The emotional and physical anguish of suffering the same serious injury, at the same tournament, on the same court, against the same opponent looked to have ended a promising squash career for Crieff’s Claire Gadsby.
But Bridge of Allan breakdowns have eventually been overcome. New horizons are opening up after old scars have healed.
Go back to January 2018 and Gadsby facing Katriona Allen, 12 months after injuring her anterior cruciate ligament against her Perth opponent.
Agonisingly, deep into the closing stages of the Bridge of Allan Senior Gold match, her ACL gave way again. And this time the damage was even worse.
Up until that double whammy Gadsby had been a rising star of Scottish squash, the Perthshire player winning her first ever Scottish National Senior title in 2015, aged just 18. She followed that up a year later with her second.
“I had finished fourth at the Scottish Junior Nationals before winning my first senior national title a month later,” Gadsby recalled.
“That was amazing and to do it again in 2016 felt just as good.
“Things were going well so picking up the first ACL injury was a big setback for me.
“It was a pretty tough time. I made use of a psychologist and doctors through sportscotland who really helped me out and I came back strongly and confidently.
“To then injure my ACL again and go through the whole process and more surgery was honestly one of the lowest points of my life.
“It was a real struggle but again I had support from psychologists, doctors, physios and coaches who were amazingly supportive.
“I wouldn’t have got through that two years without them.”
She added: “Paul Bell (Scottish Squash Director of Squash) knew I was struggling so I took a decision to step back from squash.
“I needed a break because I wasn’t happy.
“I went from loving the game to absolutely hating it. I couldn’t even listen to the ball hit a wall let alone watch squash.”
During her time away from the sport, Gadsby had a three-month stint coaching golf in America last summer.
There were no plans to get back on a squash court anytime soon but her brother Sean twisted her arm to play a “just for fun” family match at their home club in Crieff last September.
“Sean has probably been my number one supporter throughout,” she said.
“He was like: ‘Just see how you feel’ so we played a gentle match and I lost 3-2. I remember that competitive feeling coming back so we played a few more times but I kept losing!
“I needed to win and in our sixth match I beat him 3-2. That’s how I got back on court.
“From there I started practicing with talented Crieff junior Lucy Murchie and then spoke to Paul and began hitting with the performance players at seven in the morning once a week in Edinburgh.”
A tentative return became something more substantial and in January this year Gadsby found herself battling away with Allen in the closing stages of a Senior Gold event again.
This was no painful ending this time and she was back in the winner’s circle, triumphing in five games at the Scotstoun Gold Women’s Open.
“I was a little nervous when I entered the Scotstoun event and to win was an amazing feeling,” the 23-year-old admitted.
“It gave me the confidence that I can do this, compete at a high level.
“I have a different perspective on life – one that doesn’t solely revolve around squash. That’s why taking the break has actually helped me so much.”
Gadsby, like every other athlete the world over, doesn’t have a clear path mapped out for her at the moment. But when squash gets going again, a full-time career in the sport will be considered.
“I know the Scottish Squash Performance programme has changed for the better since I was last involved,” she said.
“So maybe I’ll go back full-time again. I really want to give it a go but will need to think about it and see. What I do know is, I love being back on court again.”
