SQUASH player Robbie Maycock can't wait to stand in his Bermuda shorts at the Commonwealth Games and hear his country's national anthem play.

Robbie, 24, started playing squash at eight, honing his skills whilst at boarding school at Wycliffe College, Stonehouse, and then university at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, America, before he was invited to represent Bermuda in the Games.

He will be one of 119 players from 28 nations competing in squash.

Despite moving to America to continue his education at the prestigious university he holds fond memories of his school days and Gloucestershire.

"When I was 12 or 13 I wanted to take my squash to the next level. When you live on a small island it's easy to have played all the players so it was the catalyst to look outside of Bermuda."

Robbie considered a number of schools before narrowing his search to Wycliffe and one other. Wycliffe won.

"I fell in love with the West Country, Stonehouse is so beautiful, and Wycliffe has a real campus set-up. I just got the right feeling there, it was comfortable and exciting at the same time," he says.

"I can't speak highly enough of my time there. The excellent coaching and the exposure I had going to national and international tournaments provided the springboard for a lot of the success I had. "One of the reasons I picked Dartmouth was because it reminded me of Wycliffe, the campus is very English and the whole university revolves around the green, similar to Wycliffe with the cricket greens.

"There's a huge emphasis in the States on not treating squash as a job so you stay super-excited about it.

"It's such a complex game. When you're viewing it it's about adrenalin and excitement and then you go down the levels and understand the tactics and the bluff and double bluff. It's a thinking man's game, even the best players are still learning."

Robbie now lives in New York and he's excited that his parents are travelling from Bermuda to see him play. And having never played in a multi-sport event he's looking forward to brushing shoulders with some of the world's best athletes and perhaps meeting some sporting heroes.

"There are two photos I want to get, one of Usain Bolt and the other of me at the Games in my Bermuda shorts.

"This is more than just a squash tournament, it's going to be a big, life-altering experience but I'm pretty relaxed about it. You've done the hard work at this point so all you can do is go out there and play. I'm just going to live in the moment."