It’s November – how did that happen?

Last time I posted it was the summer, now all of a sudden the nights have drawn in and it is dark already as I type this. Racketlon activity has been thin on the ground from a personal point of view since the English Open back in August. Despite being a summer sport, club tennis seems to have more fixtures in winter than in summer. That’s not to say nothing has been going on, the British Doubles Championships have taken place, as have the county champs and there is the forthcoming British Open.

It is around this time of year I start planning which events to attend next year so looking forward to seeing the 2012 calendar take shape over the coming weeks and months. Despite being able to play less events than 2010 it has been great, as always, to be involved in Racketlon – met and played some new faces and it is fantastic to see expanded entries at a lot of tournaments. From a ranking point of view sitting inside the top 50 in both the domestic and overall leaderboards is a nice statistic to take into the new season.

Good luck to all those playing at the British Open on 6 November.

English Open – report

I attended the Planacy English Open at the weekend, write up and podium places are available here .

As always the event was a great example of tournament organisation, everything ran to schedule and it was great to see such a high number of entries.  From a personal point of view 21 out of 32 in the B class was disappointing on paper.  Overall it was 2 wins and 2 defeats, the two defeats coming against regular A class competitors – but it did reinforce the need for my badminton in particular to be more consistent.  My two wins both came down to tennis, and it was nice to have the opportunity to play my strongest sport!

A couple of events remain on the UK tour this year although it is likely to be 2012 before my next tournament, a case now of getting back into the routine of regular training and getting fitness levels back up.

[UPDATE]: Forgot to mention, and thanks to Keith for reminding me, video of the event is available on the homepage of English Racketlon

I recommend “Bounce” by Matthew Syed

I wrote previously about “Winning Ugly” by Brad Gilbert which is an excellent read for any sportsperson, and in particular those who play tennis regularly.  Recently I picked up a copy of “Bounce” by ex-England table tennis player Matthew Syed.  Having read it through cover to cover I would recommend this to anyone who plays sport, watches sport or indeed has any sort of interest in psychology and inherited personality traits.

British Champs at Dudley

Having not been in a tournament for a few months was more than happy to come back from the heart of the Black Country with a 3rd place in the mens B and thereby achieving my highest number of rankiing points in a single competition.  A word first though on the venue and the organisation both of which were more than excellent.  All the matches ran on time (if not early), very little queuing, superb facilities and very friendly David Lloyd staff.  It also made a massive difference that all the courts were close by with no treks out to far flung sports halls, it all helped to create a good tournament atmosphere.  All of the above contributed massively to a great British Championships……

Blackburn? Try it you might like it!

Lancashire Open takes place this weekend, unfortunately family reunion prevents me from going but it would be great to see the entries take off – still plenty of space at the event…. There have been lots of requests for more northern events (from me included) so it would be great to see numbers fill up.

The upcoming British Champs in May are being held in Dudley, West Midlands – fully intend to attend that event – and great to have another event in the Midlands.  Hopefully with events taking place across a wider area then the sport can continue to attract new players and keep the numbers growing.

The number of members/participants is important in any sport, my local tennis club has seen a slight but consistent downturn in senior members over the last two to three years.  To a degree the generally worsening economic climate has had an impact on this, but also I feel the sheer number of different sports people can partake in also has an impact.  In Nottingham alone there are highly active clubs for amongst others; dragon boat racing, kick boxing, rowing, climbing – 5-10 years ago these would be have been far less accessible to a lot of people.

I really do foresee a lot of sports clubs closing or merging with others in the coming years, as public sector cuts kick in and membership falls in some places, that said numbers in Racketlon seem to be growing and the year has begun very well in terms of attendance at tournaments.

Here’s hoping the Lancashire event goes well and becomes a permanent fixture on the calendar.

(Finally) back into action [UPDATED]

Been a long time coming but finally got back into Racketlon action at the Cambridgeshire Open yesterday.  Held at Huntingdon’s ‘One Leisure’ I have to say it was one of the best tournaments in terms of not having to queue for courts and matches running on time.  Venue was great, all the courts were in good nick and a full entry in all the categories made for a fantastic event so a massive thank you for everyone involved in running and organising it.

I was satisfied with my personal form on return to action, my first round match ended in defeat to the eventual winner – but was pleased to note that at the end of competition I achieved the best score in defeat to him.  The defeat was followed by two good wins, both of which involved tough squash and badminton rubbers and a satisfactory 5th place in B class.  With results going the way they did I actually played very little tennis in the day – always a shame when it is your strongest sport, but that said I play enough of it the rest of the year so didn’t miss it too much.

