From Issue 25.3
Alina Bushma reached a career-high ranking of 55 earlier this year, confirming her status as the best Ukrainian squash player of all time. Aged only 24, she has plenty of road left to travel, but the journey thus far hasn't been easy.
Bushma was already a student at Drexel University in Philadelphia when the war began in 2022. Since then, she hasn't been back home to Kyiv, hasn't seen her dad at all and has seen her mum only three times, once when she attended her graduation and twice when they've met up at tournaments in Europe.
The sadness that has caused Bushma was in some ways manageable while she was cosseted by the support network of college — playing in a team and living among tutors, coaches and friends — but since exiting the bubble of higher education and going pro, it's been somewhat tougher.
"My dad isn't allowed to leave Ukraine so I haven't seen him and my grandparents are still there too," she explains. "I definitely miss Ukraine, my family and the cultural differences. You always miss home with all its good and bad points. It's a bit weird but I try to keep myself busy."
With no real history of professional squash in Ukraine, Bushma is a pioneer and role model for the juniors back home. "Of course, I'm super proud of that," she states.
"I am paving the way for other Ukrainian squash players and showing that there is a way, even if the country doesn't have many squash development programmes in place or any pro players before me.
"It brings me strength, thinking about how people in Ukraine fight on the battlefield. I know there are people back home struggling way more than I am.
"But it's actually very lonely because I'm the only one. I have my coaches here and people I go to for advice and guidance, but there's nothing squash-wise in Ukraine that I can go back and refer to. Maybe if I was born in England and played squash I would be better than I am today, but this is a self-sabotaging way to think!"
After graduating in 2023, Bushma remained in Philadelphia, found herself a small apartment and is just about to finish her second season as a full-time pro. It's been a steep learning curve.
"In college, you have a structure and schedule planned out for you; gym, coaching, nutrition, physios, it's there for you all the time. Then when you leave, you have to adapt quickly and arrange everything for yourself. You have to make all the decisions; who's my coach? How often do I train? Who with? It's a puzzle that I'm still trying to put together.
"In college, sometimes you may feel down, but you do everything as a team, so the team and the big crowds lift you and get a performance out of you. Now, you're alone, you go to tournaments in the middle of nowhere, with no-one there on your side. You travel from hotel to squash club by yourself. You've got to learn how to deal with it pretty quickly.
"I played at no.1 in college and we finished second in the country, so I had high expectations of myself on the Tour. But it's pretty brutal. I had to be humble and I still am, to this day."
Last September, Bushma connected with Graeme Williams, the Englishman who worked in Canada for seven years as national women's coach and head coach at the Windsor Squash and Fitness Club, before becoming head squash coach at the venerable Philadelphia Cricket Club in 2019.
Their partnership has coincided with the best results of Bushma's career, most notably a run to the final of the $28k Calgary Squash Week Open in March. Heading into the tournament unseeded, Bushma took out British trio Hollie Naughton, Saran Nghiem and Grace Gear before falling to top seed Jasmine Hutton in the final.
The following week, Bushma won her first PSA Tour title at the $6k St James Open in Virginia, beating Egypt's Jana Safy in the final in five games.
"I've been working really hard with Graeme in the last six months," she reflects. "There's definitely been a bunch of lightbulb moments — in fact, there's a lightbulb moment in every session!"
When asked for specifics, she explains: "Mentally I tended to get a little edgy. I was really results-oriented. I had a couple of losses that were really close and I got anxious and frustrated. He has taught me about self-awareness, how to bring coaching analysis into play when I'm on the court, understanding and analysing what my opponent is trying to do and finding solutions to overcome that, rather than just getting panicky and losing control.
"In college, I could beat people with my fitness, but at pro level that's really not enough any more. I've had to learn a lot of new things, change my game, get a more attacking style, add some more components and that has enabled me to deal with a variety of players."
When we speak, Bushma is preparing to fly to Poland for a rare opportunity to join up with her Ukrainian team-mates at the European Team Championships at the Hasta La Vista Club in Wroclaw. "I am so excited," she says. "It will be nice to wear the team uniform and feel connected to home."
