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{{two other uses||the individual piece of sports equipment|Racket|the illegal business|Racket (crime)}}
{{Refimprove|date=November 2007}}
[[Image:Aejcollins rpkeigwin lr.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[R. P. Keigwin]] (right) with [[AEJ Collins]] the College's rackets team at [[Clifton College]] circa 1902]]
{{Taxobox
'''Rackets''' ([[British English]]) or '''Racquets''' ([[American English]]) is an indoor [[racquet sport]] played in the [[United Kingdom]], [[United States]], and [[Canada]]. The sport is infrequently called "hard rackets," possibly to distinguish it from the related sport of [[squash (sport)|squash]] (formerly called "squash rackets").
| name = Okapi
| status = LR/nt | status_system = IUCN2.3
| trend = stable
| image = Okapi2.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = An okapi at [[Walt Disney World|Disney's]] [[Disney's Animal Kingdom|Animal Kingdom]]
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[Mammal]]ia
| ordo = [[Artiodactyla]]
| familia = [[Giraffidae]]
| subfamilia = [[Okapiinae]]
| genus = '''''Okapia'''''
| range_map=Okapi_distribution.PNG
| range_map_caption=Range map
| genus_authority = [[Ray Lankester|Lankester]], 1901
| species = '''''O. johnstoni'''''
| binomial = ''Okapia johnstoni''
| binomial_authority = ([[P.L. Sclater]], 1901)
}}


==Manner of play==
The '''Okapi''' (''Okapia johnstoni'') is a [[mammal]] native to the [[Ituri Rainforest]], located in the northeast of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], in central Africa. Although the Okapi bears striped markings reminiscent of the [[zebra]], it is most closely related to the [[giraffe]].
Rackets is played in a 30 by 60 foot (9.14 × 18.28 m) enclosed court, with a ceiling at least 30 feet (9.14 m) high. Singles and doubles are played on the same court. The walls and floor of the court are made of smooth stone or concrete and are generally dark in color to contrast with the white ball. The players use 30½ inch (775 mm) wooden [[racket]]s to hit a 38mm (1.5 inch) hard white ball weighing 28 grams. A good stroke must touch the front wall above an 26 1/2-inch-high wooden (often cloth-covered) board before touching the floor. The ball may touch the side walls before reaching the front wall. The player returning a good stroke may play the ball on the volley, or after one bounce on the floor. The play is extremely fast, and potentially quite dangerous. Lets are common, as the striker must not play the ball if doing so risks hitting another player with it. Matches preferably are observed by a "marker," who has the duty to call "Play" after each good stroke to denote that the ball is "up." Games are to 15 points, unless the game is tied at 13-all or 14-all, in which case the game can be "set" to 16 or 18 (in the case of 13-all) or 17 (in the case of 14-all) at the option of the player first reaching 13 or 14; only the server can score — the receiver gains the right to serve by winning a rally. Return of service can be extremely difficult, and, in North America, only one serve is allowed. Matches are typically best of 5 games.
[[Image:ToffRackets.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A [[Toff]] playing with the rabble in prison]]
Because the game of [[squash rackets]] (now known as 'squash') began in the 19th century as an off-shoot of rackets, the sports were similar in manner of play and rules. However, the rules and scoring in squash have evolved in the last hundred years or so. Rackets has changed little; the main difference today is that players are now allowed brief rest periods between games. In the past, leaving the court could mean forfeiting the match, so players kept spare rackets, shirts, and shoes in the gutter below the telltale on the front wall.


The governing bodies are the [[Tennis and Rackets Association]] (UK) and the [[North American Rackets Association]].
==Etymology==
The genus name ''Okapia'' derives from the ''[[Lese language|Lese]] Karo'' name ''o'api'', while the species' [[epithet]] (''johnstoni'') is in recognition of the explorer Sir [[Harry Johnston]], who organized the expedition that first acquired an okapi specimen for science from the [[Ituri Forest]] in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]].


