UK Racketball Arrives on a Squash Court in Memphis, Tennessee by John Branston Test of Balls: Squash, Racketball, and Racquetball
January 21, 2014
- I'm a sucker for equipment innovations and hybrid racquet sports,
probably because I have played so many of them and excelled at so few.
So when I read Richard Millman's story about how English racketball
helped him rehab his knees, I was curious to try it out to see how it
compares to squash and the faster and more familiar game of
racquetball.
Ted
Gross persuaded Karakal to send me some racketballs, I watched a
demonstration video to familiarize myself with the rules, and I
ransacked my attic for old racquets and balls. I came up with an
Ektelon racquetball and a couple of racquets – one of them ten years
old and the other an indestructible vintage 1970s Voit Impact teardrop
model to add another oddball ingredient to the experiment.
Then I headed for the squash courts at nearby Rhodes College. Memphis
actually has a place in court sports trivia history. Some 40 years ago,
U.S. handball champ Paul Haber played U.S. racquetball champ Bud
Muehleisen in a “Hands versus Racquet” challenge match at the
University of Memphis in front of a few hundred fans, many of them
laying wagers. (They played with a handball, and Haber won 2-1 after
losing the first game.)
My
playing partner, Shubho Banerjee, teaches physics at Rhodes and, like
me, played a fair amount of racquetball several years ago. Neither of
us had ever played racketball, which we dubbed “K-ball” to avoid
confusion. We warmed up each of the balls and tested them by dropping
them from a height of six feet. The racquetball was roughly twice as
bouncy as the K-ball which was twice as bouncy as a Dunlop double
yellow dot squash ball or Wilson double yellow dot.
For
those unfamiliar with the sport, bear with me. Racketball is played on
a squash court with a racquetball racquet and squash rules and lines,
except you have to bounce the ball to serve and you get two serves,
which seems overly generous. Racquetball is played on a longer,
narrower court without a tin, and the ceiling is in play. At the pro
level, points rarely last more than five or six seconds. But the slow
ball stayed up longer so my 64-year-old knees were able to get to a few
more short ones. It was easy to hit back-wall boasts, even with the
tiny Voit racquet, much less the jumbo modern racquet. We even played
several points with our squash racquets and found they worked well
enough, although I felt some soreness that night. (“More force
transferred to the arm,” Shubho explained.)
The
K ball is slower than the blue squash “beginner” ball. Needless to say,
in a town with about two dozen squash players total, neither ball has
caught on here, nor are they likely to. When we want to even up the
game for older or lower-level players, we play “long ball” squash,
where the ball has to cross the service line on the second bounce. In
“ultra long ball” it has to cross the line on the first bounce. It's
great for conditioning, rehab, and hitting good rails.
Then we went upstairs to the racquetball courts. We started with the
Ektelon racquetball, which was crazy fast even with our rusty skills.
Then we switched to the K ball with modern Ektelon racquets. We
agreed it was a better game. Neither of us could make a ceiling
ball come all the way to the back wall on the first bounce, which is a
common strategy in racquetball with a “q”. It reminded me of playing
paddleball in Ann Arbor in 1968 with a wooden paddle and a ball with a
pin hole in it. If I were the American racketball czar, I would order
that it be played with slow balls and smaller, seventies-size racquets.
Fat
chance. England and some other European countries apparently have a
surplus of squash courts and aging players, leading to the racketball
innovation. The U.S., on the other hand, has a surplus of racquetball
and tennis courts and a small number of squash courts in most states.
The most popular hybrid for seniors seems to be pickleball, with a
paddle, a small indoor or outdoor court, and a hard plastic ball.
To
each his own, or her own. My ambition is to invent a hybrid sport
involving Voit Impact racquets, squash balls of my choice, rules I
invent, and players of my age, demographic, and fitness profile. The
elusive national championship is within my grasp.
