The Hinckley Open 2022 is a one-day squash competition, hosted by Hinckley Squash & Racketball Club. Taking place on Saturday 29th October, we are opening our doors to the wider squash community and accepting entrants in four graded groups in a day of friendly competition with the chance to take home some prize money for your efforts.
We are receiving a number of questions about The Hinckley Open 2022 and so we hope the following topics provide some guidance. If you require more information not available below please call competition organisers Brad Wells on 07552 236065 or Matt Hardman on 07731 978594 for clarification.
ENTRANTS WILL RECEIVE A WELCOME PACK BY EMAIL ON 24/10/2022.
How to enter
Entrants do not need to be Hinckley Squash & Racketball Club members, but it would help if you have played at least some club league/team squash as your Squash Levels score will determine your grading.
ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED.
Cost
The cost to enter the competition is £20. Entrants receive a snazzy t-shirt (sample printed below).
Prizes & Prize-Giving
The winner of each of the four grades will receive a £75 prize, with the runner-up receiving £25. The prize-giving ceremony will take place at the end of the day after the finals have completed, some time after 7.45pm.
Grades
To try and ensure that entrants play people of a similar standard, we have split the competition into four leagues or “grades”, based on the Squash Levels score of the entrants. These are:
- Grade A – Squash Level 3,500+
- Grade B – Squash Level 2,000 to 3,500
- Grade C – Squash Level 1,000 to 2,000
- Grade D – Squash Level 0 to 1,000
Competition Format
The competition will use a monrad draw system, a multi-match format whereby all players continue to play, win or lose through to a final finishing position. Depending on numbers and progression players should expect to play 3-5 matches.
There is also a plate, so even if you lose the first round you will still have a chance of winning the plate and a £25 prize if you proceed to win all your next games.
Matches will be played par scoring best of 3 games to 11 points. We will play ‘two clear’ should the score reach 10-10 in any game.
Matches will be marked by the winner of the previous match, to the best of their ability. Therefore we ask for patience if not every decision goes in your favour. It’ll be up to the spectators on the balcony to argue the merits of each decision of your behalf, and the referee’s discretion as to whether he/she has dropped a clanger.
The aim of the tournament is to promote friendly competition in our wider squash community, so we hope you’ll join us in playing the matches in the good sprit in which the day is intended.
Food & Drink / Refreshments
The club bar will be open throughout the day offering a range of hot and cold beverages and snacks at reasonable prices. We also have a cold water dispenser behind the courts so remember to bring your water bottle.
Food will be available to purchase at various stages throughout the day. More details on the meals will be provided in due course.
Pop-up Shop & Restringing
A pop-up shop will be available on site for all your equipment needs, including competitively priced restringing of rackets while you wait.
Time & Date
The Hinckley Open takes place on Saturday October 29th. The full schedule for the day will be released on October 16th. We ask that entrants arrive 15 minutes before their first court time to ensure there are no delays. We estimate that Grade D will begin at 9.00am, Grade C at 9.50am, Grade B at 10.35am and Grade A at 1.55pm.
Location & Parking
Hinckley Squash & Racketball Club is located on Maple Drive in Hinckley, Leicestershire. Our postcode is LE10 3BE.
Our club is positioned just behind Hinckley’s branch of KFC, with a car park for 14 cars (and two additional disabled parking bays) adjacent to our building and accessed as if driving into KFC. KFC don’t seem to mind if we take up some of their parking spaces nearest to the club. Further parking is available in a separate car park outside Screwfix and Subway, also on Maple Drive and less than a minute’s walk away.
Parking space is likely to be at a premium, so please try to lift-share wherever possible. If you do have to park in the car parks of these neighbouring businesses please be courteous and park away from their front door so as not to inconvenience their customers.
For those of you travelling from afar to play in our competition, there are a number of small hotels and B&Bs in the vicinity but none are closer than The Premier Inn, being only a 5 minute walk away from us.