==History==
The name "Okapi" is a portmanteau of two ''Lese'' words. ''Oka'' a verb meaning to cut and ''Kpi'' which is a noun referring to the design made on Efe arrows by wrapping the arrow with bark so as to leave stripes when scorched by fire. The stripes on the legs of the Okapi resemble these stripes on the arrow shafts. Lese legend says the okapi decorates itself with these stripes.
[[Image:KFRackets.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Rackets being played at a Prison - where the game developed]]
Rackets began as an 18th century pastime in London's [[King's Bench Prison|King's Bench]] and [[Fleet Prison|Fleet]] [[debtors prison]]s. The prisoners modified the game of [[fives]] by using tennis rackets to speed up the action. They played against the prison wall, sometimes at a corner to add a sidewall to the game. Rackets then became popular outside the prison, played in alleys behind pubs. It spread to schools, first using school walls, and later with proper four-wall courts being specially constructed for the game. Some historians assert that the game was codified through its popularity at the [[Harrow School]] in London, where it was played as early as the second half of the 18th century.


Some private clubs also built courts. Along with [[real tennis]] and [[badminton]], rackets was used as an inspiration for the game of [[tennis|lawn tennis]], invented in 1873. A vacant rackets court built into the University of Chicago's [[Stagg Field]] served as the location of the first artificial [[nuclear chain reaction]] on [[December 2]], [[1942]]. The Stagg Field court is often mistakenly identified as having been a "squash rackets" court.
==Characteristics and behavior==
Rackets was part of the [[1908 Summer Olympics]] program.
Okapis have dark backs, with striking horizontal white stripes on the front and back [[legs]], making them resemble [[zebra]]s from a distance. These markings are thought to help young follow their mothers through the dense [[rain forest]]; they also serve as camouflage.


==Court locations==
The body shape is similar to that of the giraffe, except that okapis have much shorter necks. Both species have very long (approx. 30 cm or 12 inch), flexible, blue tongues that they use to strip leaves and buds from trees.
{{Cleanup-section|date=August 2008}}
As happens with sports, interests shift. Today it is perhaps the most obscure and least approachable of racket sports. Court upkeep, handmade balls, and breakable wooden rackets make it an expensive game. It also requires lessons and practice to play safely and enjoyably. On the other hand, many who take up the sport do so enthusiastically.


See Carlow Sports and Social Club
[[Image:Okapitongue.jpg|thumb|left|An okapi cleaning its [[snout|muzzle]] with its [[tongue]].]]
The tongue of an okapi is long enough for the animal to wash its eyelids and clean its ears (inside and out): it is one of the few mammals that can lick its own ears. Male okapis have short, skin-covered horns called "[[ossicone]]s". They have large [[ears]], which help them detect their predator, the [[leopard]].


===United Kingdom===
Okapis are 1.9 to 2.5 m (8.1 ft) long and stand 1.5 to 2.0 m (6.5 ft) high at the shoulder. They have a 30 to 42 cm (12 to 17 in) long tail. Their weight ranges from 200 to 270 kg (465 to 565 lb).


There are about twenty courts in some of the major [[Independent school (UK)|public school]]s and private clubs in the United Kingdom.
Okapis are largely [[Diurnal animal|diurnal]], although recent photo captures have challenged this long held assumption. A photograph taken in the early hours of the morning around 02:33 shows an okapi feeding in the Watalinga forest in the north of the [[Virunga National Park]] in eastern DRC, thus providing evidence that they don't only feed during the daytime. Okapis are essentially solitary, coming together only to breed.


====Schools====
Okapis forage along fixed, well-trodden paths through the forest. They live alone or in mother-offspring pairs. They have overlapping home ranges of several square kilometers and typically occur at densities of about 0.6 animals per square kilometer.
*[[Charterhouse School]]
*[[Cheltenham College]]
*[[Clifton College]] - recently refurbished for the world championships
*[[Eton College]]
*[[Haileybury College]]
*[[Harrow School]]
*[[Malvern College]]
*[[Marlborough College]]
*[[Radley College]]
*[[Rugby School]]
*[[St Paul's School (London)]] [http://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/page.aspx?id=8391]
*[[Tonbridge School]]
*[[Wellington College]]
*[[Winchester College]]


