National Racketball Championships 2006

National Racketball Championships 2006 05-07 May, Edgbaston Priory

Rob Shay reports ... The tournament was a great success with 150 entries from 16 counties, showing the growing regional spread the sport now enjoys.	THE FINALS The Vole's Tale ... Runner-up Tim Vail takes us through the Men's Open ... I was quite fortunate and had a bye to the 1/4 finals so I did not have to play until 12.40pm whereas other main matches started at 9.30am. There was an unbelievable amount of categories with so many entering the age groups. Over 150 entrants in all categories tells us that Racketball is getting bigger and better. Daryl and I both won 1/4's 3-0 and dashed up to Liverpool to play a racketball exhibition match in between the semis on the glass court at St. Georges Hall. The purpose was to see how it looked on TV but apparently it was never filmed. It didn't help matters that we had to use a blue ball and the sidewalls were blue, it would definitely look great with a white ball as it is so big and easy to see. Anyway we had fun for our 2-1 battle. On to the semis and we both had opponents from Chapel Allerton. I played Neil Guirey who had a tough 3-2 match the previous night with Tom Phipps whereas Darryl played Graeme Williams who comfortably beat Simon Martin 3-0. My match started about 25 mins after Daryl's and finished 5 mins after his finished. Neil tired at the en d of the first and never looked like coming back as he did a lot of work in that 1st game. Darryl went 2-0 up but Graeme fought back to take it to a 4th. The age group finals started and I could not believe how many contentious matches there were with practically everyone arguing with each other or the ref. As I see it and most others, racketball is a friendly game but competitive and you only get a stroke if you hit the ball back to yourself and make no effort to get out of the way otherwise it is always a let. This was shown in the main final where I think there was only 1 stroke and 5 lets during the whole match with either Daryl or I making the decision so all the ref did was call the score. Laura Hill won the Ladies title beating Clare Fleetwood 3-0. The first game was close but after that Laura ran away with it. In the men's final I went 2-0 up playing some great shots but also receiving some uncharacteristic errors from Daryl. I knew he was fitter than me so I had to try and win 3-0, it was not to be. I got an awful start in the 3rd and was 7-0 down before I knew it. So I surrendered that game but it was quite embarrassing as it was to love. I was 8-4 down in the 4th when Daryl hit a tin on his backhand drop and I managed to claw my way to a 10-8 lead but to be honest my legs had gone and were starting to cramp up. Daryl took it 15-11 and knew he had won really. Some friendly banter in the 5th from me to try and put him off didn't seem to work at he took the match 15-8 in the 5th. A well deserved victory but a great game and advertisement for Racketball. Thats all for now ... Tim Vail Men's Draws & Results (pdf) Women's Draw
Daryl's Delight Tim Vail has regaled you with an in-depth analysis of his own near - triumph, so a bit on the other results: Darryl Selby outlasted Tim, coming from 2 games down to beat Tim, who finally ran out of ideas and puff. Selby won 8-15, 12-15, 15-0, 15-11,15-8. Vail beat Edgbaston Priory pro Nick Hynes 3-0 in a tough quarter final, followed by a 3-0 win over Yorkshire's Graeme Williams. In the other half of the draw, another Yorkshireman Neil Guirey beat another well known squash player Tom Phipps of Bucks 3-2, before losing to Selby 0-3.
Hill's Dynamic Debut Laura Hill, 12 and rising in the national squash rankings, is a Racketball debutante but justified her top seeding, running out an easy 15-10, 15-2, 15-2 winner over former England player Claire Fleetwood. Losing semi-finalists were another England ranked player, Vicky Hynes, who recently gave birth to her first child and Lauren Selby, who had to withdraw before her match with Fleetwood.
Age Group Events In the age group Events, Jim Lord, a former Open winner, cruised to the Over-35 title, while local player Paul Swain caused a major shock in the Over-40's, beating second seed Greg White and former Warwickshire champion Mike Robinson on his way to the finals, where he came from 0-2 down to beat Derbyshire's Lee Watson 3-2. Simon Martin of Thame pulled aggravated a hamstring injury in the semi-finals, after reaching the quarter finals of the main event as well, but showed the true spirit of the event by still getting up to help erect the grandstand seating at 8.00 am on Sunday, using a heavy night's drinking as anaesthetic! Former England squash player Steve Bateman, now based at Thame in Oxfordshire won the Over-45 title without dropping a game, while Rob Shay won the Over-50's, dropping just one game. Ian Graham of Sussex won a tough four-setter against Surrey's Trevor Wilkinson in the Over-55's final, while John Prowse retained the over-60 final. Local interest dominated the men's over-65 event where Tony Thomas beat former EPC chairman in the final, and for the first time there was a draw of 4 players in the Over-70's won by Ian Wright. The Ladies age group events drew smaller entries, with the Over 35's won by Gail Stuthridge of Merseyside, the over 40's by former open winner Maxine Goodhead, and the over-45's by fellow Stourbridge player Zena Wooldridge.
Back to Brum for 2007 Edgabston Priory, with 10 courts, 29 tennis courts and 2 swimming pools proved an ideal venue, and the Club has been offered the chance to host the event again next year by England Squash. Organisers Rob Shay and Ian Wright

