READY… SET… SPRINT!

Race Against the Clock Tournament – August 8

Shortening contests can be a great equalizer. Squash is generally a marathon wrapped around a series of small bursts, enveloped in a mental quagmire of continuous stress. Over the course of a 5 set match, the stronger player will typically end up on top. But what would happen if the extended time factor was removed?

I wonder how much more exciting soccer would be if matches were only 10 minutes long. Teams would be on the attack non-stop. It would remove the mind-numbing boringness of backwards passing amongst themselves simply to play ‘keepings-off” with the opposition. There would probably be more scoring too. I may even watch it. (Ha!) Would Usain Bolt be the fastest man on the planet if the 100m was reduced to 30 meters? How would baseball be played if teams only had 1 inning to score? What if the ‘Tour de France’ was shrunk to the ‘Tour de Liechtenstein’…? Silly questions, no doubt, but makes one wonder a little.

When a player of say a 3.5 standard plays against a player of a 4.0 level (for example), commonly the game scenario is one where the 3.5 player will keep up for a good portion of each game only to fade away at the ‘business’ end of it as he gets worn down through fitness and consistency. Would the result be different if the ‘business’ end of the game wasn’t necessary?

Let’s find out. Each match for this tournament will only be a few minutes long. The length of which will vary between 3 and 7 minutes. Your task is to win as many points as possible within the time limit assigned. So, you will not have time to wear down your opponent. Instead you will have to rely on your racquet skill to get you by. Take more risks; run a little harder… are you a better squash sprinter?? If, at the end of the time limit, the players are tied, a sudden death point will be played.

Players may be handicapped according to their level. Speaking of which, we’ll have a keg at hand for you to handicap yourself if you so choose! We will only be using the 2 courts downstairs for this one, and the format will be dependent on how many entrants we receive. A minimum of 16 players is required to run it. Matches start at 5pm, it shouldn’t take too long.