British Junior Open 2023: interview with Myroslava Sperchun

A week ago, the English junior squash tournament - British Junior Open - ended. Ukraine was represented at the tournament by two athletes: Milena Velichko, who took 40th place in the category of girls under 19 years old, and Myroslava Sperchun - 53rd place in the category under 15 years old.

Today we will talk with the 44th racket of the European ESF rating among girls under 15, Myroslava Sperchun from Kherson.

1. In 2022, you played in 3 international tournaments, before that the last tournament was in 2020 in Austria. Is this break related to COVID-19 or is it your personal squash break?

Due to COVID-19, there were difficulties in this. I could not participate in many competitions, but there were regular trainings and regional competitions where I tried to raise my squash level. Coach Artem Perun helped me in this. And although I had a short break, I was really looking forward to meeting my team.

2. Where do you live/train now? Who is your coach?

I am currently in Great Britain, the language has not become a significant obstacle for me. I like to study and train in England. My current coach is Darren Bradbury. I really like our training, he helps me a lot with squash and I am very grateful to him.

3. Whose idea was it to participate in BJO? This tournament is called the unofficial junior world championship, the level of players is high and very high, wasn't it scary?

At first, my father suggested I participate in the BJO, and I agreed with him. I was preparing for this tournament. The level of players is different, there are very exciting games, it was very interesting to watch. I might have been a bit nervous going into the game because it's quite an important tournament.

4. At the BJO, you played number 17/32, at the same time, even though you were one step away from winning, but you lost in the first matches to opponents without a seed number. What was missing in your opinion?

I think I lacked the experience of participating in competitions, I need more training and efforts. I saw many new skills at the tournament, which I am now trying to repeat.

5. Share your impressions of the tournament, does BJO differ in any way from the tournaments you played before and how?

I believe the tournament is no different. Everything I saw before was very similar. The only thing I can distinguish is the scale: a huge tournament, many participants, many games and new acquaintances.

6. What are your plans and goals for 2023?

The goals for 2023 are to compete and train as much as possible. I want to defend the honor of Ukraine as part of the Ukrainian national team. The next tournaments in which I will participate are "Czech Junior Open 2023", then I plan to participate in "German Junior Open 2023", if everything goes well, I will participate in "France Junior Open 2023" or "English Junior Championships 2023".

The British Junior Open 2023 is the most prestigious open junior squash championship, also known in squash circles as the "unofficial" world championship, with more than six hundred players in 10 age categories. This year the championship is held at 4 locations in Birmingham, England, from January 4 to 8.