Ambidextrous squash player Coulcher-Porter on her unique technique

17-year-old Emily Coulcher-Porter from England has a rare squash talent: she’s ambidextrous.

Coulcher-Porter found that backhands just weren’t her style. With her unique ability to swap her racket from hand to hand, she adopted her forehand ambidextrous technique from a young age.

The young Englishwoman won the U19 French Junior Open title in February 2025 and displayed another coherent performance when she took her first PSA Challenger title at the Berkhamsted Open in June 2025.

Coulcher-Porter will be representing England at the World Juniors in Cairo this month.

“Representing England is a huge honour,” Coulcher-Porter said. “It was my ambition from young to represent my country. I intend to give my best at World Juniors for England and to my coaches who have given me the opportunity.”

Ambidexterity is a rare talent. But for Coulcher-Porter, her ability to hold the racket in both hands came naturally.

“When I started to hit the ball, I didn’t know which hand to use. Both felt natural so I decided to use both. There has never been a need to change so I’ve continued.

“A lot of coaches said I had to revert to one hand but to me this would have been unnatural. I can do a backhand but rarely need to. I do some things with my left and some things with my right – hence being naturally ambidextrous.”

Ahead of the 2025 World Juniors in Cairo and her goal of pursuing a long-term professional squash career, Coulcher-Porter has been working hard on and off the court.

“I’ve never been to Egypt so I am really looking forward to the experience.

“To prepare, I’ve been consistent with my training and playing PSA tournaments as well.

“I’d love to follow the career path of being a pro squash player as I live and breathe the sport. I work hard and take opportunities when I can, but I will see where life takes me.”

At the 2024 World Juniors in Houston, Coulcher-Porter reached the second round after narrowly losing out to USA’s Sam Jaffe in four sets. The Englishwoman has set her goals on going beyond the second round this year.

“I want get a higher placing than last year. I will take each match as it comes but I should be less nervous this year and therefore hopefully will put up a good fight and will get as far as I can go.”

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