Super Solent Saturday Showdowns!

Saturday 2nd November saw us to return to Lee on Solent Squash & Tennis Club for the penultimate 2024 KarakaUK Racketball Series event! This South coast 6 court venue has long had a great Racketball history and we were made to feel really welcome.

With another maxed out entry list (increased due to the luxury of having a 6th court to use) it was another busy day of black ball battling, with each entry list well subscribed. Once again it was lovely to see some new faces from the region in the mix, from our local Ladies entrants, to players from 2025 new venue Trojans in Southampton and more! With loads of smiling faces at the end of the day we hope that the newcomers enjoyed their time at the event and will be back for more next year.

Now on to the action! 

O70s: A brilliant day of best of 5 game battles saw Graham Greensall fight his way to another title, taking down O75 National and Open Champion Larry Grover in a quality 3/2 Final win. Both players belying their age with some superb court coverage and play.

O60s: With some very tight games in the lead up to the final, Banfield/Holmes, Banfield/Chipperfield and Chipperfield/Appleby in particular all going the distance, all roads led to Osborn. Pat the Essex man once again proving to be the one to beat in the Series as he took the win without dropping a game across the day. Great to see another 16 draw for the O60s though for a Series comp, currently consistently or best subscribed age category!

O50s: This event was very much the survival of the fittest, with some absolutely brutal group stage and playoof matches testing the players to their physical limits. However regardless of the battling with the rackets, it was fantastic to see the spirit and friendliness that the matches were played in. Zero aggro and plenty of laughs shared. When it came down to it, Paul Dodds taking tough 2/1 wins vs Billington & Buckle, and Steve Smith 2/1 vs Andy Hopwood in particular. Hopwood and Smith having some horrendously tough rallies on the show court! Inevitable the final also went the distance, Smith somehow managing to pull himself together for one last effort to see off the solid Dodds, taking the title 2/1 in the last match of the day in front of a well lubricated crowd.

O40s: A punchy group of 5 Series regulars gave us some great games across the day. In the end Loska vs Chappell was the de facto final, and the Shropshire man managed to register his second win of the season vs the current Series top dog Loska, winning 2/0. This doesn't do the quality (or length) of the game justice though, as they fought it out for nearly 40 mins of top class Racketball, both constantly trying to find new and varied ways to breach each others defences.

​B Grade: Another busy B Grade of 12 players saw some new local faces in the mix alongside some of our Southern regulars. It came down to a local semis showdown between Paul Sitch from IOW, James Dean from Bournemouth, and Callum Greasley & Matt Compton from Trojans in Southampton. The two team mates making it through to the final, where in a bit of an upset win, Compton took Greasley down to win his first UK Racketball Series title! (Some say a tactical mid week loss helped install a sense of overconfidence!)

Ladies: We had 6 Ladies in the draw this time round and three new faces in the mix which was lovely to see. This was a really well fought out event with several 5 set matches across the day, including a great battle between Brokenshire & Billington in the group stage going 3/2 to Ethel in her first Series comp. The final was a high quality game as well between Helen Rees from Grantham and the second Lee on Solent local entrant Lorna Russell. Rees saving a match ball in the 4th game to force a 5th, but Russell was undeterred and finished strongly to take her first UK Racketball Series title in her first event. Really great to have some more new ladies players involved and we hope to see them more in 2025!

Open: It was a bit of a topsy turvy Open draw with two on the day drop outs (Norton car troubles, and Smith injury issues) meaning that the draw evolved on the fly a little bit. This didn't stop the matches from being close and entertaining, with the likes of Calli Smith vs Craig Lloyd and an IoW showdown between Olly Staunton vs Callum Arnott being two of the picks of the draw. Indeed it was Smith & Staunton who managed to fight their way through to the final, where the consistently improving Wiltshire man was able to take his first Series title to date with a quality win over the very consistent and hard to break down Staunton. Another young player quickly getting to grips with the game is great to see and it will be interesting to see what 2025 brings!

Doubles: With the Series Doubles rankings being blown wide open by Paul Norton (currently #1) not being able to make it to the event, Patrick Osborn (#2) and Ryan Loska (#3) both had a chance to catch up points leading in to the National Doubles Championships later this month! With another punchy line up of teams across the three groups the guys had their work cut out, but luckily had called in some heavy hitting support, with Craig Chappell partnering Loska, and Mike Harris teaming up with Osborn.
Both pairs were tested on their way to the final, with Loska/Chappell being pushed by the father/son Smith duo, and Harris/Osborn having to work hard against the Trojans duo of Greasley/Compton, both in the semis. Both pairings grinding out 2/1 victories. 
In the final, Harris/Osborn managed to stay solid throughout a tight first game, squeezing it 11/9 after some very taxing and open rallies. In the second game Loska and Chappell were generous with their error count, and their opponents managed to keep up the pressure to see through an 11/3 second game win to take the title 2/0. 

Thanks to everyone who made it such a fun day, it went really well and there was great support and a lovely atmosphere throughout. Thanks to Alex Kershaw and the Lee on Solent Club staff for hosting us so well and making us feel so welcome. Can't wait to be back there for 2025!

Your 2024 Lee on Solent Open winners are below:

O70 - Graham Greensall
O60 - Patrick Osborn
O50 - Steve Smith
O40 - Craig Chappell
B Grade - Matt Compton
Ladies - Lorna Russell
A Grade - Calli Smith
Doubles - Harris/Osborn

Full results from the day here: https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-12-South-East-of-England-Racketball-Open-2nd-November-Lee-on-Solent

With just one event to go in the 2024 Series it is all going down to the wire. Ryan Loska officially cannot be caught in the Series singles ranking now but that still leaves places 2-6 up for grabs and there are plenty of permutations possible there. The Doubles however is very exciting with top spot up for grabs still for Norton, Loska and Osborn pending the final results of the National Doubles Champs! Check out the rankings leading into the final event below:

Series Singles rankings: https://www.sportyhq.com/ranking/group/1727

Series Doubles rankings: ​www.sportyhq.com/ranking/group/1995