Racketball at NSRC

What is racketball?

British racketball originated from American Racquetball and is played in a 32-ft. long by 21-ft. wide squash court (eight feet shorter and one foot wider than the U.S. racquetball court). The game uses a bouncy ball that is considerably larger than a squash ball and is played with a shorter wider racket.

Racketball rules

Scoring is like squash, usually played with point-a-rally scoring up to 15 points. The racketball is served after a bounce on the floor then struck into play with the racket, the ball must then land into the service box on the full or after 1 bounce. If the ball lands into the service box on the full then the service is good. If the ball lands in the box after one bounce, either as a rebound off the back wall, or because the ball bounced short of the service box, the player returning serve either has the choice to allow the rally to play out to completion or to make the server hit a second serve. If this second serve is the same as the first then the point is lost.  All other rules are the same as squash, with a point being lost if you hit the ball above the “out line”, into the “tin” or if the ball bounces twice.

Why would you play Racketball?

The main difference between Racketball and Squash is that the ball bounces higher. Racketball games have very similar tactics, movement and technique to Squash but with everything proceedings at a much lower intensity this results in...

• Longer Rallies, giving you a more aerobic workout.
• Considerably less stress on joints.
• Quicker recovery the next day (you don’t ache for the rest of the week!).
• The ability to play more often throughout the week.

Growth

Racketball is now said to be the fastest growing racket sport in the UK.  It is very hard to measure the growth of racketball as an individual sport, especially when it is analysed in conjunction with squash.
Current figures from England Squash, suggest that the number of people participating in both squash and racketball is on the decline with the total numbers of England Squash members falling by around 2000 to its current total of 43000 adult members, and 7500 junior members.  It is however important to consider these figures as totals for both squash and racketball.  Many clubs are confirming that racketball is on the increase, and below I have listed clubs where racketball has now become as popular as squash.

• Hallamshire Tennis and Squash Club (Sheffield)
• Boston Squash Club (Lincolnshire)
• Kenilworth Squash Club (Warwickshire)
• Chapel Alerton Squash Club (Leeds)

Racketball is growing throughout the country and is one of the main reasons that many of the squash clubs above have been able to continue to develop and expand even as other clubs around them are struggling.

Hallamshire Tennis and Squash Club

I was a member of Hallamshire for 4 years, 3 of which I was a student and then as a full time coach and player. During that period racketball numbers have grown to a point where they have now overtaken that of squash. The club now has,

•  More ladies playing the game than men.
• Gets around 100 juniors for Saturday morning sessions.
• Runs a very successful summer league, based on a handicap system, with all the teams having “original” names and their own shirts, finishing with an end of season finals night. Last year 220 people played in the Hallamshire Racketball Summer League.
• Runs several tournaments over the year, including a very popular mixed doubles tournament.

At Hallamshire the racketaball works in conjunction with squash to provide the club with a greater diversity and quantity of members. The 2 sports feed into each other, with ladies bringing the children down to play the game and then with many of the juniors being converted to squash.

Advantages to NSRC

• Attract a new type of member, as the game is less physically demanding.
• Attract a greater number of ladies to the club. Squash is becoming increasingly a male dominated game.
• Busier for longer periods, as people can play more frequently they will see the club as better value for money, again hopefully resulting in greater membership numbers.   
• Club could become busier all year round, with more members coming down and using the facilities during the summer.

Proposed Launch at NSRC

Will launch the game in conjunction with an open evening at the club. An exhibition match between Mark Fuller and Laura Hill and then an exhibition mixed doubles game. During the night courts will be made available for people to have a practice and get into the game. This could be the perfect opportunity to attract new members to the club as well as giving the existing members a taster for the sport.
The week following the launch, the plan is to run a racketball session on a Monday night on courts 7 and 8, which will be run by Mark Fuller. This will be a good way for members to have a go at racketball and see what they think, as well as providing a good follow up to any potential members who are looking to take up the sport at NSRC.
If racketball becomes a success at NSRC then towards the end of the year we could run a racketball tournament, as well as looking at starting up a Hallamshire style summer league (mentioned above) which could keep the club busier during the summer and bring in further money.