====Clubs====
The home ranges of males are generally slightly larger than those of females. They are not social animals and prefer to live in large, secluded areas. This has led to problems with the okapi population due to the shrinking size of the land they live on. This lack of territory is caused by development and other social reasons. However, okapis tolerate each other in the wild and may even feed in small groups for short periods of time.{{Who|date=July 2007}}


*BRNCC Dartmouth
Okapis have several methods of communicating their territory, including [[scent gland]]s on each foot that leave behind a tar-like substance which signals their passage, as well as urine marking. Males are protective of their territory, but allow females to pass through their domain to forage.
*Hayling Island
*Manchester Tennis & Racket Club
*Queens Club, London
*RMA Sandhurst


===North America===
Okapis prefer altitudes of 500 to 1,000 m, but may venture above 1,000 m in the eastern [[montane]] [[rainforest]]s. The range of the okapi is limited by high [[montane]] forests to the east, swamp forests below 500 m to the west, savannas of the [[Sahel]]/[[Sudan (region)|Sudan]] to the north, and open woodlands to the south. Okapis are most common in the [[Wamb]]a and [[Epulu]] areas.


There are eight active courts in North America, all at private clubs:
==Diet==
*[[Chicago]]
Okapis are herbivores, eating tree leaves and buds, [[Poaceae|grass]], [[fern]]s, [[fruit]], and [[fungus|fungi]]. Many of the plant species fed upon by the okapi are poisonous to humans.
:Chicago has 2 courts. Opened in 1924, with a Court Tennis and two double squash courts
*[[Detroit]]
:Opened in 1902, designed by the noted architect Albert Kahn. Constructed by Joseph Bickley. Originally open to the air with natural lighting until it was glazed over with lights added in 1912
*[[New York]]
:Opened in 1918 on Park Avenue, the building designed by Mckim, Mead and White. The building originally housed two courts, although one was converted to a double squash court in 1956
*[[Tuxedo Park]]
:Opened in 1902
*[[Philadelphia]]
:Opened in 1907 with two courts, one of which now has been converted to a double squash court
*[[Boston]]
:Opened in 1902, with two courts, one of which has now been converted to a double squash court
*[[Montreal]]
:Opened in 1889, the court was constructed four feet longer and two feet wider to facilitate doubles play. It was resized to regulation 60 x 40 feet in 1909


There may be unused courts elsewhere in the former [[British Empire]] that are still in good condition. Rackets is overwhelmingly a male sport.
Examination of okapi [[feces]] has revealed that the [[charcoal]] from trees burnt by [[lightning]] is consumed as well. Field observations indicate that the okapi's mineral and salt requirements are filled primarily by a [[sulfur]]ous, slightly salty, reddish clay found near rivers and streams.


