Lilleshall Squash and Racketball Club will be hosting a charity racketball tournament on Saturday 6 April to raise funds for ‘The Lingen Davies Cancer Unit’ based at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, which provides care and treatment for Prostate cancer patients.
The tournament was initiated by Les Bywater, an LSRC Club Member, who recently underwent treatment himself at the Lingen Davies unit and has since gone into remission. Les was determined to ‘give something back’ to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and as a regular racketball player, he decided to channel his passion for sport and help to raise money for charity.
Les said: “This time last year I was playing racketball and cycling 30 miles a week. I felt fit and well and was enjoying life. I decided to change GP surgery and was advised to have some blood tests, one of which was a PSA (Prostate -Specific Antigen) test.
“It turned out I had aggressive prostate cancer, which is how I was introduced to the Lingen Davies Cancer Unit based at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. All the staff within Lingen Davies from the reception and admin, to nursing staff and Radiographers and Oncologists are wonderful. They are kind and patient – nothing is too much trouble. I spent seven-and-a-half weeks travelling to Shrewsbury every day for radiotherapy.
“The Lingen Davies Cancer Unit has three Linear Radiotherapy Machines, which were funded by The League of Friends based at The Princess Royal and The Royal Shrewsbury Hospitals. These machines are running all day Monday to Friday, treating approximately 100 patients per day. Eventually these machines will need to be updated and replaced.
“On February 28th 2019, I was given the good news that I have had an excellent response to treatment. So, as I have always loved to play squash and now racketball, I thought it would be the perfect way to give something back to The Lingen Davies Cancer Unit by organising a Racketball Competition.”
The tournament, which is being organised with support from Club Vice-Chairman Andy Reed, will be held on Saturday 6 April 2019, from 10:30am – 1:30pm at Lilleshall National Sports Centre, near Newport, Telford. The tournament will feature 20 players, who will be performing in four teams of five. Les will be taking part in the event, alongside his son Luke and wife Helen.
Each player will be donating a £10 entry fee and refreshments (i.e. sandwiches) and medals will be provided for the competitors. Supporters are more than welcome to attend the event too and they have the option of providing a donation to the charity. You can donate to the Lingen Davies charity fund over at Just Giving: https://www.justgiving.com/lingendavies
A raffle ticket prize draw is also taking place following the conclusion of the tournament and strips of raffle tickets are available to buy from Andy Reed and Helen Bywater for £5 per strip. Andy and Helen are available to approach about tickets on Wednesday evening club nights.
Local companies and other generous individuals affiliated with the club have contributed prizes for the draw, and these prizes include:
- £50 online voucher – Just Rackets
- HEAD Racket Bag – HEAD UK
- 1 Year’s free Club Membership – LSRC
- Beauty treatment voucher – Tranquillity, St Georges (via Dave Diss)
- Sweatshirt – Lilleshall National Sports Centre
- Meal voucher for the Woodbridge Inn Pub – Woodbridge Inn Pub, Ironbridge
- (Flowers Hanging) Basket Geni – Jacky Williams
- Bottle of Bells whiskey – Les Bywater
- Bottle of wine – Andy Reed
- Bottle of wine – Paul Evans
In addition, Lilleshall National Sports Centre has kindly agreed to cover the costs of the court lights for the duration of the tournament and Pete Williams has also sponsored the purchase of the medals and trophy for the event.
Confirmed Teams:
(A) Team McClelland (Wearing WHITE)
- Steve McClelland
- Paul Evans
- Joel Reed
- David Frost
- Hazel Johns
(B) Team Bywater (Wearing BLUE)
- Luke Bywater
- Dave Johns
- Les Bywater
- Chris Cooper
- Helen Bywater
(C) Team Redstone (Wearing RED)
- Kevin Redstone
- Stuart Moore
- Ian Roberts
- David Diss
- Elaine Evans
(D) Team Westwood (Wearing BLACK)
- Gary Westwood
- Pete Langston
- Tim Mansell
- Andy Napier
- Tony Waldron
First Round Match-Ups:
SEMI-FINAL – MATCH ONE
Court 4: 10:30am
Team McClelland vs Team Westwood
Steve McClelland v Gary Westwood
Paul Evans v Pete Langston
Joel Reed v Tim Mansell
David Frost v Andy Napier
Hazel Johns v Tony Waldron
SEMI-FINAL – MATCH TWO
Court 5: 10:30am
Team Bywater vs Team Redstone
Luke Bywater v Kevin Redstone
Dave Johns v Stuart Moore
Les Bywater v Ian Roberts
Chris Cooper v Dave Diss
Helen Bywater v Elaine Evans
BRONZE MEDAL PLAY-OFF MATCH
Court 5: 12:00pm (Approx. Time)
Losing Team of SEMI-FINAL ONE vs Losing Team of SEMI-FINAL TWO
GOLD/SILVER MEDAL MATCH
Court 4: 12:00pm (Approx. Time)
Winning Team of SEMI-FINAL ONE vs Winning Team of SEMI-FINAL TWO
Tournament Rules:
- Each racketball team has been seeded from 1-5, with the number one seeds acting as team captains.
- The corresponding seeds from each team will contest games against each other, e.g. 5 v 5, 4 v 4 and so on, all the way through to 1 vs 1.
- The fifth seeds will always start off each match and the team order will then run through, finishing with 1 v 1.
- All team matches are best-of-five games, i.e. you will require three (or more) members of your team to win their respective games to win the match. Possible match scores therefore could be 3-2, 4-1, or 5-0.
- Each game will feature a two minute warm-up period on court. This two minutes will start and end on a buzzer operated by the tournament organiser. Players can also warm-up on Courts 1-3 (if available) prior to their games.
- Each game will last 15 minutes exactly, with the start and end of the game indicated by a buzzer operated by the tournament organiser.
- The normal rules of racketball will apply during game, with PARS (Point-A-Rally-Scoring) in operation.
- However, each game will not be played with traditional racketball scoring (e.g. a game up to 11 points), but instead will carry on straight the way through the full 15 minute time allocation, with PARS in operation.
- To win a game, you must simply be leading your opponent when the 15 minute buzzer sounds, e.g. 32-20.
- Should a game end in a draw, e.g. 24-24 points-all, then the player who reached 24 first would be deemed the winner.
- After the conclusion of a game, the next available seeds should be waiting to walk straight on court for their allocated warm-ups. This will ensure we keep on track with timings.
- Markers will be on-hand to keep the scores during matches and they will make decisions on let/stroke calls. Markers will be independent, i.e. not part of either team contesting a match. The marker’s decision is always final.
