Kirsten Rackets Atkinson

UK Racketlon Ladies Training Day August 2025

I was excited and proud to have organised the first UK Racketlon Ladies Training day this weekend with great success! We had 19 participants in total and 3 'non-playing' coaches. Thank you again to all my amazing volunteers, without whom the day would not have been possible ❤️ Popping this photo here as a memory to look back on

World Team Championships and World Singles Championships 2025, Rotterdam

I had a fantastic week in Rotterdam representing Team GB 3 in the Nations Cup at the World Championships with my amazing team. I am so proud to be a part of this community and as always I have come away very inspired by the many Team GB World Champions. Being a part of the UK Racketlon Board makes these successes even more special to me 🤗

I also enjoyed playing in the World Singles Championships Women's B category for the first time, following a period of back injury this year I am happy that I finished in 6th place (20th place overall!), improved from 5th place in the C (29th place overall) last year.

Time to rest, recover and get back at it 💪

World Doubles Championships Switzerland May 21st-26th 2025!!

Unfortunately another injury filled weekend for me at the World Doubles Champs in Zurch, injuring a different part of my back in my squash warm up before even starting! I really enjoyed playing with for the first time despite only playing one match and unfortunately didn't even get to played any Mixed Doubles matches 😩

Despite all this, I had a lovely week supporting the other Team GB Players, eating fondue and exploring Zurich with ❤️

Berlin Open 9th May 2025

Unfortunately my weekend at the Berlin Opem was cut short by a back injury and so I had to pull out of the tournament part way through the women's doubles in our 4th match out of 5. Gutting to be here and unable to play but was great catching up with old and new friends, again spending lots of time with and and then exploring Berlin this morning with !

I'm off to rest and recover in the hope I can be back to fighting fit in time for the World Champs in 2 weeks!

FiR Challenger Redbridge Open 4th-5th May 2025!

I had a great May Bank Holiday Weekend in Redbridge/ Wanstead, playing racketlon and also visiting family with

I played with Beth for the first time in Elite A Doubles in a tough draw full of Team GB players, we unfortunately lost 2/2 of our matches but Beth played great given this is only her 2nd racketlon in the past 10 years! We both had a lot of fun and managed to get to tennis in the last match.

I am really happy with how I played in the Singles, improving on previous scores and winning 1/3 of my matches in the Elite A Singles group of 4 round robin to come 3rd.

As an added bonus we were able to catch up with family over the weekend and were treated to Maureen and Greg's wonderful hospitality.

2 days rest before setting off for Berlin on Thursday ☺️

British Championships 2025!!

I had a fantastic weekend at this weekend playing in the British Racketlon Championships. I improved on my results from last year, coming 4th in all 3 of my categories (Women's A Singles, Women's A Doubles and Mixed A Doubles). I was particularly pleased to see great improvements in my squash and badminton, which I have been working hard on!

Thank you to my partners (we should have got a photo!! 😩) and Reuben and to and the other volunteers for organising such a fantastic event! Thank you also to from for visiting us on saturday and giving us the opportunity to try out all the fantastic karakal merchandise!

Now for a week of night shifts before getting back to work! Next tournament is the Redbridge Open in May!

Great weekend of sport in York! Played the Dunnington Open Graded Tournament on Saturday winning 2/4 matches and losing very closely 2-1 to the eventual winner of the grade (who's squash level is double mine!) I ended the tournament in 4th place out of 12 participants in the D grade and added 50 points to my squash levels as an extra bonus 🤗

I then played in my first Yorkshire Badminton league today, playing 2 ladies doubles and a mixed doubles (and a cheeky singles at the end for practice). My partner Karen and I won our ladies doubles 27-25 in the 3rd after coming back from 11-2 down in the 3rd set, I then lost my mixed doubles with Simon against an experience pair. Unfortunately a member of the other team went home injured and so my final ladies doubles with Lisa was technically 21-0 21-0 walkover but we had fun playing a fun match against the other ladies for fun. Our team won 6-3 overall, with a first win of the season for the team woop!

Overall I'm happy with my performance this weekend and I am ready for a (restful?!) Week of working before the British Champs next weekend!

All-time World Ranking high and Cambridge Tier 4 Badminton Tournament! (My first ever badminton tournament!)

Last weekend (30th March) I travelled down to Cambridge to compete in my first ever badminton tournament (other than the School Championships In 6th form 😂)

I had a great time competing against some very good badminton players, with lots of very good rallies. I did not win any matches but all gained lots of experience and insight into my own game and look forward to entering more later in the year!

It was also lovely to see my good friend .bailey1 and we had a lovely time catching up, thank you again for hosting me!

