Saturday 7th October 2006

Organisers: Jo Robinson and Chris Taylor

Ebbisham Sports club held its second RACKETBALL HANDICAP SINGLES & PLATE CHAMPIONSHIPS and its first RACKETBALL DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIPS during July - October 2006, culminating in an enjoyable Finals Night combined with a buffet/social event.

There were 31 Ebbisham entrants in the HANDICAP SINGLES event, playing with handicaps ranging from -25 to +6, best of 3 games to 15, American scoring (point per rally). As well as the main Handicap competition, 1st round losers competed in a Plate event.

The appeal of this handicap event is that all standards of player can have an equal chance of getting to the final - and so it proved this year.

In the Handicap Singles Final, it was a fascinating battle between an experienced Racketball player, BARRY MARDEN (on -25) and JENNY MATHEWS (+2) who, prior to this Championship, had never played racketball before! But, since July 2006, she found she couldn't stop playing the game and, throughout the opening rounds, just got better and better! By the end of the Championships, her handicap of +2 was looking to be on the generous side considering the vast improvement in her game and she had Barry flying all over the court - but, with the games at 1-1, Barry's experience and fitness just gave him the edge in the final nail-biting game and he eventually won 2-1 (15/9, 2/15, 15/12).

In the HANDICAP PLATE event, good friends, RICHARD GRIER and ALAN LAMOND, were evenly-matched with Richard having to make up a -4 point deficit. The match really could have gone either way but Richard's steady play and fewer errors just squeezed him ahead to beat Alan 2-0 (15/14, 15/13).

The RACKETBALL DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIPS was a new addition this year as we'd had so many requests to try it this year as a fun event. We adopted the proper Racketball Doubles rules where everyone has to hit the ball in strict rotation (unlike Squash Doubles) and that took a bit of getting used to at first. We had 10 pairings battling it out in the early rounds, culminating with CHRIS JONES & BARRY MARDEN against father and son, ANDY & MICHAEL ROBINSON in the Final. Chris and Barry put up a brave fight but lost to Andy and Michael 2-0. Perhaps next year we'll make the Doubles best of 5 games, instead of just 3 as, unlike the Handicap event, the best of 3 games format seemed too quick!!

The Finals matches were followed by a presentation of individual trophies and cups, with everyone tucking into a wonderfully tasty buffet selection provided by Club caterers, HOSPITALITY PLUS. Some brave souls then enthusiastically threw themselves into the fun spirit of the evening with a bit of boogie and karaoke, provided by Club Member, JEFF WILES.

The whole event was again so successful that we'll definitely be repeating it again next year in 2007.

Jo Robinson