L to R: Rob Shay (EPC), Tournament Director and Men's Over 50 winner; Lee Watson (Derbys), Men's Over 40 runner-up; Richard Waller (EPC) men's Over 50 Plate Winner; John Prowse (Kent), Men's over 60 winner, Ian Wright, Chairman, National Racketball Association and men's Over 70 winner; Bob Hancock (EPC), Men's Over 65 runner-up; Paul Jones (Solihull Arden (men's Over 45 Plate Winner), Paul Swain (EPC (Men's Over 40 winner); Darryl Selby (Essex), Men's Open Champion; Tim Vail (Sussex), Men's Open Runner-up; Laura Hill (Derbys), Women's Open Champion; Chris Isaacs (Solihull Arden), Men's Over 60 Plate winner; Albert Grant (Dudley), Men's Over 35 Plate winner; Tony Thomas (EPC), men's Over 65 Winner; Claire Fleetwood (yorks, and daughter, Women's Open Runner-up; Kirsty Crookson (Worcs) Women's Over 45 Runner-up; Zena Wooldridge (Stoubridge), Women's Over 45 Winer and Over 40 runner-up; Maxine Goodhead (Stourbridge) Women's Over 40 Winner.

RACKETBALL ORIGINS

Racketball, played on a court 32 feet long and 21 feet wide (an international Squash Court ) was introduced as an alternative game to the American version of Racquetball (court 40 feet by 20 feet).

In 1950, Joe Sobek invented Racquetball at Greenwich YMCA in Connecticut, USA having experimented with games in a court used for Irish Handball. The ball, the size and shape of a Lawn Tennis ball but without the nap on its outside, was used with rackets with short handles. This made it a simple game to play as the eye, hand, ball coordination was easy as it was like hitting the ball with one's hand rather than trying to judge the distance between hand and head of a squash, badminton or tennis racket.

The court walls and ceiling are used for the American version of the game and there is no board or tin on the front wall as in a Squash Court. The ball is very bouncy and does not need warming before normal play. By 1970, some 50,000 players enjoyed the game in America and Canada.

In 1976, Ian D.W. Wright (Kent) introduced the game in England. The game was adapted to utilise existing squash courts using a slower and less bouncy ball as the ceiling was not included in the play area.

On 13th February 1984, the British Racketball Association was founded following a meeting of all players known to be interested in the game.

This inaugural meeting was held at Stourbridge Lawn Tennis Club in Worcestershire. A Constitution and Rules of Play, as compiled by Ian Wright, were accepted by the meeting. The rules of play were based on those of Squash Rackets but with Point-a-Rally scoring up to 15 and the ball to be bounced on the floor prior to striking the serve. On 30th October 1984, official recognition of the British Racketball Association, as the Governing Body of the sport, was confirmed by the English Sports Council.

On 1st December 1984, the inaugural British National Racketball Championships were staged at the Metropolitan Club in London.

The first Champions were : Denis Secher (Essex) and Greer Batty (West Midlands) with Ian Wright (Kent) and Dorothy Hanson (Worcestershire) as Veteran winners.

By 1995, over 30,000 players enjoyed playing with in excess of 100 clubs in membership of the British Racketball Association.

The English version of Racketball is now played in Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Bermuda, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and other countries where there are squash courts. It is even played in North American on courts originally constructed for American (Hard Ball) Squash with 18 feet 6 inches wide courts.

On 1st September 1998, the Racketball Association merged with the English Squash Rackets Association.