Racketball is included with your ActiveLife subscription and all equipment can be provided.

I have a background in racket sports having trained in table tennis for eight years back in the 1970’s.  I once played squash about 40 years ago but otherwise have no experience of this sport.

I was delighted to meet up with Andy Torbs, the current Orkney Racketball Champion in the Picky reception area and go down to the courts. The same courts are used for both squash and racketball.

Andy is currently a Scottish under 15 squash international who enjoys playing racketball as well as squash. He explained that we would be playing the UK version of racketball – in the USA they have a different format. He said that racketball is a newer game than squash and that it wasn’t a Commonwealth Games or Island Games sport like squash.

He finds that racketball is slightly easier than squash as the ball is slightly larger and more bouncy, the racket head slightly larger and the rules slightly looser which all sounded like good news for me!

I liked it because the racket head is near the hand, so a bit more like a table tennis bat in that way. When I last played squash it was with the old-style rackets with the head a long way from the hand which made it hard for me.

Andy said that we would first play some warm up rallies and then play a best of 5. It was very satisfying that I found some cross-over from my table tennis skills to racketball and I could immediately play the game enough to be able to get into some rallies with Andy and enjoy playing. I could see what a difference it made that the ball had a bit more bounce in it. This allows a little more time to get to the ball which is a bonus

Andy of course wiped the floor with me in his straight sets win but I was delighted that he let me win a few points here and there so that I wasn’t too disappointed!

I really enjoyed my first experience of racketball and would like to thank Andy for his time and for introducing me to the game. Good luck to him as he gears up to represent Orkney in squash at the 2019 Island Games in Gibraltar.

Other blogs in the “William’s ActiveLife” series:

ActiveLife – Get more people, more active, more often

ActiveLife is Orkney’s exciting leisure scheme offering unlimited access to 12 different sports and leisure venues across the county. The scheme by the Pickaquoy Centre Trust gives members access to Picky and 11 Council-owned fitness facilities. This includes access to health and fitness classes, swimming and health suite, kids activities, climbing wall, usage of the track and much more.

There is also ActiveIslands, a membership that gives islanders access to gym facilities and fitness classes on their specific island at a low monthly rate. You can find out all about ActiveLife and its benefits by visiting www.pickaquoy.co.uk/activelife.