, so don’t listen to people with their views, try not to doubt yourself, just continue to dream big and work hard.
Craig was just 18 when he left Ireland to advance her squash at Harvard in the United States. It was a jump into the unknown that was the making of her.
“It changed my life going to the US from a perspective of opportunity. I was put on a team with 10 incredible squash players from all different countries, with an amazing coaching team and facilities I had never seen before.
“It just gave me an insight into athletic excellence, I would say, and that gave me a lot. And now, as I mentioned, the opportunities, the leagues, the coaching and players have been really amazing.
“Yeah, I am very grateful for everything, and also I have gained the perspective of opening up my world. Anyone who moves continents at a young age, you’ve got to mature quickly, and it adapted me to life on tour.”
Nine years later, Canada is now home. “Calgary was for many different reasons, probably the first one is for love because my boyfriend is on the Canadian national team,” he said. “He is a head pro at a club here and on the pro tour, so that was a big reason.
“The second biggest reason was that I was in New York City before. When I moved there, I was working in business and quickly learned that when I am on the squash tour, you can’t finance that lifestyle in NYC from a cost perspective, everything like that.
“Also, Calgary is probably just the most beautiful place I have ever lived, with the mountains. I can go to work really hard and play these tournaments and then come back and maintain training and go into a bubble of focus. I love it here.”
Selected to play for Ireland at the European Team Championships in Amsterdam at the end of April, there will be plenty more air miles before the season is out. Just as well she is good with logistics. “I have to be. I plan all the flights, hotels, everything.
“I’m pretty good at planning, but you definitely make mistakes sometimes. You lose out on money from flights, or if you think I am going to get a certain result or lose a match and you have to change flights, it can be pretty crazy.
“I’ll be back around Europe and back home all of April and May. For me, going back home is the best thing mentally to recharge, to be around friends and family. There is something about being home that just energises you, so I love it from that perspective.
“Obviously, with travelling, the jet lag is pretty brutal, and trying to get your circadian rhythm consistent. I am trying to get more tips and tricks to deal with that, but yeah, I love going home.
“I also love the tour in general in terms of what is going on in North America, where they have got the national squash league now. There’s a lot of good initiatives for women and opportunities to earn money, so that is exciting and something I hope that other countries will also take on.”
