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Today I am excited to have on the show my long-time friend, fellow squash player, and coach, Gilly Lane. Also affectionately known as Gilly from Philly!
Gilly was a former world number 48 with three PSA titles and seven finals. He was also a US National Team player between 2007 and 2015. He is currently the head of men's squash at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2022, he led the team to become Ivy League Champions, and in that same year, he was awarded Ivy League Coach of the Year. A pretty high-flying CV both as a player and now as a coach
Gilly and I go way back, and we first met when I was in my early 20s, around 2003, as I was invited to train in Philadelphia for a summer and to help Gilly get an off-season like a pro would. He was a couple of years younger than me, and he was considering his future squash options. We became close friends and have stayed in touch ever since.
On the show, we discuss Gilly’s first summer training in the UK and the lessons he learned there, as well as how this shaped him for the next steps of his professional career. He reflects on some of the lessons he learned and things he may have done differently. We talk about his pride in playing for his country and how he, along with a few others, were the early pioneers of professional US squash. He opens up and shares the real reasons why he retired from the game at such a young age, and it may surprise you. I really respect how open and honest Gilly was on the show today, and he lays out his vulnerabilities for us all to hear and hopefully learn from.
We continue the conversation about his role now at the University of Pennsylvania and the incredible job he is doing alongside his assistants, Stuart Crawford and Jack Wyant. He has turned the team and the culture around amazingly well, and it only looks like it’s getting stronger and stronger. He shares some of the key aspects of what it takes to be a successful college coach, as well as how players can get the most out of themselves during their time at college. We discuss the mental health aspect and the pressures of college squash, and he shares some brilliant tips on this. It was also great to hear how he has grown and changed as a coach and a person, and how he now coaches very differently than on his first day in the chair. He is massively committed to building a strong team culture, and you can see he is such a role model and leader for these young athletes he is in charge of.
If you want to follow Gilly and his progress at Penn, then please do check him out on Instagram at @gillyfromphilly6.
I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with Gilly, and it had been a long time coming. I am grateful for the time he spent with me today, and I am sure you are going to feed off his positive energy and enthusiasm for the game. We are lucky to have him doing what he is doing. So without further ado, please welcome Gilly Lane.
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