{| class="wikitable"
==History==
|+Disused Courts / Converted Courts
The okapi was known to the [[ancient Egyptians]]; shortly after its discovery by Europeans, an ancient carved image of the animal was discovered in [[Egypt]].<ref>[http://www.zoo.ac.za/newsletter/issues/02/07.html Okapi - between legend and science] from Zoo-E News March 2007 Number 2</ref> For years, Europeans in Africa had heard of an animal that they came to call the 'African [[unicorn]]'.
!Country
[[Image:okapi from the rear arp.jpg|thumb|right|An okapi at [[Bristol Zoo]] cleans itself]]
!Name
!City
!Information
|-
|rowspan=6|USA
|The University Club
|Detroit
|The last court built in North America, constructed by Joseph Bickley. This court is unused, in a now vacant building
|-
|The Tavern Club
|Cleveland
|36th and Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, USA - Now houses a doubles squash court
|-
|The [[Pittsburgh Athletic Association]]
|Pittsburgh
|5th Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The court now houses three squash rackets courts installed laterally, making use of the original walls of the hard rackets court. The marker's gallery is still present.
|-
|St Louis
|-
|Unknown
|-
|Lakewood
|New Jersey
|Unused
|-
|rowspan=13|UK
|Avebury Manor
|Listed building
|Avebury, Marlborough, Wiltshire
|-
|Belmont House
|Wraxall
|This is in Bristol. Built in the 1860s by Williams Gibbs, whom made his fortune out of guano bird droppings imported from the Pacific!. A popular Victorian garden fertilizer. It passed through the family and was last owned by the second Lord Wraxall.
|-
|Copped Hall[http://www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk/]
|Loughton
|This is in Essex. The main house is under restoration, the rackets court has now been converted into a tea rooms, the gallery still remains.
|-
|Park Place Estate
|Henley-on Thames
|Built in 1900, it is at the moment in disrepair, but plans are afoot to restore it to its former glory.
|-
|Fyvie Castle
|Scotland
|Fyvie Castle was built in 1903. Restored and used as a playhouse / exhibition space
|-
|Stoneyhurst College,
|Clitheroe, Lancashire
|Converted to squash courts in 1933
|-
|Newcastle
|Part of the University Building
|Now used for ping pong
|-
|Kinloch Castle
|Rum, Scotland
|-
|Rackets Court
|Parsonage Lane, Market Lavington.
|-
|[[Rossall School]]
|
|Converted to squash courts
|-
|Royal Naval College
|Greenwich
|These two courts were built in 1874 & converted to squash courts in 1882, and now converted into an exhibition space
|-
|Stonehouse
|Millbay
|Converted to squash courts in 1930's
|-
|Worcester
|Samsome Walk
|Converted to apartments
|-
|rowspan=5|Ireland
|Leinster Lane
|Dublin
|Now used as a book archive for the National Library.
|-
|Trinity College
|Dublin
|Now used as a bookstore and possibly to be absorbed in new building development.
|-
|Dawson Street
|Dublin
|Now used as a car park, including vehicle lift.
|-
|Carlton House
|Maynooth
|Believed absorbed in current commercial development.
|-
|Curragh Army Camp
|
|Converted to squash courts.
|-
|rowspan=1|Gibraltar
|
|Now converted into a Squash Club
|-
|rowspan=1|Australia
|Melbourne Club
|Melbourne
|Converted into squash courts 1913


----
In his travelogue of exploring the Congo, [[Henry Morton Stanley]] mentioned a kind of [[donkey]] that the natives called the 'atti', which scholars later identified as the okapi. Explorers may have seen the fleeting view of the striped backside as the animal fled through the bushes, leading to speculation that the okapi was some sort of rainforest zebra.


==Tournaments==
When the British governor of [[Uganda]], Sir [[Harry Johnston]], discovered some [[pygmy]] inhabitants of the Congo being abducted by a German showman for exhibition in Europe, he rescued them and promised to return them to their homes. The grateful pygmies fed Johnston's curiosity about the animal mentioned in Stanley's book. Johnston was puzzled by the okapi tracks the natives showed him; while he had expected to be on the trail of some sort of forest-dwelling horse, the tracks were of some cloven-hoofed beast.
The world championship for singles (and doubles) is decided in a challenge format. If the governing bodies accept the challenger's qualifications, he plays the reigning champion in a best of 14 games format (best of 7 games on each side of the Atlantic). If each player wins seven games, the total point score is used as a tie breaker. The current singles champion is [[Harry Foster (rackets player)|Harry Foster]]. The current doubles champions are Neil Smith and Mark Hubbard, who won the first doubles challenge following the retirement of [[Alister Robinson]] and Guy Barker.


== World Championship ==
Though Johnston did not see an okapi himself, he did manage to obtain pieces of striped skin and eventually a skull. From this skull, the okapi was correctly classified as a relative of the [[giraffe]]; in 1902, the species was formally recognized as ''Okapia johnstoni''.
Organized on a challenge basis, the first champion in 1820 was Robert Mackay ([[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain]]).


