Former Culloden Academy pupil Alasdair Prott excited to step on to the global stage with Scotland alongside fellow Inverness Tennis and Squash Club alumni Greg Lobban and Alan Clyne at World Team Squash Championships
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Alasdair Prott will be drawing on all the experience he has of representing Scotland at youth and senior level when the World Team Squash Championships kick off next week.
Former Culloden Academy pupil Prott is one of four members of a Scotland squad that also includes fellow Highlanders Greg Lobban and Alan Clyne.
It is the first time the competition is being held since 2019 – with the 2021 edition cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic – where Scotland reached the quarter finals.
As far as Prott is concerned, it will be something of a new experience as it is his first call-up to the senior squad on the world stage.
However, he does already have two European Team Squash Championship appearances with Scotland under his belt, and he has been representing his country since he was 11 years old in the junior ranks.
All of that history, then, will be vital if Prott is to give a good account of himself in New Zealand from Monday.
“Having represented Scotland at senior level twice now, I feel like that experience at the European Teams will definitely stand me in good stead,” he reasoned.
“I’ve represented Scotland all the way through junior level, from 11 up to 18, but it’s senior level now and at the World Teams you will have the world’s best players playing.
“It will be special for sure, and I’m looking forward to it. Although it might seem like a big tournament, I’m not nervous because I back myself and we have a strong team that I think can go and do really well.
“It’s been a really good year for me. The start of it feels like such a long time ago, but a lot has happened since then.
“Getting my first professional title in Australia was a big moment. That took me up the rankings a fair bit. In January I was at 160-odd, and now my highest ranking is 107.
“I’m looking forward to using that ranking to get into bigger tournaments and hopefully push into the top-100 next year.
“At the end of last year, I actually felt like I was slightly under-ranked. This year that has probably evened out after going higher in the rankings than I thought I might.”
This year’s European Team Championships was not Scotland’s best, so the squad will be determined to put on a better showing at the Worlds.
While confident about what he can bring to the table, though, Prott is also realistic that he might not be on the court for every match.
That said, he still expects the whole competition to provide valuable insight as he will see the best players in the world up close.
“The top teams are really strong, so it will be hard to dethrone them, but there are definitely a group of teams around us – probably ranked around four, five and six – that I think we can really get stuck into,” Prott said.
“If all goes well, hopefully we can make it quite far.
“For me, it’s going to be hard going in because only three people play in this event.
“At the European Championships, I was playing at number four, so although I knew I would be in with a good shout of making the Worlds squad I’m theoretically going in as a reserve. Because of that, just getting game time would be lovely.
“I just want to challenge myself against some of these players who I don’t usually play on the PSA Tour because they are ranked too highly for my tournaments.
“I want to get stuck in and show that I can compete with these players, despite any ranking disparity. I want to make sure I’m solid enough to deliver results for the team too.
“The top guys – not even from Scotland but in the world – are at such a high level that even if the worst case scenario comes and I don’t get much game time, it will be great to just watch and analyse them in real time.
“I’m sure it will be very different to watching it on TV, so I’m looking forward to that. Any improvements that can potentially bring for me, I’ll be looking to make the most of.”
There is a sentimental way to look at Prott’s inclusion too.
A mark of how far he has come in the sport from his youth days, tracking the progress and success of Clyne and Lobban, the 22-year-old will be lining up on the world stage alongside the men he used to watch play exhibitions and mentor youngsters at his hometown club.
Prott really does believe that is credit to the work being put in at Inverness Tennis and Squash Club, where all three men learned their craft, and all the other clubs around the Highlands that produce a high standard of player.
“I’m really proud to see it, I think it shows the work that Inverness Tennis and Squash Club especially – but also the whole of Highland squash – has done to get three of the four members of the Scottish men’s team,” Prott added.
“It’s really impressive, and even below this squad there are so many good players who have come from the Highlands and Islands.
“It’s a real credit to the clubs across the Highlands, but especially Inverness and Malcolm McKay, my coach when I was up north, has done to get us all to a level where we can go and compete. It’s really impressive.
“I remember when I was probably about seven or eight, Alan Clyne came up to Inverness to do an exhibition match against a boy from Australia.
“I’ve got a photo to accompany it too, it’s a belter! I might have to bring it up to him again, I haven’t seen him as much over the last few years because he’s been in America coaching at Princeton University.
“I’m maybe a little bit younger than him, but even at that age I was watching him play. He’s such a figurehead for Scottish Squash, representing the country so many times, so the experience in the team is good to have as well.
“Greg is in great form right now, and I’ve been watching him and training with him – I’ve been lucky enough to get on court with him a lot.
“The Highland boys are doing really well, so I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s quite surreal to be on the same team as them. I’m lucky that I’ve been able to do it a few times now. Down in Edinburgh, it’s a great training set-up, so before I represented Scotland I was training with them anyway.
“That kind of eased me in nicely, but the first time you properly step on to the court to train and not be coached by them, it’s certainly different. The level jumps up a few notches for sure.”
Pool matches will take place between Monday and Wednesday, with the knockout rounds – starting with a round of 16 – taking place on each successive day.
