SPORTS YEARBOOK 2011 (Including the 2009-2010 Review

Harry Leitch – Balancing Act
I’m an MB/PhD student and have
been haunting the corridors of
Fitzwilliam College for over seven
years now. I took a year off during
my undergraduate studies to
compete at the 2006
Commonwealth Games in
Melbourne, where I reached the
quarter-finals in the men’s
doubles. After completing my part
2 I joined the clinical school at
Addenbrookes and enrolled on
the MB/PhD programme, which
combines clinical studies with a
PhD in my chosen subject –
12 Sports Yearbook 2011
developmental and stem cell
biology. Combining clinical
studies, research and teaching (I
supervise physiology to
undergraduate medics at Fitz)
is a challenge in itself but with
the addition of squash life is
fairly chaotic.
I’m passionate about research and
my ultimate goal is to be a
successful academic medic. If I am
to achieve this it is imperative that
academic work is my top priority.
However, it became clear that the
frustration of coming so close in
Melbourne had left me with
unfinished business on the squash
court. For a while it was difficult to
try and reconcile the desire to
achieve my sporting goals with
my now drastically reduced
training opportunities. However, I
found that concentrating on
quality rather than quantity of
training and taking a more relaxed
approach allowed me not only to
maintain, and even improve, my
playing standard but also to enjoy
my squash more than ever.
The build up to Delhi started 3
years ago. We chose to target the
doubles competition as this form
of the game is less widely played
and has a much more even
playing field than singles. I forged
a new partnership with Scottish
number 1 singles player (and
world number 50) Alan Clyne – my
previous partner John White
having retired. I also joined forces
with rising star Lisa Aitken for my
first foray into mixed doubles.
Qualifying took us from
Manchester to Madras and then
onto Melbourne and, with some
good victories, we booked our
place on the plane to Delhi. Being
part of Team Scotland at a multisport
event is a unique experience
- truly inspirational. The Games
village was ‘functional’, not the
horror stories reported in the
press but undoubtedly below
expectations for a major sporting
event. The squash facilities were
excellent however, with one of
the best show court arenas I’ve
ever seen.
The first week was taken up with
the singles tournament. For us the
priority was getting in some
doubles training but we all had a
run in the singles to keep us sharp
and to get comfortable in the
arena. I even managed a win over
the world number 79 – not bad for