===Recent winners===
The first live specimen in [[Europe]] arrived in [[Antwerp]] in 1918. The first okapi to arrive in [[North America]] was at the [[Bronx Zoo]], via Antwerp, in 1937. The first okapi born in captivity was at [[Brookfield Zoo]] in Illinois, which directs the Okapi Species Survival Plan for the [[Association of Zoos and Aquariums]] (AZA).
*2005– Harry Foster (Great Britain)
*2001–5 James Male (Great Britain)
*1999–2001 Neil Smith (USA)
*1988–99 James Male (Great Britain)
*1986–8 John Prenn (Great Britain)
*1984–6 William Boone (Great Britain)
*1981–4 John Prenn (Great Britain)
*1975–81 William Surtees (USA)
*1973–4 Howard Angus (Great Britain)
*1972–3 William Surtees (USA)
*1954–72 Geoffrey Atkins (Great Britain)
*1947–54 [[James Dear]] (Great Britain)
*1937–47 Donald Milford (Great Britain)
*1929–35 Charles Williams (Great Britain)
*1913–29 Jock Soutar (USA)
*1911–13 Charles Williams (Great Britain)
*1903–11 J. Jamsetji (India)
*1887–1902 Peter Latham (Great Britain)


==References==
[[Image:Okapi at Chester Zoo.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Okapi at [[Chester Zoo]]]]Okapi are now reasonably common in zoos around [[North America]] and [[Europe]]. Immediately following their discovery, [[zoo]]s around the world attempted to obtain okapis from the wild. These initial attempts were accompanied by a high [[mortality rate]] due to the rigors of traveling thousands of miles by boat and by train. In more recent years, shipment by airplane has proven more successful.
* Squires, Dick. ''The Other Racket Sports'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978. ISBN 0-07-060532-7

* [[Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare|Lord Aberdare]]. ''The JT Faber Book of Tennis and Rackets'', London: Quiller Press, 2001. ISBN 1 899163 62 X
This history has given the okapi a place in the popular imagination as an example of an obscure creature that would be presumed mythical if no specimens had been captured. In this connection it is also used by [[cryptozoology|cryptozoologists]] to support the view that other mythical animals might also be based on real creatures unknown to science, to the extent that it was adopted as an emblem by the now defunct [[International Society for Cryptozoology]].

Although the okapi was unknown to the Western world until the 20th century, it has been clearly depicted for almost 2,500 years on the facade of the [[Apadana]], at [[Persepolis]], where it is shown as a gift from the Ethiopian procession to the [[Achaemenid]] kingdom.<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/collections/pa/persepolis/apadana.html Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago]</ref>

==Status==
[[Image:Okapi at Chester Zoo 2.jpg|right|thumb|200px|An Okapi reaches for some leaves.]]
Although okapis are not classified as endangered, they are threatened by [[habitat destruction]] and [[poaching]]. The world population is estimated at 10,000–20,000. Conservation work in the Congo includes the continuing study of okapi behaviour and lifestyle, which led to the creation in 1992 of the [[Okapi Wildlife Reserve]]. The [[Congo Civil War]] threatened both the wildlife and the conservation workers in the reserve.

There is an important captive breeding centre at [http://www.wildlifedirect.org/epulu Epulu], at the heart of the reserve, which is managed jointly by the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation ([http://www.iccnrdc.cd ICCN]) and Gillman International Conservation ([http://www.giconline.org GIC]), which in turn receives support from other organisations including UNESCO, the Frankfurt Zoological Society and [http://www.wildlifedirect.org WildlifeDirect] as well as from zoos around the world. The Wildlife Conservation Society is also active in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve.

On [[June 8]], [[2006]], scientists reported that evidence of surviving okapis in Congo's [[Virunga National Park]] had been discovered. This had been the first official sighting since 1959, after nearly half a century.<ref>[http://www.worldwildlife.org/news/displayPR.cfm?prID=286 www.worldwildlife.org]</ref> In [[September]] [[2008]], the [[Wildlife Conservation Society]] reported that one of their camera traps snapped a photo of an okapi in Virunga National Park; this was the first time the Okapi had ever been photographed in the wild.<ref>[http://newswise.com/articles/view/544205/ Photo Reveals Rare Okapi Survives Poaching Onslaught] Newswise, Retrieved on [[September 10]], [[2008]].</ref>

[[Poachers]] and the civil war in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] are the main threats to its [[population]]. Okapi meat is apparently for sale in a nearby town.

