Harrogate-born Declan Christie is ranked among the highest non-professionals in the world at squash — but he still wants to achieve more.
The 31-year-old estimates he plays the sport, which will be added to the Olympic programme in 2028, at least three hours a day.
He pits himself against professional players every week and also has the chance to get into the top eight of the British rankings in padel tennis.
But, as captain of Harrogate’s premier squash team, he has his eyes on more.
Picking up a racquet
The club has not won the league in 25 years. Declan wants to rectify that.
By his own admission, Declan does not come from a sporting family.
His dad would take him to his local tennis club as a child and he became addicted to racquet sports.
But, it was squash which got him hooked in.
“I used to play tennis originally, I started playing when I was about seven. I played for about three years.
“I used to get dropped off at the squash and tennis club and I would be there all day. After my tennis lessons had finished, I’d go inside and play squash.
“Squash is a much faster sport and that’s what got me hooked.”
Declan playing in a squash match.
Declan entered local tournaments and went on to represent Yorkshire at under-13s.
The intensity of the sport and the glory that comes with it being a single player contest is addictive to Declan
“Squash is often described as boxing with rackets. It’s physically demanding.
“It’s between boxing and chess. You’ve got to think a few moves ahead.”
‘No other sport like squash’
Despite his commitment to the sport, Declan does not play it professionally.
Instead, he has ran his own business, Luxury Flooring, since he was 17.
“I’m a business owner. There’s not a lot of money in squash, so I chose not to go down that route.”
Owning his own business was a foundation for him to be able to pursue squash, he says.
Sport took a back seat while Declan was building his company.
“I was working like 18 hours a day building that up. I didn’t really have much time for sport.
“I played a little bit here and there, but not like I do now.”
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These days, Declan has handed over the reigns of his firm to a management company.
It means he has been able to commit more time to squash and padel tennis and his pursuit of building up his ranking.
He estimates that he plays sport around three hours a day, in particular squash.
“I love squash. No other sport that I have played comes close to squash. I have played a lot of tennis and padel.
“But the feeling of winning a squash match when there is just two people on the court, there is no feeling like that.”
Aiming for the title
Declan already has a league championship under his belt from his time at Chapel Allerton in Leeds.
Sat inside Harrogate Sport and Fitness Centre, where Harrogate play their home games, he explains that the club has been without a title for 25 years.
The league will take Declan and his side across the county to Pontefract, Hull and Doncaster, where they will be pitted against professional and high ranked players from across the world.
At Harrogate, Declan has top 100 ranked Stuart MacGregor as his teammate as well as players who play for Yorkshire.
For Declan, he feels this year the team has a good chance to end that period.
He became captain after the club asked him to lead the side going into the season.
“The club asked me and I’m quite ambitious with it.
“We want to win the league and that’s what I want to do. It’s about putting a team together that can do that.
“I’ve won the league with another club in Chapel Allerton. This club hasn’t won the league in about 25 years, but we feel this year we’ve got a really good chance of winning it.”
Declan counts the Hungarian open, Swiss open and Italian open as among his achievements in squash.
In the future, he also has ambitions to play for his country in the senior team and represent Great Britain at padel tennis.
But, this year, winning the title at Harrogate is the ultimate goal.
“I know what to do to win this league, so I’m pretty confident that we can win it.”
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