Tom Ford has played squash all over the world.

But ask the one-time top 60 player, who learned the game in his home-town Cheltenham, to talk about the sport he makes a living from and it is only a matter of minutes before he mentions the name Gary Powell.

Powell is the unsung hero who has played a huge part in developing the careers of 23-year-old Ford and his contemporaries such as Nathan Lake and Mark Broekman.

The coach at the Old Patesians club has had a passion for the sport that has raged within for more than 40 years.

Ford credits him as being the biggest influence on his career.

“He is a real unsung hero. First and foremost his coaching is great but there is so much more to him than that,” Ford said.

“He has taught generations of youngsters life skills that otherwise they might not have had – discipline, respect, determination, attention to detail.

“His work ethic is second to none and his mindset is such that he wants you to improve and challenge yourself all the time.

“He first coached me when I was six and I was at the club until I was 14 or 15. I still go back to see him now and take part in some of his sessions. So many of us do.”

And it’s not just the top players that interest Powell.

“He’s brought hordes of players through of all levels,” said Ford. “He lives and breathes squash and his passion rubs off on everyone else.

“Everyone who he coaches has a love for the game. The fact they’re all still playing squash is all down to him.

“The greatest thing that I thank him for is that he passed his undying love for the game onto me.”

Now 60 years old, Gary didn’t take up the sport until he was 17.

“I started quite a lot later than a lot of the kids I coach,” said Gary. “I can remember how I started playing squash to this day.

“Me and my two brothers had gone to Bishop’s Cleeve Leisure Centre to play badminton but all the courts were booked.

“My older brother Leslie noticed this funny looking racket hanging on the wall and we wondered what it was.

“It was a squash racket so we had a go at squash and it all started from there.”

Leslie was 11 years older than Gary while younger brother David was only 12 years old.

In those early days of playing squash – they soon joined the East Gloucestershire Club in Cheltenham – Gary remembers that both he and Leslie used to lose regularly to their younger sibling.

At East Glos, Gary and David came under the watchful eye of club professional Major Ted Millman.

Millman had coached squash champion Jonah Barrington at Cheltenham College so his thoughts on all things squash carried great weight.

That wasn’t such good news for the novice Gary, however, because Millman was not particularly complimentary about his ability as a squash player.

“He told my dad that he wasn’t sure why I was bothering playing squash,” he said. “He said David was worth persevering with but he didn’t rate me. He said I was useless!

“When I heard what he said I was absolutely mortified but it also made me determined to prove him wrong.”

Gary’s good fortune was that he was still a pupil at Hereford Cathedral School and while the Major may not have believed in him, the young Gary found someone who did.

“His name was John Cox and he had a big influence on me,” said Gary. “He was Herefordshire county champion 10 years running and I remember he thrashed me at squash when he was playing in his suit!

“But he took me under his wing. He used to tell me not to pick up the ball when I was practising. He wanted me to use only the racket head to control the ball and it’s something I teach the kids today.

“I remember picking up the ball after he warned me not to and he just walked off court. He was pretty strict like that.”

Cox’s tough methods brought about a desired improvement in Gary’s level of play. He continued to play regularly at East Glos after leaving school and reached a good enough standard which enabled him to assist the then professional Liz Elgood, a Scottish international.

When the opportunity arose to take on the professional’s job, Gary, still in his mid-20s, grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

His brothers may have stopped playing the sport but Gary had come a long way since the days of being written off by Millman and just how far was driven home to him when the Major made a rare appearance back at East Glos.

“I’d been the professional for a few years when he walked into the club,” said Gary.

“I shouted across to him and he looked at me and said, ‘Gary, you’re not still here are you?’

“I said, ‘Yes, and I’m now the club’s professional!’ He couldn’t believe it!”

Gary also used to do a Thursday group session at Old Pats and after leaving East Glos it was at the club in Everest Road that he set up his new base.

It has been a hugely successful union, so much so that earlier this year they celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Old Pats junior Squash Wizards.

