RACKETLON

Racketlon anyone?

Stamford Endowed Schools recently hosted a new tournament, they tell us more

IN OCTOBER THE Stamford Schools played host to a national racketlon tournament with 50 competitors, some local, others travelling from around the country, competing in events split by age group, gender and ability. Forming a new arm of the Schools’ Sport for All initiative, it’s the first time a racketlon tournament has been held locally. So what exactly is racketlon?

Put simply it’s a quadrathlon of racket sports with each match comprising four games up to either 15 (for juniors) or 21 points (for adults). You play table-tennis, badminton, squash and then tennis, with every point counting. In rare situations a competitor could lose three out of the four sports and still win the match (if they lose very close games and then win big in their preferred sport). If the points are completely equal after all four sports (it happened twice in the

Stamford Open) then a ‘Gummi-arm’ is played. This means staying on the tennis court, the competitors spin for serve and whoever serves only gets a single ‘second’ serve and the point is then played out for the win. Deep breaths and nerves of steel are required to prevail in those instances. In most events, players compete against three, or even four, opponents in a day.

Racketlon isn’t new and has been popular in Europe for at least two decades and is now slowly gaining popularity in the UK with tournaments being held around the country. The beauty of the sport is the need to play four different and very contrasting games. hilst those playing in the top band are largely masters of all four disciplines, many competing in the age group events and lower senior bands will have a range of skills’ levels across the four games. Some will be nationally ranked players in one, but then a total novice in another. This means that when you are winning you have to try and win big and when losing, every point matters. It’s both physically and mentally demanding and a lapse in concentration can seriously shift a match.

It was great to see a number of the stalwarts of the racketlon circuit playing again for the first time since the pandemic in tamford as well as a large number of both children and adults trying out the sport for the first time. It is a sport open to all and it was lovely to see retirees playing against students studying for their GCSEs, and U13 matches being played alongside world ranked players.

A number of people local to Stamford and Rutland tried racketlon for the first time and we hope they will become hooked and want to enter future events and improve their own skills by joining local teams and clubs in some, or even all of the four sports. They will be received with open arms by many local clubs.

The tournament was a resounding success with 15 competitors trying out racketlon for the first time. The Men’s A was won by an Busby the current orld Number 3 but he was pushed closely by ermaine Manners who actually won the first two sports, both on tie breakers, before Dan managed to assert his authority on the match in the second half.

At the other end of the scale, the 13, 1 and Men’s events all featured several first time competitors who went on to achieve great results. This included Chase Burgess and Jamie Anderson, both local school boys, who came first and second in the 1 competition, and ohan undaje a sixth former at tamford who won the Men’s final against a far more experienced opponent.

Racketlon in Stamford will be back in 2022 and we hope many more of you will join us and try it out for the first time.