Saturday 19th
October saw the introduction of Racketlon to New Zealand. A racquets phenomenon
which originated in Scandinavia is now being played worldwide with competitions
held all over Europe, Canada
and other parts of the world.. A full day event, consisting of four racket
sports - tennis, badminton, table tennis and squash – with all competitors
having to play all the sports in sequence.
It proved the perfect
event for testing players’ hand-eye abilities on unfamiliar territory, most
having only played one or two of the sports before. All arrived bright and
early at the Albany
Tennis Park
on Saturday morning where they were greeted by a bacon sandwich and a briefing
on the day ahead. All sports were played in men’s, ladies and mixed doubles
pairings allocated into groups in which they would remain for the day – come
what may!
Matches in each sport
were scored to 21 but had a time limit of 15 minutes per match due to the
booking times at each venue we had made. . The aim of Racketlon is to determine
which pair has the best accumulation of points across all four sports against
the other pairs in their group.
Therefore no one win ever decides a winner - every point counts until the final
exchange is settled.
The tennis started at
9am sharp with decent displays from the weekend warriors. As there is no North
Shore venue with facilities available for all sports, players made their way to
Badminton North Harbour for sport number two, and then onto North Harbour Table
Tennis. Ahead of schedule at this point there was even time for a spot of
lunch, physical (and psychological) recovery before the final round.
The event concluded at
North Shore Squash Club, where at close of play players advanced to the bar
with a magnificent view of a sunny Lake
Pupuke. Results were
calculated, crowning the winners of each group. This produced a range of
results with winners ranging from overseas Racketlon veterans (Chris Bright and
Owen Mugridge winners of Men’s 1) and high level badminton players (Brock
Matheson and Jennifer Doo winners of Mixed 1) to pairs made up of individuals
with differing dominant sports (David Frank and Michelle Heron winners of Mixed
2). Results illustrated that the winning tactical approach is hard to pick.
Winners of Men’s 2 were Glenn Cox and Kerrin Harrison (NZ badminton rep) and Nikki Howlett and Marusa Pogcnik came out
on top in the Women’s.
There was copious positive feedback on
the day. Donelle Roberts, a teacher at Marina View
School, said: “I had an absolutely wonderful day – it was
great to catch up with old friends and to have the chance to make new ones.
Loved all the sports – despite the lack of skill with most of them. Would be
keen to take part in a similar set up again and am thinking about trying to
play them on a recreational basis. The organisation was fantastic – everyone
was very supportive and friendly! Loved having the last event at Squash – what a
venue to sit and have a drink!”
Thanks goes to all those
involved in the organising of the event and to all who played in the pilot and
inaugural tournament, without you, the day would not have been possible.
