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Top New Zealand squash player Paul Coll played lots of different sport when he was young, but what defined him and got him to the top in squash was sheer hard work.

Ranked number 9 in the world (as of April 2018) and rising fast, they call Paul 鈥楽uperman鈥�. Why 鈥楽uperman鈥�? Just watch the clip on YouTube of him at the听听winning a rally against Englishman James Willstrop. As the commentators say, 鈥榦ut of this world鈥�.

He鈥檚 a Greymouth boy, Paul. Uncle Tony captained the New Zealand Kiwis at the 1977 Rugby League World Cup. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a competitive family,鈥� Paul says. 鈥淐hristmas dinner at our place, there鈥檇 always be some challenge on - like who could hold up the weights with outstretched arms the longest. Or planking. Whatever it was, the aunties and everyone would be in.鈥�

Like so many other top athletes, Paul played lots of sports as a kid: rugby league (of course), hockey, basketball, soccer鈥�and squash, like his dad. But he wasn鈥檛 always 鈥楽uperman鈥�. 鈥淲hen I was playing Juniors, there were usually three or four guys better than me. It wasn鈥檛 until I was picked for the New Zealand team that I decided to figure out how to get better at it.鈥�

In fact, when Paul made the national development squads at around age 14, he was one of the lowest ranked players in the squads.听 The answer to how to get better was something else he learned from his family: hard work. There鈥檚 skill involved in squash, of course, but when two more or less equally skilled players compete, more often than not fitness, strength and flexibility make the difference. 鈥淚鈥檓 fanatical about training,鈥� says Paul, 鈥淚 train three times a day. Went to university to study it.听 I鈥檓 always trying to find what鈥檚 most uncomfortable and doing more of that.鈥�

鈥淲hat goes hand-in-hand with hard work is discipline.听 You鈥檝e got to be prepared to make sacrifices. Not partying; eating well and so on.听 Living away from home is hard, but it鈥檚 a choice I had to make: initially to Christchurch and more recently to Europe because this is where the competition is and the coach I wanted to work with is based here.鈥�

That willingness to sacrifice is another thing which makes Paul, not just a superman, but also a superhero for 爆料社区鈥檚 Talent Plan. That plan is all about balance 鈥� a theme that鈥檚 ever-present in Paul鈥檚 career: balancing many sports rather than specialising early, having a good balance between sporting and family influences, and balancing sporting and social lives.

Which brings us to back to the question, how does one become a superhero: in squash, in any other sport, or in life? The answer, according to Superman himself (the real fictional one, as opposed to the real squash player one) is that there is a superhero in all of us. All it takes is the courage to put on the cape.听