After what seems like an eternity since our last event (the Silverhook sponsored East of England Open at Broxbourne in the start of February,) we are back with our third event of the 2025 Karakal UK Racketball Series! The North East Open at Hallamshire Squash & Tennis club in Sheffield.

The long time UK Racketball venue has some of the best courts in the country and a great showcourt set up for all it's glassbacks, so it is a real pleasure to be back there again. Now to the action...

- A bumper 9 A Grade draw sees young Dylan Kalar in as favourite as he seeks to push on England selection later this year. But he will have a real depth of quality players to get past to get his second Series title with a host of evenly matches opponents along the way.

- Dylan's sister Jasmin is the top seed in the Ladies event, nearly qualified for England herself, just one event win away from being all but in the side! It's great to see a number of new faces in the rest of the Ladies draw as that side of the game continues to grow.

- The B Grade has the unusual line up of all players involved having not won a B Grade Series comp before. Meaning it is up for grabs for a first time winner! Some hungry eyes on the prize this time then... 

- The O40s and O50s events both have seriously punchy line ups, with several players needing some good finishing positions coupled with some head to head wins to boost their England selection chances! These two draws will definitely provide some entertaining battles across the day and whoever comes out top will certainly have earned their post event rehydration at the club bar.

- The O60s and O70s draws have two very big line ups with 16 & 12 players respectively. The 70's in particular is very strong. with the likes of Ian Graham returning to Series action, current Series top dog Paul Loska in the mix, alongside top players like Rob Lathbury, John Herbetko and last year England player Geoff Wright. The O60s has lots of players in the running for the top spots, with the local legend and recently ''aged up'' Jim Muirhead looking to kickstart his new age group with a bang against the other top players like Mike  Wardle, Mark Banfield and Robin Chipperfield!

- We are doubling up on the Doubles draws, with an A and B Grade event once again! Ryan Loska is looking to continue his great start to the Doubles Series rankings, partnering up with 2024 National Doubles Champ Adam Giles for this event. They will have strong competition though, with 2024 Nationals Finalists Norton/Chappell out for blood, and the family duo of Smith/Smith also proving to be strong competitors in the 2025 Series already.
The B Grade sees two previous B Grade Doubles winners going head to head, with John Waller sans his partner Stu Tyler and therefore roping in mighty Tommy Meadows in search of title No 2. They will come up against another local duo in Graeme Manson and Nick Robinson, Manson looking to follow up his Scottish Open B Grade win in January!

Should be a top day of matches across the board and we can't wait to see who manages to come out on top! Big thanks to Hallamshire for hosting us once again, always a great venue to have a super Series day of action. Full draws and schedule can be found below, keep an eye out throughout Saturday for result updates:

www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-3-2025-North-East-of-England-Racketball-Open-22rd-March-Hallamshire

As things in the UK Racketball Series progress at pace it is important to make sure that we keep tabs on any changing rules and regulations in the game.

The World Squash Federation (WSF) have recently released an updated Rules and regulations for Racketball / Squash57 and so it is well worth making sure you check them out as UK Racketball will be keeping up with the changes for all Series and National events.

https://www.worldsquash.org/squash-57/squash-57-rules/

One key rule is the detail regarding Racketball racket length and dimensions. Notably:

​''The SQUASH57 racket has the same length specification as both the American Racquetball racquet and the Australian Racquetball racquet. The details are contained in the SQUASH57 Rules, a link to which can be found above.
Any racket longer than 22” (558.8mm) will not meet the specification requirements for American Racquetball, Australian Racquetball or SQUASH57. Any racket weighing more than 280g will not meet the specification requirements for SQUASH57.''

UK Racketball will therefore be enforcing this ruling regarding the correct racket from the 1st January 2026 (start of the next UK Racketball Series) for all its events. Players that have rackets that do not fit within the required specifications will not be able to use those rackets at UK Racketball events.

