Balls, Balls Balls, and more Balls

All

To me, playing softball squash, with the old hand-in/hand-out scoring system, was comparable to running a marathon. I remember hearing a story about squash legend Jonah Barrington while he was playing at the top of his game. A superbly conditioned athlete, Barrington would try to make the length of the first game against his opponent go on for as long as possible and was not utterly concerned whether he won it or lost it. I read an account about him playing a match and how he had purposely made the first game last an entire hour! (made possible using the hand-in/hand out scoring). I believe that his opponent did not finish the match and conceded due to sheer exhaustion! (Probably not accurate - but it makes for a good story.)

It became a 10,000 meter race with the point-a-rally scoring system and now it is a middle distance race with the advent of best two out of three (at least in the pro ranks).

Hardball on the other hand was always a dash which a bit slower game with each subsequent iteration; very fast with the Seamless ball; particularly fast with the Craig-Simplex ball; fast with the Merco 70+ ball; less fast with the Dunlop 70+ ball.

Now there is a hardball that is designed to allow play on the international court.  Will this new slower version of the hardball for the softball court be the next "thing" of the game? (Phil Mintz of Dunlop sent me a box of these balls to try out.)

By nature, I’m a sprinter not a marathon runner....and as a result liked the hardball game better.

to be continued