A racquetball tournament was held in Yorkton by Saskatchewan Racquetball, and the high-octane sport drew some intense competition and a great turnout.
Tanner Prentice, a Team Canada racquetball player, was onhand both to play and to help spread the sport.
“Racquetball Saskatchewan has worked on promoting racquetball as a sport,” says Prentice.
“We want to get it out there to the public, so we just put on this little tournament here [in Yorkton] for people that might be out of town [as well as] new beginners just to come try the sport out and have a lot of fun.”
Tanner caught the bug early on.
“When I was younger, I ended up joining – when I was about nine years old. My uncle Loren had owned his own racquetball club at the time and I kind of went in one day, caught on to it, and been going ever since – and loved it ever since. Kept going with it. The speed of the ball [is the appeal]. It's always good with everybody around, socializing. It's the speed of the ball, [and] it's a fast paced game. We do a lot of lessons and different clinics with schools.”
Prentice says that the experience is positive but the differences become more apparent as the skills progress.
“It depends on the amount of people in each category. Sometimes you'll have just beginners' levels, like C, B, A. Open is your highest level until pro. For these little tournaments you just go open. For more beginners they're typically Level B, learning how to play and ref the game and stuff.”
There are some transferrable skills from tennis and squash, but the sports do differ.
“[In] squash, you have the tin up front. In racquetball, you don't have tin. You can hit the ball as low as you can. The court's a lot longer. It's 40 feet longer and 20 feet wide, and 20 feet high.Also, unlike tennis, you're not hitting over a net. In racquetball, the swings are a bit different and the racquet size is a bit different. In racquetball, you kind of want to hit it flat. In tennis, you're putting a lot of spin over top of the ball. It would tie over pretty well if you took some time.”
“This is the third year that I've ran the Yorkton Open for the Gloria Hayden Centre,” said Sean Prentice of Racquetball Saskatchewan.
“I'm vice president of the Sask Racquetball Association. We don't have a lot of facilities in the province. Two of the nicest courts are sitting right here in Yorkton, and we like to see 'em used, and we'd like to see more people coming to Yorkton, trying to host events up here and getting people, showcasing the sport a bit and growing the sport in Yorkton. Squash is a little more tactical, kind of like a chess game, but racquetball is a lot higher octane.”