==See also==
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-1-of-3}}
* [[Africa]]
* [[Corneille Ewango]]
{{Col-2-of-3}}

{{Col-3-of-3}}
{{portal|Africa|Africa satellite orthographic.jpg}}
{{col-end}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.tennisandrackets.com// Tennis and Rackets Association]
* [http://www.giconline.org/index.asp?id=okapiproject.htm Gilman International Conservation - Okapi Conservation Project]
* [http://www.wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/okapi/ Okapi Reserve]
* [http://www.rackets.co.uk/ The Home of Rackets on the Web]
* [http://www.northamericanrackets.com/ North American Racquets Association]
* [http://www.brookfieldzoo.org/pgpages/pagegen.259.aspx/ Brookfield Zoo - Okapi Species Survival Plan (SSP)]
* [http://www.savetheokapi.com/ Save The Okapi]
* [http://www.drc1902.com/ Detroit Racquet Club]
* [http://www.tandr.org/ Tennis and Racquet Club, Boston]

* [http://www.rcop.com/ Racquet Club of Philadelphia]
==References==
* [http://www.thetuxedoclub.org/ The Tuxedo Club]
{{Commons|Okapi}}
* [http://www.mrcrackets.com/ Montreal Racket Club]
<references/>

===Background===
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/630.shtml BBC - Science & Nature - Wildfacts - Okapi]
* {{IUCN2006|assessors=Antelope Specialist Group|year=1996|id=15188|title=Okapia johnstoni|downloaded=11 May 2006}}
* ''Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia''. Vol 15: Mammals IV, p.400.

===News links===
* [http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2006/WWFPresitem859.html Rare Okapi Sighted in Eastern Congo Park] [[World Wide Fund for Nature|WWF]] 2006-06-08
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7609393.stm Rare African okapi seen in wild] [[BBC News]] 2008-09-11
* [http://lomami.wildlifedirect.org A blog on okapi and bonobo research in Congo]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5066408.stm Rare giraffe-like animal spotted (BBC News)]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15858891/ Okapi born at Illinois zoo]
* [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/22/america/NA_GEN_US_Baby_Okapi.php Zoo announces birth of rare, endangered okapi]
* [http://www.zsl.org/field-conservation/bushmeat-and-forest/photostory-first-pictures-of-the-elusive-okapi,73,PS.html First pictures in wild of elusive Okapi]


==Video==
{{Artiodactyla|R.}}
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h014gIVli0s Rackets on YouTube]


[[Category:Even-toed ungulates]]
[[Category:Racquet sports]]
[[Category:Endangered species]]
[[Category:Mammals of Africa]]
[[Category:Megafauna of Africa]]
[[Category:Fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo]]
[[Category:Giraffes]]
[[Category:Near Threatened species]]


[[eo:Rakedoj (sporto)]]
[[zh-min-nan:Okapi]]
[[bg:Окапи]]
[[fr:Jeu de raquettes]]
[[ca:Ocapi]]
[[it:Racquets]]
[[cs:Okapi]]
[[pt:Raquetes]]
[[cy:Ocapi]]
[[da:Okapi]]
[[de:Okapi]]
[[es:Okapia johnstoni]]
[[eo:Okapio]]
[[fr:Okapi]]
[[ko:오카피]]
[[hr:Okapi]]
[[id:Okapi]]
[[it:Okapia johnstoni]]
[[he:אוקפי]]
[[sw:Okapi]]
[[lt:Okapija]]
[[jbo:onkapi]]
[[mk:Окапи]]
[[hu:Okapi]]
[[nl:Okapi]]
[[ja:オカピ]]
[[no:Okapi]]
[[nrm:Okapi]]
[[oc:Okapia johnstoni]]
[[pl:Okapi]]
[[pt:Ocapi]]
[[ru:Окапи]]
[[simple:Okapi]]
[[sk:Okapia pásavá]]
[[sl:Okapi]]
[[sr:Окапи]]
[[fi:Okapi]]
[[sv:Okapi]]
[[tr:Okapi]]
[[uk:Окапі]]
[[zh:霍加狓]]

Revision as of 07:17, 13 October 2008

Template:Two other uses

R. P. Keigwin (right) with AEJ Collins the College's rackets team at Clifton College circa 1902

Rackets (British English) or Racquets (American English) is an indoor racquet sport played in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada. The sport is infrequently called "hard rackets," possibly to distinguish it from the related sport of squash (formerly called "squash rackets").

