Racketball squashes opposition in Huddersfield

Jul 7 2009 By Dave Himelfield

The association, the national governing body for squash, became England Squash and Racketball in February, bringing racketball under its wing.

The Huddersfield club, which runs adult beginner lessons every Tuesday (9.30am–10.30am), has about 200 racketball players already involved.

Hymas, who has taught racketball for three years, says the sport offers a less physically demanding alternative to squash.

He explained: “It’s easier to pick up than squash. For a novice, you can get bored with squash because it’s quite difficult to get the hang of, and adults don’t want to play mini-squash with a bouncier ball and smaller racket.

“But you can play racketball with a proper ball and full-size racket.

“It’s increased by 50% in popularity over the last three years. We get people from university age up until retirement.

“And older players won’t be suffering the next day as much as if they were playing squash.

“There just used to be squash leagues but now there are racketball leagues because there’s a demand for it.”

For more information on learning racketball, call Hymas on 07827 343378.

In 1976, Ian DW Wright created the sport of racketball based on US racquetball.

British racketball is played in a 32ft long by 21ft wide squash court – eight feet shorter and one foot wider than the US racquetball court – using a smaller, less dynamic ball than the American version.

The racketball is served after a bounce on the floor then struck into play with the racket.

Scoring is like squash, but with point-a-rally scoring of up to 15 points.