The player he might have been
ROB OWEN
“I got a lot wrong as a player. I ended up beating some very good players – some of the players ranked around the top 10 in the world at one stage – so I was good, but I wasn’t great. I was also very inconsistent and at times lost to players I really shouldn’t have. I definitely underachieved.
I’ve always been realistic about my level, and I could have done much better. I look back in horror at some of the things I did. I was socialising a lot, to put it mildly. I didn’t really have a coach after Jonah left Solihull, so I had no guidance. I would love to have had someone like me coaching me – although me coaching me might have been a difficult relationship!!
I wish I’d had a coach and mentor as the players have now. I was a very good junior: around number three in the world, a British Junior Open finalist, and I beat Jansher [Khan] there. I had a very good trajectory, and then I blew it a little.
But I don’t regret it. That experience shaped my character, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing the way I did.
When I retired, I was still a reasonable player. I might have reached number 8 or 10 because several players above me were dropping off, but being number 20 rather than number 10 didn’t really matter to me. I played to be the best in the world.
I retired at 26, which looks very young now, because I wanted to do other things. If I hadn’t retired then, I wouldn’t be doing what I do now. I made some money elsewhere, and that gave me the freedom to return to squash on my own terms.
Meanwhile, in the Real World…
“I trained as an optician. I went to university for three or four years, worked in the family business and then had my own optician’s practice for a while.
Then I became a professional gambler.
Starting around 2000 for ten years, I made a lot of money betting on horse racing and other sports. I was very fortunate, and it gave me a fantastic and unique insight that I use in coaching today.
I thought about things differently. I was analytical and had an unusual ability to work things out – sometimes to sense what was going to happen before it did. I developed instincts I now use in squash coaching. I also watched many other sports very closely.
Gambling is strange because most people lose. I was one of the very few who won every year. I never had a losing year and found it relatively easy to make money, which i guess is very unusual.
I realised I had a rare ability in three or four areas: squash, drinking, eating and gambling – four very useful life skills.
I was useless at everything else, but quite good at those…
