Saturday 25th January was the first time ever that we have hosted two different UK Racketball events at the same time, one Series level tournament in Glasgow - the Scottish Open, and the other a Satellite level event in Southampton. Despite some horrendous weather in the lead up to the day, both went off as huge successes!

With 136 players competing across the two events we had a great mix of ages and standards involved. The trial of a B Grade Doubles category went down well, with some Series regulars getting stuck in with local players who hadn't necessarily played so much Racketball Doubles in the past. A positive sign for the growth of that aspect of the game, and something we will look to continue with as and where possible.

Full results and draws can be found on the Sporty HQ event pages below:

SCOTTISH OPEN GLASGOW

TROJANS OPEN SOUTHAMPTON

Now to the write up! As we have doubled up on events, we will double up on the categories too!

Open / A Grade Singles: A tale of two National Champions! Scottish Champ (and top tournament organiser) Matt Bedwell took his first Scottish Open title, beating Hallamshire's Alex Glencross in the Final. Down South British Champ Mike Harris came through a very busy 12 draw, beating a dogged and hard working Dave Lobo from West Hants in the final. 

B Grade: Two first time winners! UK Racketball northern stalwart Graeme Manson (Hallamshire again) did brilliantly to battle through a draw of players (quite) a few years younger than him to take his first ever B Grade Series title! At the opposite end of the spectrum, UK Racketball first timer Jamie McNaughton of the IOW came through a tough final vs local boy James Dean to take the win, having not been playing Racketball for too long either! Great to see and we hope to get him in the mix more and more...

Ladies: In Scotland Sabrina Tengku Nur certianly had her work cut out as she not only played (and won!) the Ladies event, but also played the A Grade Doubles AND was a late draft in to the B Grade too. Here's hoping that she has recovered by now (8 matches later!) In Southampton, it was another new face who took the win! Local Melannie Hagenau played some lovely Racketball, covering the court brilliantly to take down Phillipa Terry in a really good quality final. Great to see some more new Ladies in the mix!

O40s: In Scotland we had three of our O40 big dogs - Loska, Norton & Chappell, all battling it out amongst the cream of the Scottish crop too. In the end it came to reigning Series Champion Loska vs Chappell in the final. In a really quality game with both players consistently hitting all corners of the court and stretching each other hard, Chappell came through a deserved 2/1 winner. At Trojans, it was a draw with a very local flavour, with all 6 players coming from the immediate vicinity! In the end everyone's favourite corkscrew hitter Nick Jenkins did brilliantly to come out on top, taking his first ever O40s UK Racketball Series event title!

O50s: As always these were two of our busiest draws at the events, with some top quality players at both. Up North, Nick Billington ended up having to fight his way through pretty much the entirety of the Scottish National team to take his first Series title of 2025. With Nick still in with a chance of England selection come September, this would have been useful scouting out work! In Southampton, two of the current 50's crop most consistent players - Steve Smith & Phil Hall, battled their way through a draw filled with a mix of new local faces and old UK Racketball hands. In the end, the Lefty from Leicestershire was too strong for Hall, taking the win 2/0 and he is looking increasingly like the one to beat in the age group. 

O60s: A few late drop outs in Scotland led to a flurry of draw changes, dropping it down to one box of 5 players. Mike Wardle from Surrey doing the business admirably well against another load of Scottish national team players, he is also on the cusp of England selection and has had a great first year to date in the age group. Down by the sea the late swap out of Pat Osborn opened up the draw in a big way, with Bexley's Mark Banfield capitilising by taking out his Doubles partner Graham Appleby in a tight 2/0 final win. Another one on the selection march, Banfield has been looking increasingly assured and consistent over the last 6 months or so of UK Racketball action!

O70s: North of the border is was time for Father Loska to show ''young'' Ryan how it's done! Paul having a great run of wins against two of the title holding Scottish National team to secure his very first UK Racketball O70s Series title! Top work there and we can expect him to be a force to be reckoned with this 2025 Series. At Trojans we had a quality 4 player group with all involved being top Series regulars. Local West Hants player John Herbetko came through a really great final vs Graham Greensall, his reach and brilliant court coverage being too difficult even for Greensall's nous and experience.

Doubles: Finally to the dynamic doubles duos! As mentioned with having A Grade and B Grade Doubles draws, it was great to see some new or less regular Doubles players getting involved in the event. A top final in Glasgow saw O40s finalists Loska/Chappell set aside their singles showdown to take out the punchy pair of Norton & Bedwell. Norton the current reigning Doubles Series Champion will clearly have to upgrade for next time... At Trojans, the father son duo of Steve & Elliot Smith were taken out by the Hampshire duo of Callum Arnott & Alex Kershaw in a very entertaining last match of the day 2/0. The hard and aggressive hitting of the southern duo finding repeated winners across the match. 