These days he has about 25 youngsters under his wing but back in Tom and Nathan’s day he had as many 60 boys and girls of all ages.

“The original kids at Old Pats kept me going,” said Gary. “They were full of the joys of spring. They were a lovely bunch. We’ve had lots of youngsters through the years.”

Talk to the likes of Ford and Lake and they will tell you that one of Gary’s great strengths was that he took time out to help anyone who wanted to play squash.

For sure he enjoyed coaching the ones who excelled at the sport – like Chris Tasker, David Naish, Robin Churchman, Robert Shepherd, who is now the professional at Cheltenham College, Ford, Lake and Broekman – but he created an atmosphere that made the sport inclusive to everyone.

Nevertheless he has very fond memories of that era in the mid-noughties. In particular the ‘Squashworks squad’, including Tom Ford, James Watkins, Mark and Tom Broekman, Nathan Lake, James Hession, Matt Bedwell, Brad Edwards, Wes Howell and Mike Hindle.

“I remember when some were under-11 and we entered the national championships,” he said. “They were in Manchester and we won it! We won it the following year as well. They were very good players. All from Old Pats representing Gloucestershire.

“In 2013 another under-11 team – Jack Bloomfield, Jamie Carmichael, Billy Bedwell and Jack Jamieson, who were all from Old Pats – won the national championship again.”

Gary still looks at videos of those players playing in their formative years and shows them to the youngsters today to help them on their way.

“Even someone like Tom Ford wasn’t very good with a racket when he started but he has always been very fast and agile,” said Gary. “It took him years to become skilful with a racket but now he is one of the best.

“Nor was Matt Bedwell, who is the Old Pats senior number one player and a coach at the moment. He started with me at the age of five and used to struggle with his skills. But he was very, very determined, learned how to play and now he helps me with coaching along with Brad Edwards who has just qualified as a coach.”

These days Gary is equally comfortable coaching left-handers as he is those who play using their right hand.

That’s because five years ago he was forced to change his racket hand.

Gary takes up the story. “I broke a bone in my wrist and didn’t know it,” he said. “Months later I was playing in the 2006 over-45s British Open and absolutely wrecked it. So now I play with my left hand and it’s been fascinating learning how to play again.

“It helped me win the county closed over-45s in 2015.

“I’ve had to go through all the practices again and the good thing, of course, is that I can pass on my experiences to the kids because I know the difficulties they’re having.”

Gary’s love of squash – he occasionally coaches at the Sacred Hearts Club as well – shines through with every word he speaks about the sport. These days he spends only six days at Old Pats – it used to be seven – but the fires are still raging within.

“I still love it and I love coaching,” he said. “To be honest I’m probably a much better coach than I was a player.

“I found it extremely hard to learn the game so I understand what a beginner is going through.”

That’s not to say he was a bad player and he certainly turned out a lot better than Major Millman ever thought was possible.

“I won the club championship at East Glos and a couple of other tournaments,” he said modestly. “I did reasonably well in some other tournaments but I never won a major tournament.”

His coaching philosophy is, essentially, quite simple.

“I never give up on anyone I coach,” he said. “Some people might say, ‘Why stick with him or her?’, but I think everyone deserves a chance.”

While squash has obviously played a huge part in Gary’s life – and clearly will continue to do so – he has many other interests that keep him full occupied.

He was preparing to go on a walking/running holiday in north Wales when he spoke to The Local Answer and has developed a keen interest in wild flowers and bryophytes in recent years, something that has blossomed since he started training in Buckholt Woods near Cranham

He also worked as an animator in his younger years after going to art college after he’d left school.

“I did that for a few years,” he said. “I worked quite closely with Harold Whitaker at Animation Stroud in those days. Then I went to work for Cosgrove Hall Films in Manchester and that was really hard work.”

So what type of work did he get?

I worked on Danger Mouse and the Big Friendly Giant,” he laughed, before adding, still laughing, “but it was my last job, ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’, for Walt Disney/Amblin that finished off my animation career.”

The animation world’s loss has certainly been squash’s gain.