LAURA Massaro reached the pinnacle of her sport now she is hoping to help the next generation of squash players get to the top.

The former world number one, who brought her glittering career to an end in May, is now working at club, county and national level - with an aim of putting something back in to the game.

Massaro admits it is a challenge but she never shirked one in her playing days and is not ready to do so now in her fledgling coaching career.

“It is a bit of a step in to the unknown but I am excited about the challenges ahead,” said the 35-year-old. “This was an avenue I wanted to pursue and something I planned for in my last few seasons while I was playing

“Thankfully I have been given the opportunity to do that.”

Massaro has taken up a mentoring role with England Squash to help develop and nurture the country’s young female players.

She has also been appointed head coach at Lancashire Junior Squash while she is working with husband Danny at David Lloyd Chorley where they have set up a new junior coaching programme.

“It is great to be able to work at every level and, in an ideal work, we would see some players progress from club level in to county and then the national coaching set-up,” said Massaro. “It is very early days and I am still learning but these are exciting times.”

All three roles are slightly different, something that appeals to the former world champion who won 23 major titles - including twice winning the British Open.

“At David Lloyd, me and Danny are putting something back in to the club,” she said. “The junior squash fell by the wayside a bit so we wanted to get it back up and running and the response in the first couple of weeks has been superb.

“It is a great club that really supports squash so we wanted to do our bit.”

Massaro will be officially unveiled as Lancashire Junior Squash head coach at the County Championships at the National Squash Centre in Manchester on Sunday.

From there, she will be looking to set up five or six training squads while also work with coaches around the county.

Funding is a key role in her new job and she thanked Zylocity and Xpresssive for supporting Lancashire Junior Squash.

“The aim is to get five or six squads going at county level so that support and funding is important,” she said. “We will be looking to get some local competitions up and running and hopefully set up an elite squad.

“It will be mainly centred around Manchester but I will be looking to get out to other areas of Lancashire to see where I can help.”

Of her role working with England Squash, she said: “I’m really excited to be joining England Squash in a slightly different capacity than I did while competing on tour.

“I feel I have a lot of experiences and knowledge I can pass on and I’m looking forward to working with some great young potential.”

While Massaro is still playing in the Premier Squash League for Pontefract and for Southport and Birkdale in North West Counties League, she did wonder if she would miss playing at the top level.

“It did cross my mind would I miss it when the new season began again but thankfully I haven’t,” she said. “I think I stopped playing at the right time. It got harder and harder the last few years and I always vowed to myself that I wouldn’t keep playing on the tour for the sake of it.

“So I’m content and I definitely don’t miss all the training!”

She added: “But I made sure I wouldn’t be kicking my heels once I stopped playing so remaining in the game on a coaching level is something I am really pleased to be doing.”