Manner of play

Rackets is played in a 30 by 60 foot (9.14 × 18.28 m) enclosed court, with a ceiling at least 30 feet (9.14 m) high. Singles and doubles are played on the same court. The walls and floor of the court are made of smooth stone or concrete and are generally dark in color to contrast with the white ball. The players use 30½ inch (775 mm) wooden rackets to hit a 38mm (1.5 inch) hard white ball weighing 28 grams. A good stroke must touch the front wall above an 26 1/2-inch-high wooden (often cloth-covered) board before touching the floor. The ball may touch the side walls before reaching the front wall. The player returning a good stroke may play the ball on the volley, or after one bounce on the floor. The play is extremely fast, and potentially quite dangerous. Lets are common, as the striker must not play the ball if doing so risks hitting another player with it. Matches preferably are observed by a "marker," who has the duty to call "Play" after each good stroke to denote that the ball is "up." Games are to 15 points, unless the game is tied at 13-all or 14-all, in which case the game can be "set" to 16 or 18 (in the case of 13-all) or 17 (in the case of 14-all) at the option of the player first reaching 13 or 14; only the server can score — the receiver gains the right to serve by winning a rally. Return of service can be extremely difficult, and, in North America, only one serve is allowed. Matches are typically best of 5 games.

A Toff playing with the rabble in prison

Because the game of squash rackets (now known as 'squash') began in the 19th century as an off-shoot of rackets, the sports were similar in manner of play and rules. However, the rules and scoring in squash have evolved in the last hundred years or so. Rackets has changed little; the main difference today is that players are now allowed brief rest periods between games. In the past, leaving the court could mean forfeiting the match, so players kept spare rackets, shirts, and shoes in the gutter below the telltale on the front wall.

The governing bodies are the Tennis and Rackets Association (UK) and the North American Rackets Association.

History

Rackets being played at a Prison - where the game developed

Rackets began as an 18th century pastime in London's King's Bench and Fleet debtors prisons. The prisoners modified the game of fives by using tennis rackets to speed up the action. They played against the prison wall, sometimes at a corner to add a sidewall to the game. Rackets then became popular outside the prison, played in alleys behind pubs. It spread to schools, first using school walls, and later with proper four-wall courts being specially constructed for the game. Some historians assert that the game was codified through its popularity at the Harrow School in London, where it was played as early as the second half of the 18th century.

Some private clubs also built courts. Along with real tennis and badminton, rackets was used as an inspiration for the game of lawn tennis, invented in 1873. A vacant rackets court built into the University of Chicago's Stagg Field served as the location of the first artificial nuclear chain reaction on December 2, 1942. The Stagg Field court is often mistakenly identified as having been a "squash rackets" court. Rackets was part of the 1908 Summer Olympics program.

Court locations

As happens with sports, interests shift. Today it is perhaps the most obscure and least approachable of racket sports. Court upkeep, handmade balls, and breakable wooden rackets make it an expensive game. It also requires lessons and practice to play safely and enjoyably. On the other hand, many who take up the sport do so enthusiastically.

See Carlow Sports and Social Club

United Kingdom

There are about twenty courts in some of the major public schools and private clubs in the United Kingdom.

Schools

Clubs

  • BRNCC Dartmouth
  • Hayling Island
  • Manchester Tennis & Racket Club
  • Queens Club, London
  • RMA Sandhurst

North America

There are eight active courts in North America, all at private clubs:

Chicago has 2 courts. Opened in 1924, with a Court Tennis and two double squash courts
Opened in 1902, designed by the noted architect Albert Kahn. Constructed by Joseph Bickley. Originally open to the air with natural lighting until it was glazed over with lights added in 1912
Opened in 1918 on Park Avenue, the building designed by Mckim, Mead and White. The building originally housed two courts, although one was converted to a double squash court in 1956
Opened in 1902
Opened in 1907 with two courts, one of which now has been converted to a double squash court
Opened in 1902, with two courts, one of which has now been converted to a double squash court
Opened in 1889, the court was constructed four feet longer and two feet wider to facilitate doubles play. It was resized to regulation 60 x 40 feet in 1909

There may be unused courts elsewhere in the former British Empire that are still in good condition. Rackets is overwhelmingly a male sport.

