The Quirkiness of Game Ball

All

This afternoon, I caught myself ruminating about a point that slipped by during our wandering but fun discussion during our little squash soiree on Thursday evening with members of the UClub C League team.  Invariably, whenever I am part of a group of squash players, the discussion takes a turn to the historical: "The good ol' days.  Ah, I remember them well." 

One topic of conversation was about the different games that I have played over the years; among them: court tennis, racquets, platform tennis, and lawn tennis. I made a reference to, that in my formative years, I made a name for myself playing hardball singles and how it was scored; a game that many in the group had not seen or experienced.

I dug up a good article written by Jim Zug, the author of Squash: A History of the Game.  (A book well worth reading.)  

Here's the link to the article that describes the changing nature of squash scoring,  

The hardball score was kept track with point-a-rally scoring.  First player to reach 15 points first, wins the game but the scoring had a few quirks.  If the score reached 13-13, the player to reach 13 first had the choice of finishing out the game by choosing to play to the sudden death of 15, 16, or 18 (no set to 2, set 3 or set 5}.  If the score reached 14-14, the player to reach 14 first had the choice of finishing out the game to 15 of 17 (no set, set 3)

A good example of the scoring in action and how it built drama, was during the 1991 35+ National Finals match held at Yale University that I was a part of.

Until recently, Hardball Doubles Squash had the now-seen-as-quirky extra set to determine the winners of a game.  It allowed the team to assess the match and decide how they thought they should finish out the game. They could choose to gamble and choose to play "no set" or depending on the score a bit more conservatively  by choosing "set three" or "set five". The game now has only one option: it is now scored to no set to 15 points.

I miss the old scoring system and it's uniqueness.

John