In the B Grade draws, a very tight Scottish group saw three pairs all finishing on 2 wins and 1 loss! In the end, the Hallamshire duo of Dudley & Jackson just pipped Manson & Widdowson by winning one extra game overall! (Although in the H2H they actually beat them anyway so it's fate...) Finally at Trojans it was a first ever Series title for the popular and well supported Dover duo of Tyler & Waller! They overcame the experienced pair of Buckle & Preston, taking the match with aggressive hitting and some top winners.

All in all, two top events with a whole host of fantastic players involved. It was great to see loads of new faces mixing in with the Series regulars, and if this is a sign of things to come for this year we can't wait!

A massive thank you to Newlands and Trojans for hosting us, and to everyone who helped out at both venues - Matt Bedwell, Ant Stefanelli, Nick Jenkins, Callum Grealsey and many more besides.

Picture from Trojans are all on our Facebook page HERE

Looking forward to the next one at Broxbourne on the 8th February!

ROAD TO ENGLAND SELECTION 2025 UPDATE!

With the second half of the selection period starting off this Saturday with the Scottish Open Series event & Trojans Open Satellite event, there are loads of England Selection points up for grabs alongside the 2025 Series ranking points.

After a very interesting first period with the two major event being counted, things are looking very tight across a number of the categories…

- Men’s Open - National & Open Champs Harris & Mutch (o35s) lead the way but Mutch needs to make sure he gets the required amount of events in the bank! A majority of the chasing pack are in action across Jan & Feb so that gap could close very quickly.

- Ladies Open - National & Open Champion Marshall leads the pack and as she is back in action on home turf in Broxbourne in Feb, she has all but nailed down her spot in the team. Symmonds all but there too but needs to get one or two more comps in, as the Kalar sisters amongst others are all competing early on in 2025 and will be on her tail. With the Ladies draws still building year on year there will be some twists and turns to come here I feel!

- O40s - Mr Relentless Loska is a shoo-in already after yet another fantastic set of performances at the back end of 2024. After that though things get interesting as Giles is missing the first two event weekends of the year while those below him are all in action! Could be some big changes in the ranking order come post - Broxbourne…

- O50s - Phil Hall has been very consistent in this selection period and has earned his place at the top of the pile. Smith had a fantastic end to 2024 however and is chasing him down. With a majority of the chasing pack all in action this Saturday in particular (barring big guns Davies, Powely, Gregory and Morris) there will be some immediate swaps!

- O60s - Like Mr Loska, Pat Osborn has been all but unstoppable at the top of the age group and again already has earned his spot in the side. After that however there are a number of players all scrapping it out for the final three places. Most already have their names in the mix for the first couple of events of 2025, but with all events up to and including June’s Welsh Open being counted, there’s plenty of time for the others to pick up their required points.

- O70s - Graham Greensall leads this list and should have done the job to get selected. However Graham & Lathbury have been quality additions to the 2024 Series and will be out to stamp their names in the final 4 too. With the remainder all in early 2025 action, there will be plenty of shimmying up and down here too!

Let battle commence! With this plus the new 2025 Karakal UK Racketball Series rankings also kicking off, we can’t wait to see what transpires..

We Are Back!

After a rather indulgent Christmas and New Year break we are back for a new Karakal sponsored UK Racketball Series!

We have more on offer for Racketballers than ever before, there really is something for everyone to get involved in across 2025 and we hope to see our regulars joined by loads of new faces. To give you an idea of what we have in store...

- 16 different individual events, from One Day Satellite and Series events, through to the pinnacles of the UK Racketball calendar - the British Nationals, Open and of course the Home International Teams!

- Our first ever UK Racketball Training Camp, mini Graded and Exhibition day on the 5th April at Hinckley Squash Club.

- Three team events with the Masters and Open Intercounty weekends now being joined by a Bournemouth Open Team event at the end of October (more on that soon.)

- More information coming on European Racketball events, with the already set British, Welsh and Scottish Opens being joined by Gibraltar and Finland in 2025! Hoping to add more to the calendar as we go...

- And finally, a partnership with England Squash to properly introduce Racketball into the Level 1 Coaching curriculum, including Racketball delivery specific sessions!

Going to have our work cut out this year for sure!