The list of currently non confirming rackets can be found here:

https://www.usaracquetball.com/play/rules/non-conforming-racquets

Any questions at all regarding the rules in any form please don't hesitate to get in touch - [email protected]

As we move into March, things are really moving fast in the 2025 Karakal UK Racketball Series on the event entry front.

We had already sold out the 22nd March North East of England Open event at Hallamshire in Sheffield two weeks ago, but now we have also hit max capacity for the 19th April Central Open in Cheltenham too!!

This is both crazy to see it happen so far in advance of the event date, but also really exciting to see how much the game is growing and that players are so keen to be part of our Series! So thank you all for those who are in the mix already. If you have missed out and want to get on the reserve list then please email Mike at [email protected] to let us know.

So next available events are then in May believe it or not! We have a doubleheader month, firstly with the Masters (040/50/60s) Racketball Intercounty Championships on the 17/18th May at Berkhamstead Squash Club. This is a team event and full info on the weekend and the rules and regs can be found below:

www.uk-racketball.com/inter-counties.html

Following this, we then have our next Series event, the always popular Cambridge Open in Peterborough on the Saturday 31st May! Even with this being so far away we still only have 4 spaces (at time of writing) left in the draws, so as usual please get your name down via Sporty HQ here to get your spot reserved:

https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-5-2025-Cambridge-Open-1st-June-Peterborough

We then come to another new event and new venue for July - the inaugural Welsh Racketball Open at Cardiff Squash Club on Saturday 5th! With our Welsh friends out in full force in last year’s Home Internationals event, it only made sense to get a Series event there and we are really excited to see some new Welsh players in the mix. Should be a top day at a great club so get your entry in below. NOTE: This is the final selection event for the 2025 England Racketball team so a last chance for anyone needing a good event to secure their spot in the side for September's International Team event!

https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-6-2025-Welsh-Racketball-Open-5th-July-Cardiff

One final one to make sure you get booked up for is our biggest event in the UK Racketball calendar at one of our favourite venues to host in - The British National Racketball Championships at Edgbaston Priory in Birmingham on the 18th, 19th and 20th of July.

With over 220 entries last year we are hoping to go bigger and better this time round with categories from Juniors, Men’s and Ladies open draws all the way through to O80s!

Entries are coming in nicely already from across the UK and we can’t wait to see who starts to pop up on the entry list over the next few months. Entry can be done below. PLEASE be aware that if your category has over 16 entrants there is a strong likelihood that you will have to play your first round match on Friday night so you MUST be available to play then if needed. This is unfortunately due to the larger entry list across the board. (A nice problem to have though!)

https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/The-Karakal-British-National-Racketball-Championships-2025

We are also really please to be able to announce Just Move Estate Agents and Lowery Financial Planning as our first two associate sponsors for the National Championships this year! Both will be in attendance at the event but in the meantime please do check them out and see what services they can support you with. 

Look forward to catching up with you all at a Series event very soon!

It was a Ryan and Paul double act at the Silverhook sponsored East of England Open at Broxbourne on Saturday! 

We returned for another year to one of our most popular series event venues - Broxbourne Sports club in Hertfordshire. This club is home to Ladies National Champion Amber Marshall and has always drawn a packed out entry list. This year was no exception, with draws like the A Grade, over 40s, over 50s and Doubles all very well subscribed with some fantastic players in the mix.

With matches running from 9am through to 8pm across the five courts, it was a flat out day of action and those that came through on top at the end certainly earned their medals!

Paul Loska has already thrown down the gauntlet in the over 70s category it seems, as he took the title on Saturday over a strong lineup including John Herbetko in the final. Off of the back of his Scottish open win in January, he is fast looking like being one of the front runners in the age group this year.

A full 16 draw in the over 60s is always fantastic to see, this time headed up by the two tyrants of the category, Patrick Osborn and Jon Cordeaux. Good friends and doubles partners, they fought their way through the MONRAD draw to another final against each other, where John turned the tables once again, taking the win to one. Patrick’s heart rate hitting over 210 bpm at one point! We could see a very interesting back and forth between these two this year...

