Women’s Squash Week is an international campaign that aims to celebrate and raise the profile of female squash.
PSA Foundation are proud to champion this key awareness week, and a core part of our work is empowering women and girls to participate in squash.
We speak with squash legend Raneem Welily about motherhood, her retirement from the sport and the transition from player to mother.
I think I was pretty lucky with my retirement. It was a long time coming because I had initially planned on retiring the end of the season of 2018/2019, and then we started trying to have a baby and it wasn’t happening for us.
That was kind of sad, like it was it was hard to deal with. So when I finally got pregnant, it was good news.
A lot of players prolong their careers just because they want to say goodbye to the to the life that you’re having.
We kind of have it, I’m not I’m not saying we have it easy, but we have a good life being athletes: you travel the world, you’re kind of flexible.
I think I kind of had a plan in mind that by the age of 30, no matter what I achieved, I was going to retire. That’s because I started at six. So I kept saying, okay, 24 years is more than enough.
I think I only shared this [my retirement plans] with a few people as well. I didn’t share this with anyone because I didn’t want the pressure of people asking questions.
So I thought, you know, okay, my parents, my family for sure should know.
The transition from not being a mom to being a mom, it is brutal. Motherhood is difficult at first, it’s tough: the sleepless nights, the effort. But then there’s this transition to like the smallest things.
I always give this example: you open your wardrobe and you’re like, okay, only 10% of these clothes would allow me to breastfeed while on the go. So automatically 90% of your clothes are gone.
This is a very tiny, you know, example of what changes.
I spoke a lot to Engy [Kheirallah] and she was like, if you’re planning on coming back to squash be very careful, your ligaments are not going to be the same again. So when I played, I started playing backcourt only with Engy.
We played a lot and then I only started reaching the front when I had to do that exhibition with Cammy. It takes time for you to get back.
How Nour El Tayeb did it is miraculous!
I think it’s different from one parent to the other, but it was really hard for Tarek on tour, he is the kind of father who wanted to see everything, witness everything. He didn’t want to miss anything so to him, it was a bit emotional to leave and he had to pick and choose tournaments.
I don’t miss the grind anymore, and the one person that told me was Jenny Duncalf. She told me you don’t know it yet but there is something about retirement. You let your shoulders down and you don’t feel the weight anymore.
If your whole life is about squash and everything that you are is related to whether you win or you lose, I think you’re going to struggle big time.
But if you have a life outside of squash while you’re actually squash player, then you might actually find it easier to still be yourself outside of squash.”
Learn more about Women’s Squash Week