The event did remind me just what I had been missing, despite knowing you will hurt the next day it was great to get back into competition and meet some new faces, I still haven’t played anyone more than once, and I think that was about my eight or ninth tournament.  It was also great to see the ladies event near or at capacity, it can only help the sport develop and hopefully attract more new faces over the coming months and years.

The Cambridgeshire Open was a definite good event to break myself back in, albeit my body didn’t feel like it was a good idea when I woke up this morning.  Hopefully the result I achieved should push me back up into the top 50, and am looking to more points at Hertfordshire Open and British Championships in April and May respectively.  Until then it is back to training….

Full details of 2011 tour as it stands can be found here

UPDATE: Full list of Cambridgeshire Racketlon open results here

Recommended read

For any racket sport player and fan I would strongly recommend Brad Gilbert’s “Winning Ugly”. Brad Gilbert was a successful tennis player in his own right. Certainly never a classic or entertaining player to watch, but he made the most of his limited resources to win a lot of matches, and had a reputedly for taking down higher ranked players than himself. The book focuses on his tips and techniques for getting the most from yourself.

Whilst the book focuses on tennis, and indeed mostly singles, a vast majority of it can be applied to any of the four major racket sports. A lot of the advice seems simple and obvious but you would be surprised when you look at yourself honestly just how much of the obvious things you don’t do.

Where the book excels is in the mental approach to the game and there are excellent pieces on evaluating your weaknesses and strengths and applying them against your opponents. For people who play Racketlon I think it is a fantastic book to read, after all in your weaker sports it is all about making sure you grind out those vital points.

Gilbert applied his successes to career coaching, he achieved great success with Andre Agassi, and to a lesser degree with Andy Murray.

The book has been out a while, so no doubt you can pick it up quite cheaply. Stick it on that list for Santa – happy reading.

2011 Racketlon tour begins to take shape….

There are the big stories – spending cuts, Rooney deciding to be an arsehole, and then of course there are the important stories – the news that the 2011 UK Racketlon tour is starting take shape is obviously one of those.  All joking aside though it is good to see some new events on the calendar for 2011.  Take a bow Cambridge, and Blackburn who are due to be hosting their first events next year.

We were promised “more events up north” which as a Nottingham resident is always welcome, I am not sure if Cambridge counts as a “northern” event but it is certainly nearer (and cheaper!) than London.  From my point of view – great news, less appealing is of course the fact that the British Championships in January have been moved to Croydon.  No doubt there are entirely valid financial and/or logistical reasons behind it, but it adds journey time for us northerners, and expense when wallets are still recovering from the Christmas and New Year assault!  That said, I fully intend to make the effort to get down there.

As my previous posts have alluded to – holidays, injury and house moves have all meant that the 2nd half of 2010 has been very racketlon free so am aiming to get back into the swing of things early 2011.  Thankfully my ranking has kept itself just inside the top 50 (48th to be precise) which am more than happy with, so onwards to 2011….

192 miles, 13 days, a bit of rain and a lot of enjoyment

Just back from doing the Coast to Coast walk across Britain.  This involves a 192 mile walk in 13 days from St Bees Head on the west coast to Robin Hoods Bay on the east coast.  The walk was enjoyable and gave me a chance to see several areas of England I had never been too.  The weather was on the whole excellent, a bad 2nd day of hail, rain and 50mph winds was soon a distant memory.

As a bonus also got to sample some excellent bed and breakfasts, and eat some amazing food.  I would strongly recommend it to anyone.  If anyone is interested then check out Packhorse Coast to Coast who helped organise the trip for my Dad and I.  Additionally if you want a preview of just how stunning the walk is then feel free to check out my photos from the trip over here

So what does it all have to do with Racketlon?  Well, not a lot!  But it did keep me fit.

A vast majority of the Racketlon season is now done so will be building up to English Champs in January next year.  With all the holidaying, house moves now out of the way hoping to get back into a routine of regular training, so all being well I shall have an inujry free winter in order to get my Racketlon edge back!

When real life gets in the way….

Nottingham Open – missed!

Welsh Open – missed!

English Open – can’t attend!

Not a great summer of Racketlon then, and loss of some ranking points, but unfortunate combo of weddings, holidays and moving house have all conspired against me this summer… when there are maybe 5-6 tournaments in a year, and especially when they tend to be down south it is frustrating to miss out 3 tournaments I entered last year.

Looking at the current schedule for remainder of the year, it maybe that next tournament I play in isn’t until 2011.  Having said a few recent aches and strains means a bit of rest may do me some good.  But once all the house moving is out of the way then the intention is to regroup and get back into serious training across all four sports.

Whilst tennis matches mean I never lack for court time, have had very little time to play badminton or squash at the levels I want, or need, to keep progressing through the ranks.

In the meantime though I will be keepin my eye in where possible and watching with interest the results that come out of the English Open.