Another strong over 50s lineup had several players all looking for vital top finishing positions to benefit their England selection push. Nick Billington getting a great win against Mervyn Davies in the group stage, but then being overturned by Phil Hall in the semis. In the end, the languid lefty Steve Smith proved that his meteoric rise over the last six months in the age group is no fluke, taking down Hall once again in the final 2/0. 

The over 40s draw saw the return of Alexis Smith to the category, and with the memory of their feisty battle in this event last year in the back of their mind, Ryan Loska must’ve been well up for the challenge. Another no holds barred battle insured, Loska getting one back on Smith taking the title in a well fought 2/1 final.

It was great to have a Ladies draw with seven entrants and a couple of new faces alongside some top players such as Amber Marshall, Jasmin and Danni Kalar. There was no stopping Marshall however, as she took out both of the sisters in an imperious display on her home turf to take the title without dropping a game.

In a busy B Grade, there was a great mix of matches across the day, ending up in a final showdown between two South Coast sluggers in James Dean and Paul Sitch. Dean has not had much luck in the finals of B grades, having reached several over the last year or so without pushing through with a win. However this time he finally overturned that streak, taking down Paul two games to one! A great win for one of the nicest guys in the series (who now may have to play up in A Grade...)

We had an incredibly punchy A grade lineup with a lot of our top series regulars in the draw, fleshed out by the addition of 2024 British Open Semifinalist Gary Naidoo, and one of Racketballs most talented hitters Ted Jeal. Despite Gary‘s metronomic retrieval and precision play, Ted hitting ability and nous was too much for the South African, giving him a hard fought 2/1 win.

Finally to the Doubles. And with the first match of the day between Marshall and Bishop against Smith and Lloyd going the distance for an incredibly tight 2/1 win to the former, we knew that we were in for a day of entertainment. In the end it was the home duo of Bishop and Marshall who came through the obstacle course of opponents, being particularly pushed by Fennel and Osborne in the group stage as well (second game going to 21/19), and also a highly entertaining final against Kershaw and Norton. Talk about earning the victory!

A really top day of games at Broxbourne, a massive thank you to Silverhook motor supplies for sponsoring the event, your support is really appreciated and helped make a great day for the players. Thank you also to Nicky Horn and Nick Jenkins for running the event in Mike’s absence, you guys did a fantastic job to keep it all going smoothly and finishing on time.

Full results can be found on Sporty HQ here :

www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-2-2025-East-of-England-Racketball-Open-8th-February-Broxbourne

Our next event are the 22nd of March North East of England open at Hallamshire, there are still spaces left in the entry. Don’t miss out and get your name down here:

https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-3-2025-North-East-of-England-Racketball-Open-23rd-March-Hallamshire-Sponsored-by-Abbe​

Following this we then have the 19th of April Central open at East Gloucestershire Squash and Tennis Club in Cheltenham, this one is also starting to get very busy, get your entry in here:

www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-4-2025-19th-April-Central-England-Open-Cheltenham

Both the 2025 Series and England Road to Selection rankings will be updated by the end of this week so keep an eye out, otherwise thanks everyone for playing and look forward to seeing you soon!

Working together with West Hants Squash & Tennis Club and Bournemouth Squash Club we bring you the first ever UK Racketball backed Bournemouth Racketball Festival National Club Championships!
​
​We are really excited about this event, taking place at the two venues on the weekend of the 25th & 26th October 2025. It will be a great way for clubs across the UK to show who the real heavy hitters in the UK Racketball scene are, and a chance for some new faces across the categories to mix in with our Series regulars!

It should also be a really great social weekend, with some top entertainment and food being put on the Saturday night at the West Hants Club, a two course meal, drinks deals and the evening do all being covered as part of your entry fee. There will even be a welcome Friday night happy hour at West Hants from 6pm-8pm prior to the main event.

The full rules and regulations for the event are listed HERE, if you have any queries or would like to register a side in any of the categories please contact Mike Harris at [email protected]