Fitness & Long racket rallies: squash/badminton or tennis ?

Possibly controversial...

The Australian Open semi between our Muzza and the Joke-ovic was good, it even included 2 40+ shot rallies.

I submit this squash video of World #1 Nick Matthew v Daryl Selby in the Swedish Open to show that 44-shots was just half the length of the rally. 75+ shots. 1:50 mins. And they just played on, no taking a rest for a minute, then bouncing the ball 20 times before serving again. Serve again in 10 secs.

Here is the Australian Open video (skip to 4:40-5:45to avoid the fluff)

Does anyone from Dyvours think that a male world tennis pro could stand toe-to-toe with with a squash pro after watching this?

And that is without allowing the 50-60 seconds Nole/Rafa take between points compared to 5 sec max between points in squash.

Caption Competition 2012

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Free squash bauble for the best one!

Pic is of Grange #1 & Pro Coach Kevin Moran (in grey top) v Gareth Naidoo at the Artemis Edinburgh Open

Ali Ross in Barbarians/HWU Doppelgänger Mishap

Apologies for the tardiness of this report for last week's Barbarians match - I've only just recovered enough to be able to write it. Last week's team was Richard Nisbet, Mike (me), Pete Young, Matt Pearson and Sicknote Grieve.

We arrived at Heriot-Watt on a wet and windy evening to be told that they had forgotten to book courts. But not to worry, they'd called Ali Ross who was trying to get some bloke called Pete Cockburn - all was in hand. Thinking it was a shame for Ali to get drawn into this - given how much else he does for the club - I texted Ali to say not to worry and that I would deal with it. But Ali (sounding a little confused) checked that the Accies courts were free and sent me the number to say we'd head there to play. The HWU guys then set about working out who could head into town to play and who still had homework to do. Things got a bit more confusing when they said they'd spoken to Ali Ross who was trying to sort transport. Above and beyond the call of duty I would say. I was just about to call Ali to apologise for all the hassle when a fair faced youth introduced himself as Ali Ross - playing number one for HWU. What're the chances of that?

As one of their team hadn't done his homework yet, Dave Grieve stayed to play his game at HWU and the rest of us headed into town.

By the time we arrived Dave had texted to say he'd won 3-0. And it wasn't long before Matt has shown great steel and determination to grind out a 3-0 victory; 2-0 to the Barbarians.

Peter was next on court and took the first as I went on court. When I came off having lost 3-0 in reasonably tight games against a player just too good, Pete was just 2-1 up. His opponent was beginning to get his range and it was soon 2-2. But in one of the grittiest performances of the season, Pete prevailed and we had won the match - fantastic result.

Lastly was Richard against Ali's doppelgänger. This was a bit crazy as Richard went down in 3. That's points. The young Ali was simply too fast and we wondered what the h*** he was doing in Division 5. Poor Richard didn't even get the chance to get warm.

Still, a great victory 14-8 against one of the Division's top sides.

Looking forward to next week already.

Mike

p.s. If it makes Richard feel any better, he might like to know that their Ali Ross won the previous week playing number 5 in Division 1 - and hasn't lost a match since last March !!!

p.p.s We had to buy our own tea - typical students.

Mike

Threes home v Dunbar (Thurs, Jan 26)

Happy campers arrived at Dunbar which was mercifully clear of snow. Christy played David Legge first so he could be home early for brownie points and compete at the Artemis at the weekend.
Strange game with Christy stiff as a board to lose the first, then Dave slowed up to lose the second then Christy went AWOL to lose the next two.
Richard Nisbet looked like he was in for a long tough match as the first game took 10 minutes,
but by then had got the upperhand and closed out the next 2 games.
Andy Whitelaw was hitting some great boast against Allan Ramsay but lost out in 4. Gavin was hitting and moving well against Alasdair but his nemesis shot (the one into the tin) came to haunt him as he lost in 4.
Dougie played Graeme Jones who was also Artemis-bound. Dougie played some great shots but any
thing slow or short and Graeme cut it off. After taking a close first game, Graeme closed it out 3-0.
Overall 5-20. Baked tatties with 4 toppings curry, cheese, tuna or egg-mayo to choose from.
Most of the chat was about the pros playing in the Artemis and anecdotes of players losing it on court.

Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Christy Looby	0	1	10			David Legge	1	3	29
2	Dougie Brown	0	0	6			Graeme Jones	1	3	27
3	Andrew Whitelaw	0	1	25			Allan Ramsay	1	3	32
4	Gavin Fulton	0	1	23			Alistair Nichol	1	3	30
5	Richard Nisbet	0	0	16			James Cunningham	1	3	28
Total		0	3	80				5	15	146
Competition Points		3						18

GRG1 V Dalgety Bay 2 (17 Jan 2012)

Slightly better result from last week. New number one doing the biz!!

Two's at Edin Uni Studs 1 (Wed, jan 25)

Reporter 1:

· Golden goblet of fire goes to Mike as man of the match for boasts tighter than two coats of paint

· Alan Stokes ‘same old performance’

· Tired motions from the captain "not-so-braveheart" Wallace trailing in the wake of better shots and stamina from the opposing no. 3 – never in the hunt

· Ominous omen for Sloan Ranger and Wallace for this weekend’s Artemis – fatted calves have been bought for sacrificing to the squash gods

Reporter 2:

· History repeating – Edinburgh Uni 1’s pumped us last week so last night wasn’t totally unexpected!

· Mike’s game was good at #5 and he showed resilience at the front of court with tricky drops. His opponent (surely half his age?!) had no reply.

· Mark, you must get something for your three spectacular dives towards the front wall!

· Sloppy (but not Giuseppe) - I think the lame pizzas should also get a mention!

Reporter 3: Did the technical coaching tip below work?

Mark/Mike – get listening to Eye of the Tiger now so that you’re adequately pumped up.

	Home Team: Grange 2					Away Team: Edinburgh University 2
Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points		Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Gordon Sloan	0	0	9		Mahmoud Moaz	1	3	27
2	Alan Stokes	0	2	36		Dominic Gaffney	1	3	35
3	Allan Wallace	0	0	10		Elliot Bourge	1	3	27
4	Mark Dutton	0	1	13		Richard McClay	1	3	35
5	Mike Gore	1	3	35		Moishe Steinbok	0	1	28
Total		1	6	103			4	13	152

GRG1 Vs Dalgety Bay 1 (25 Jan 2011)

Well what can I say. With results like these it is with good reason the 1s keep their results to themselves!!

Ian Forbes played Mike Sutherland at 5 and had the most success of the night almost taking it to 5! None the less putting a point on the board for the boys with enough for us!

Next door at 4 I got wiped by Ian Paltiel. 2 less points than last week. Didn't get a bloody serve until the second game!

RVL was up against Richard "the machine" Northin at 2. A rematch from the first half where RVL picked up a game in close fought encounter. The machine had been tuned up and was ready for Rich. Rich fought well but the Bay man was on clinical form. 3-0.

Allan Hamer back with us for the second time this season was hopeful of claiming a game this time against Alan Tasker. Zero points in the first not looking so hot! Al nabbed a point in the second which i missed. By the time a re-joined in the third Tasker was in mischievous mood and was playing some crazy shots. Craig Pounder marking -"Howay man ya cannae day that !" But he did! 3-0!

Will K rocked up to tackle John Meadley - Hooray!

Will again showing more signs of his old self but was never going to be enough against a player of John's quality, 3-0

Our combined points tally was probably not even enough to win a match but we enjoyed ourselves none the less, sort of. Good banter back at the Hillend Tav! Night not a total bust!

Pete