'Am I going to need the bathroom?'
Georgina Kennedy spends her pre-match warm-ups asking herself one question: "Am I going to need the bathroom?"
England’s number one squash player has been forced to skip tournaments because of heavy bleeding and "excruciating" pain from a condition that means she passes stools “30 to 40 times a day”.
In 2022, she became the first Englishwoman to win a Commonwealth Games singles title, but off the court her struggle with ulcerative colitis - a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) - has been holding her back.
"When it’s bad, you’re bed-bound," Kennedy, 27, told BBC Sport.
"You can’t go on a walk because obviously you're passing stools all the time so it's pretty debilitating."
She has been battling the condition for eight years but her symptoms worsened after the Commonwealth Games two years ago in Birmingham.
"With the magnitude of the event and the emotions that came with it... it's been really difficult to get under control, in and out of hospital visits," she said.
"I had to pull out of a few events when it was really bad."
‘Isolating and stressful’
Travelling the world for tournaments is particularly difficult, especially when sometimes she might not even make a 30-minute drive without needing the toilet.
And she finds the condition can be "quite isolating".
"I can’t leave my room, because I’m too anxious about what’s going to happen," Kennedy said.
"So sharing rooms becomes incredibly stressful.
"If I’m going out for dinner with my friends, I often have to say I can't go."
The NHS defines ulcerative colitis as a long-term autoimmune condition in which the colon and rectum become inflamed, with symptoms including stomach pains and frequent bowel movements.
A UK Crohn's and Colitis charity reported that at least one in every 227 people in the UK has been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, most often people between the ages of 15 and 25.
Often, those diagnosed can have 'flare-ups' when the symptoms are worse for a period of time.
Kennedy, who has 11 PSA Tour titles, says the condition has had a "massive effect" on her career but has never made her want to quit.
"There's always light at the end of the tunnel," said Kennedy, who is currently ranked at a career-high sixth in the world.
"There are people who can perform to the best of their abilities and reach the top level with these diseases."
Other athletes have discussed their experiences of ulcerative colitis, including Olympic swimmer Siobhan Marie O'Connor, who retired because of the condition, and Exeter City footballer Jack Fitzwater.
Squash in Olympics 'game-changing'
Kennedy aims to be ranked in the top five in the world one day, and she is focused on winning an Olympic medal.
The England number one said squash's inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles summer Olympics will be "game-changing".
"I think in every possible way it’s going to be a huge, huge benefit for squash," Kennedy told BBC Sport.
She added that Olympic inclusion will "increase the popularity" of the sport and "100% improve it".
"More people are going to be aware of it, more people are going to have eyes on it and understand it," she said.
Kennedy also hopes it will funnel more junior players to the game and "keep those kids in it for as long as possible".
"It's been a big goal of mine," said sixth-ranked Kennedy on breaking into the top five.
She has already beaten the world's fourth-ranked player, Belgium's Nele Gilis, to secure her German Open victory, and Egypt's Nour El Tayeb, who is ranked fifth.
And Kennedy said she will "keep chipping away" at her goal to achieve a "big win" against one of the top three - the Egyptian trio of Nour El Sherbini, Nouran Gohar and Hania El Hammamy.
Kennedy's next tournament will be the Manchester Open, which takes place from 22-26 May.