I am also excited to be in 4th place in the FIR race at the moment for the first time and achieve an all time racketlon world ranking high in singles and mixed doubles this month entering the top 30 in Singles, top 50 in Mixed Doubles and re-entering the top 20 in Women's Doubles 🎊

All-time World Ranking high and Cambridge Tier 4 Badminton Tournament! (My first ever badminton tournament!)

Last weekend (30th March) I travelled down to Cambridge to compete in my first ever badminton tournament (other than the School Championships In 6th form 😂)

I had a great time competing against some very good badminton players, with lots of very good rallies. I did not win any matches but all gained lots of experience and insight into my own game and look forward to entering more later in the year!

It was also lovely to see my good friend .bailey1 and we had a lovely time catching up, thank you again for hosting me!

I am also excited to be 4th place in the FIR race at the moment for the first time and achieve an all time racketlon world ranking high in Singles and Mixed Doubles this month, entering the top 30 in Singles, top 50 in Mixed Doubles and re-entering the top 20 in Ladies Doubles!

SWT Polish Open 2025!!

I had a fantastic weekend playing in my first SWT tournament in Poland.

In ladies doubles I paired up with for the first time and we came home with our first SWT podium in 3rd place. We won our quarter final against a Polish pair Anna and Aleksandra before losing a close semi-final to and Kirsten Kaptein, 21-11 22-10 10-21 12-21. We then won our 3rd/ 4th play off before tennis to secure our podium position ☺️ well done to Holly and Stine for winning!

I also entered my first Mixed A doubles with , coming up against some very tough competition, we unfortunately lost both of our matches but gained lots of experience.

I entered the Women's A Singles and played some really fun matches against , Kirsten and Anna. Unfortunately only getting to tennis against Anna who only needed 1 point, but seeing improvements in my badminton scores since previous meetings

I also enjoyed spending time with , Emma, Wendy and Dave in between matches and having great chats.

Overall, a fantastic experience, with lots learned. I can't wait to get back training and keep moving forward! Next comp is the British Champs in 3 weeks time 👀

Finnish Open February 2025!

I had a fantastic weekend in Helsinki playing in my first racketlon tournament of the year. It was really lovely to meet so many new people and also catch up and spend time with the other international racketlon players!

I enjoyed playing with Heli for the first time in doubles and we had 2 close matches in the Elite draw. We played well together, winning both our table tennis games and it was great practice for the World Championships where we will be teaming up in the Women's B 💪

I also played in my second ever IWT Elite Singles where I placed 7th out of 8. I started off playing World #1 making improvements in my TT and badminton from last time, but still losing before tennis. I then had a super-close marathon match against who won 21-19 21-17 16-21 21-18. I won my final match of the weekend against Edinburgh Uni's newest recruit Summer 6-21, 21-10 21-3 8-3.

All in all I was very happy with my performance over the weekend and am finally starting to see points improvements in badminton which is really exciting. I am off to reflect and keep training for my first SWT the Polish Open in March!

End of 2024 Review!

This is very delayed due to other things going on in my life but wanted share my progress (if anything for myself to look back on!) There are also so many people who have made this year amazing and so I have chosen not to tag people as it would take too long but you know who you are!

I achieved many of my goals in 2024, first and foremost I managed to avoid major injuries that took me out of playing for 4 months 😂 but managed to finish the year with only 2 injuries, a minor one in my shoulder at the start of the year and a moderate one of my back at the end of the year but these helped me to identify weaknesses to target in Physiotherapy and have finally convinced me to do weights (in 2025 👀)

UK:
I played in the A category Singles and Doubles for the first time at The British Championships, coming 6th in the Singles and 5th in the Doubles. I played the Mixed B and came 6th. I played in several UK Tournaments but unfortunately didn't podium in any! I enjoyed my first year on the UK Racketlon Board!

Year End Ranking: 16 (up from 17 last year!)

International:
I entered my first World Doubles Championship and my first World Singles Championship, coming 4th in the Women's B Doubles (10th overall), 6th in the Mixed B Doubles (14th overall) and joint 5th the Women's C Singles (29th). I played and podiumed at my first Elite FIR IWT tournament in Norway and came 3rd in the Elite Singles, 2nd in the Elite Doubles and 2nd in the Mixed B. I also had some good match results in the IWT Nordic Racket Games.

But the biggest achievement of all was getting chosen to represent Great Britain for the first time in their newly created 5th team and then coming 3rd in the Challenger Cup. It really was the highlight of the year and a moment I will remember forever.

Year End Rankings (top achieved):
Singles - 45 (34)
Doubles - 21 (11)
Mixed - 71 (59)

All significant improvements on last year, making the top 20 in Doubles in October

Thank you everyone who has been a part of my racketlon journey so far and I can't wait to get started on the 2025 season this weekend in Finland!