Derek Ryan
Encyclopedia
Derek Ryan is a retired Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 professional squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

 player who at the peak of his career rose to No. 7 in the world rankings, and for many years was the Irish men's number 1 player.

Ryan was born in Dublin. He began playing squash along with his brother Noel, as his parents both played. Living in Killiney he played at various local clubs including Squash Ireland and from the age of 14 he played league squash with Sandycove. Ryan was ranked first in Ireland by the age of 19.

He completed his school Leaving Certificate and decided to study accountancy
Accountancy
Accountancy is the process of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. The communication is generally in the form of financial statements that show in money terms the economic resources under the control of management; the art lies in...

 which he discontinued after a year. Aged 19 he decided to play professionally and in 1991 he moved to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

.

After a successful international career as a professional player, including appearing a record 188 times for the Irish national team he retired from the professional circuit in 2002. He continued to play national squash with Fitzwilliam, the current Irish champions and studied Physiotherapy at the University of Salford
University of Salford
The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...

. Ryan now practices as a Physiotherapist in Dublin.

In 2008 he played the then current world number 2 Grégory Gaultier
Gregory Gaultier
Grégory Gaultier is a professional squash player from France. He won the British Open in 2007, and finished runner-up at the World Open in 2006 and 2007....

 in his testimonial match.

Derek Ryan currently plays at Irish number 2 and has reached 200 caps for his country. He plays below Arthur Gaskin, the world number 80 and considered to be one of the greatest coaches in Britain.

External links

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