Disused Courts / Converted Courts
Country Name City Information
USA The University Club Detroit The last court built in North America, constructed by Joseph Bickley. This court is unused, in a now vacant building
The Tavern Club Cleveland 36th and Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, USA - Now houses a doubles squash court
The Pittsburgh Athletic Association Pittsburgh 5th Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The court now houses three squash rackets courts installed laterally, making use of the original walls of the hard rackets court. The marker's gallery is still present.
St Louis
Unknown
Lakewood New Jersey Unused
UK Avebury Manor Listed building Avebury, Marlborough, Wiltshire
Belmont House Wraxall This is in Bristol. Built in the 1860s by Williams Gibbs, whom made his fortune out of guano bird droppings imported from the Pacific!. A popular Victorian garden fertilizer. It passed through the family and was last owned by the second Lord Wraxall.
Copped Hall[2] Loughton This is in Essex. The main house is under restoration, the rackets court has now been converted into a tea rooms, the gallery still remains.
Park Place Estate Henley-on Thames Built in 1900, it is at the moment in disrepair, but plans are afoot to restore it to its former glory.
Fyvie Castle Scotland Fyvie Castle was built in 1903. Restored and used as a playhouse / exhibition space
Stoneyhurst College, Clitheroe, Lancashire Converted to squash courts in 1933
Newcastle Part of the University Building Now used for ping pong
Kinloch Castle Rum, Scotland
Rackets Court Parsonage Lane, Market Lavington.
Rossall School Converted to squash courts
Royal Naval College Greenwich These two courts were built in 1874 & converted to squash courts in 1882, and now converted into an exhibition space
Stonehouse Millbay Converted to squash courts in 1930's
Worcester Samsome Walk Converted to apartments
Ireland Leinster Lane Dublin Now used as a book archive for the National Library.
Trinity College Dublin Now used as a bookstore and possibly to be absorbed in new building development.
Dawson Street Dublin Now used as a car park, including vehicle lift.
Carlton House Maynooth Believed absorbed in current commercial development.
Curragh Army Camp Converted to squash courts.
Gibraltar Now converted into a Squash Club
Australia Melbourne Club Melbourne Converted into squash courts 1913

Tournaments

The world championship for singles (and doubles) is decided in a challenge format. If the governing bodies accept the challenger's qualifications, he plays the reigning champion in a best of 14 games format (best of 7 games on each side of the Atlantic). If each player wins seven games, the total point score is used as a tie breaker. The current singles champion is Harry Foster. The current doubles champions are Neil Smith and Mark Hubbard, who won the first doubles challenge following the retirement of Alister Robinson and Guy Barker.

World Championship

Organized on a challenge basis, the first champion in 1820 was Robert Mackay (Great Britain).

Recent winners

  • 2005– Harry Foster (Great Britain)
  • 2001–5 James Male (Great Britain)
  • 1999–2001 Neil Smith (USA)
  • 1988–99 James Male (Great Britain)
  • 1986–8 John Prenn (Great Britain)
  • 1984–6 William Boone (Great Britain)
  • 1981–4 John Prenn (Great Britain)
  • 1975–81 William Surtees (USA)
  • 1973–4 Howard Angus (Great Britain)
  • 1972–3 William Surtees (USA)
  • 1954–72 Geoffrey Atkins (Great Britain)
  • 1947–54 James Dear (Great Britain)
  • 1937–47 Donald Milford (Great Britain)
  • 1929–35 Charles Williams (Great Britain)
  • 1913–29 Jock Soutar (USA)
  • 1911–13 Charles Williams (Great Britain)
  • 1903–11 J. Jamsetji (India)
  • 1887–1902 Peter Latham (Great Britain)

References

  • Squires, Dick. The Other Racket Sports New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978. ISBN 0-07-060532-7
  • Lord Aberdare. The JT Faber Book of Tennis and Rackets, London: Quiller Press, 2001. ISBN 1 899163 62 X

External links

Video
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