Our big 2025 series review!

Part 1 - The Series Home Front!

​**A Record-Breaking Year for Events**

What a year it has been for the Series and the game of Racketball. On the home front, this has been the most Series ranked events we’ve run to date, spanning from Exeter to Glasgow, and Cardiff to Bexley. We now have a Welsh Open, a Scottish Open, a British Open, and a British National Championships — all of which have seen increased entries, new faces, and one hell of a lot of fun across all of the draws.

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**New Venues and Expanding Reach**

With new Series venues such as Ipswich, Cheltenham, and Trojans coming on board, we've visited new areas of the UK and made lots of new Racketball playing friends. We’re excited to see even more venues joining next year, with Rhwibina (Cardiff) in February, and Harrogate in August being added to the line-up as Satellite events.

I have to say a huge thank you to all of our amazing host venues — we’re incredibly lucky to have such brilliant clubs supporting the series, and it’s great to be returning to all of them next year.

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**A Year of Growth: Entry Numbers Soaring**

I thought 2024 was a fantastic year with a 25% increase in uptake from the previous one. However, 2025 has surprised me again, with another 23% increase in entries across the board.

Virtually every event sold out its entry limit, some months in advance. (The December Series Finals event sold out in September!) This is a fantastic indicator of the game’s growth and shows how much people are enjoying competing, as well as how much crossover we are seeing from players going from Squash into Racketball. Long may it continue!

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 **Category Growth and Changes for 2026**

The highest-entry categories across the Series and Major events continue to be the Over 50s and Over 60s draws. However, it has been brilliant to see increasing numbers of Ladies entering both A and B Grade categories and I will continue to push hard on participation on that front. All host venues will still have 3x free Ladies entries per home event.
The increase in strength of the A Grade and B Grade draws this year has led to the introduction of a new C Grade category for 2026, giving us a more balanced level structure across events. This aligns well with the new Squash57 Levels system, which we will be adopting to help assist our event grading moving forward.
Don’t forget to check your level after each event — it moves quickly! app.squash57levels.com/dashboard

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**Stand-Out Moments of the Year**

With so many tournaments, venues, and fantastic players, it’s hard to narrow down the highlights — but here are a few that stand out:

British Racketball Open Quarter-Finals Night

A packed Saturday evening in October at Hallamshire, with all four glass-back courts showcasing incredibly close, high-quality Men’s A Grade quarter-finals. The atmosphere was electric.

Masters Inter-Counties at Berkhamsted

A brilliant day of matches across the O40/O50 and O60 categories, followed by a stunning spring evening at The Berkhamstead Club — pizzas, flowing beer, and fantastic camaraderie across all teams, having a drink together on the terrace after a day of battling it out on court.

British National Championships Weekend

Our biggest Nationals yet, with 250+ entries across all age groups right up to the Over 80s, and even a group players travelling from Guernsey.
A long but inspiring weekend across the Edgbaston Priory and Sutton Coldfield clubs, filled with competitive spirit and brilliant social energy.

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**Thank You to the Team and Sponsors**

I owe the success of this year to several key supporters:

Tournament Team

Huge thanks to Nicky Horn, Nick Jenkins, Antony Stefanelli, and Tim Solley. Their reliability and dedication — whether running major events or smaller series tournaments — makes all the improvements and developments I am trying to make possible. Especially useful when I myself are running around on court!

Our Series and Event Sponsors

We’ve been incredibly fortunate to receive support from a number of sponsors at both series and major event level. Their contributions have helped grow and improve our tournaments, and many of them play in the series themselves, which makes their involvement even more meaningful. A huge thank you to all the below for your backing, it really does make what we do possible.

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**End-of-Series Awards**

We have had a fantastic year in the UK Racketball Series, and two very worthy players retaining their Series titles:

- Ryan Loska - Series Singles Champion 2025

- Paul Norton - Series Doubles Champion 2025

Congratulations to both of these legends of our game, incredibly consistent players who always put a huge shift in each and every comp. Top guys too!

We also celebrate people who have contributed to the Series outside of pure quality of play and results. These four awards are for those who are always a joy to have at our events, always amendable to helping out, always make us laugh, always have time for a chat or offer a worthy contribution to what we do.

So thank you very much and congratulations to the below for their fantastic 2025:

Men’s Player of 2025 - Paul Norton
Women’s Player of 2025 - Ali Billington
Racketball Development Individual 2025 - Lawrence Ogden
Players voted Player of 2025 - Steve Smith

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**Looking Ahead to 2026**

Have a great Christmas, everyone. Whether you played one event or nearly all of them, thank you for being part of the series this year.
I can’t wait to see as many of you as possible in 2026. All events are already open for entry — don’t miss out on this brilliant set up!

Part 2 - The International Scene to follow soon!