BRITISH NATIONALS 2026 WRAPPED! PART 1...

AFTER A FANTASIC WEEKEND AT EDGBASTON PRIORY AND SUTTON COLDFIELD SQUASH CLUBS LET'S TAKE A LOOK BACK AT THE ACTION... DAY 1 & 2 FIRST UP...

DAY 1 - Traffic Chaos, Sorting Stash, First Round Fun:


We kickstarted the Nationals in the worst way possible with the M5 causing the Southern travellers (including half of the organising team) a load of issues. 2+ hours of standing on the motorway in 29 degree heat is not the way you want to start the biggest weekend in the UK Racketball calendar! Luckily however Ant & Tim were there in plenty of time, alongside Kirn Dibra from Priory, and they worked hard to get everything sorted in Mike & Tessa’s absence, and ready for the first matches at 4pm!

The Talbots sponsored gift bags were packed, shirts laid out and sorted and the balls all teed up and ready to roll! Lots of the draws had first round games on the day and it was great to see our series friends arriving excited to get started. Despite the traffic issues, we managed to get everything done on time with some creative court management and some thankfully patient players.

There were some brilliant matches first up, Karl Bushby vs Alex Rowlands, Linda Pritchard vs Beth Fisher in the Men’s & Women’s Opens, and Lee Scott vs Simon Inskip, Nev Buckle vs Carl Elsby in the Men’s 50s all being thrilling 5 game battles. Bushby overcoming a 2 game deficit to take down Wales’ Rowlands and Pritchard doing incredibly well to come through 14/12 in the 5th vs Fisher. 

Kudos to Scott, who earlier in the evening had taken down Scotland’s Ian Prott in a tough 4 game win, only to have to take on Inskip 30 mins later. Eventually succumbing 11/6 in the 5th, a broken man! Perils of playing two draws…

All in all a very successful first day, and it was great to be able to have a beer with the early arrivals and sponsors once the matches were done!

DAY 2 - Two Clubs, Full Throttle Schedule, Brutal Evening Battles:


Nationals day two is always the toughest, with every single participant in the event having between one to three matches (more so if they were playing two draws!) With both Priory and also Sutton Coldfield being used, we had 12 courts across the two venues in full action from 9am onwards (with Priory finishing at 9pm!)

With so many games across the day (over 200+) the action came thick and fast. It was especially great to see draws like the Women’s B Grade and the Juniors in play, with lots of new UK RB faces involved and lots of smiles and fun along the way. Our youngest player of the event was 12 years old and our oldest at 87 years young, a truly great indicator of how accessible Racketball is across all age ranges. 

We did face a couple of challenges across the day, firstly with the dual club set up, with (despite numerous reminders) some players forgetting which clubs they were at, or even that we were using a second venue! (One in particular for the second year in a row… No names mentioned…) Another issue was the lure of the Priory facilities, with a recuperating Lee Scott having to be dragged from his tanning bed by the pool to play an afternoon match, and Jack Bennett from in the pool to play his last game of the day. I guess we can’t argue too much, it is a great club! (Let’s also not forget the amount of players having to be pulled away from nursing well earned pints to continue their respective Nationals quests!)

However despite all this, the day went really well, with us all but finishing on schedule as planned. The only sticking points were a few absolutely brilliant quarter and semi final matches in the late afternoon / evening. First up being the O55s, with both the 1 & 2 seeds being taken down by their ¾ seeded opposition. Chris Wase to John Simpson, and defending Champion Phil Hall to Andy Murray. Both high quality 3/1 encounters. In the O45s semi we had longtime buddies Adam Giles & Paul Norton throwing down to see who would take on top seed Ryan Loska in Sunday’s final. It looked clear cut to start with Giles racing to a 2/0 lead, but the crafty Norton is never to be counted out, and he played some quality attacking Racketball to drag it back to a 5th. However the effort of doing this meant he couldn’t push through that final game, Giles taking it 11/6 and a deserved spot in the Sunday showdown.

It was the last two matches of the day that were probably the two longest and most brutal of the whole event. The Men’s A Grade quarter finals between Guernsey’s Janick Radford & Liverpool’s Matty Powell, and then Wiltshire’s Calli Smith vs Leicestershire’s Elliot Smith. Both matches went the full distance, 11/9 in the 5th game to Janick and Calli, overturning their 5th seeded opposition in matches that lasted over 90 minutes. Unbelievable efforts from both of their opponents, leaving absolutely everything on court (with Matty saying the next day he was quite glad he wouldn’t have to play the semi final!)

A brilliant ending to a crazy busy day, the Edgbaston Priory bar taps were certainly kept working hard well into the evening rehydrating our thirsty players...