The 1st and 2nd of April saw players from all over the country fight it out for the chance to be crowned National Racketball National Champion in 2017. The event saw over 120 competitors and … previous National Champions compete.
Follow this link to view the photos - https://www.facebook.com/pg/UKRacketballSeries/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1293023120765875
Follow this link to view the videos - courtesy of Racketball enthusiast Lawrence Ogden - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOCDhogUhLhXdcGnD58Nlbw
Follow this link to view the photos - https://www.facebook.com/pg/UKRacketballSeries/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1293023120765875
Follow this link to view the videos - courtesy of Racketball enthusiast Lawrence Ogden - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOCDhogUhLhXdcGnD58Nlbw
Men’s Championship
In the main event there was an early upset when ¾ seed and winner of UK-Racketball Series title Dan Soar was defeated by local Nottingham player Tom Bailey in the first round. Soar was the only seed to fall however with one seed Tim Vail, two seed Adam Murrills and the other ¾ seed Ollie Turner and making it through without dropping a game.
The semi finals again went to seeding with Tim Vail quickly disposing of Joseph Blackmur and Adam Murrils eventually overcoming the dogged determination of Ollie Turner.
Up until the final Vail had shown no mercy with his opponents. He dropped only 10 points in the quarterfinals and 13 points in the semi final. The final was set up to be a classic encounter between the professional squash player Adam Murrils now ranked 90 in the world and Racketball legend Tim Vail.
Murrils is one of the fastest squash players in the world making him one of the best retrievers on tour. Vail however loves the challenge of taking down the full time player who can run forever and this time was no different. In the end Murril’s speed and tenacity was no match for Vail’s Knowledge of where to hit the ball and when. Vail added a 9th National Racketball Title to his collection giving him the most National Racketball Titles on record.
The semi finals again went to seeding with Tim Vail quickly disposing of Joseph Blackmur and Adam Murrils eventually overcoming the dogged determination of Ollie Turner.
Up until the final Vail had shown no mercy with his opponents. He dropped only 10 points in the quarterfinals and 13 points in the semi final. The final was set up to be a classic encounter between the professional squash player Adam Murrils now ranked 90 in the world and Racketball legend Tim Vail.
Murrils is one of the fastest squash players in the world making him one of the best retrievers on tour. Vail however loves the challenge of taking down the full time player who can run forever and this time was no different. In the end Murril’s speed and tenacity was no match for Vail’s Knowledge of where to hit the ball and when. Vail added a 9th National Racketball Title to his collection giving him the most National Racketball Titles on record.
Women's Championship
The women’s draw was a 5 person box league round robin. Charlotte Elgood defeated Vicky Toates who battled hard all weekend. Elgood however did not have enough to overcome the challenge of Jess Mudge in the following round. The young player from Devon showed off some impressive shots to take the match 3-2 in the closest of the ties in the women’s draw.
Jess Mudge was tenacious as ever against Matilda Parslow in a match that both players needed to win to make it into a final against Natalie Lawrence. Parslow played a lot of Racketball at Chapel A when she was younger and this experience showed through in the end against Mudge in a game that saw a lot of desperate retrieving from both players in a match that was probably closer than the 3-0 score line suggests.
The women’s final was always going to be interesting. Natalie Lawrence has dominated every UK-Racketball event that she played over the past few years and has always got the best over Parslow in the past. Parslow is improving all the time however and starting to get closer.
The match itself was even down the Parslow forehand Lawrence backhand but it was a different story down the other flank. Lawrence hits the Racketball harder than any other woman on her forehand and this is exactly what she started to do against Parslow. Whenever the length was short she could wind up and then either pummel the back with a hard low drive or take the ball into the front with a boast or stab kill. Parslow fought hard and managed to take the 3rd game but after a good start from Lawrence in the 4th she never looked back, claiming her 3rd National Racketball Title.
Jess Mudge was tenacious as ever against Matilda Parslow in a match that both players needed to win to make it into a final against Natalie Lawrence. Parslow played a lot of Racketball at Chapel A when she was younger and this experience showed through in the end against Mudge in a game that saw a lot of desperate retrieving from both players in a match that was probably closer than the 3-0 score line suggests.
The women’s final was always going to be interesting. Natalie Lawrence has dominated every UK-Racketball event that she played over the past few years and has always got the best over Parslow in the past. Parslow is improving all the time however and starting to get closer.
The match itself was even down the Parslow forehand Lawrence backhand but it was a different story down the other flank. Lawrence hits the Racketball harder than any other woman on her forehand and this is exactly what she started to do against Parslow. Whenever the length was short she could wind up and then either pummel the back with a hard low drive or take the ball into the front with a boast or stab kill. Parslow fought hard and managed to take the 3rd game but after a good start from Lawrence in the 4th she never looked back, claiming her 3rd National Racketball Title.
