Trying Eton Fives at St. Barts’ - the best sport you’ve never heard of?
St. Bartholomew’s School, Newbury, offers a wide range of sports to its pupils.
Football, cricket, netball, volleyball, basketball, tennis and even lacrosse are all supported at the Andover Road site.
But one sport on offer may not be familiar to even the most dedicated sports enthusiast.
Eton Fives, a handball game played on a three sided concrete court, is also played at St. Barts.
Developed at Eton in 1877 by a group of students, the shape of the court is taken from the bottom of a chapel staircase at Eton College.
This makes the court unique in nature, with a buttress, modelled on that of the original staircase, sticking out into the middle of the playing area.
A low step is also built into the court in line with the buttress.
This provides a more diverse set of angles and opportunities compared to a conventional squash court, for example.
It provides a natural obstacle for players, who play in two teams of two.
The aim is to force the other team to make a mistake and fail to hit the ball 'up' off the front wall.
Players can make use of any wall or ledge, so long as the ball is played 'up' before it bounces twice.
In-keeping with the game’s elite origins, most Eton Fives courts are housed within private institutions, with St. Barts’ being one of only six exceptions.
Leading the school’s fives offering is John Talbot, a science teacher specialising in physics, who picked up the sport having been a keen table tennis player.
The Eton fives club meets on Wednesday lunchtimes and Fridays after school and has a healthy, growing membership.
So what is Talbot’s sales pitch to potential new players?
“Just give it a go!,” he said.
“It’s a lot of fun and you can see how much they enjoy it.
“But there’s no standing around, it’s a hard workout.
“Hand-eye coordination is vital.
“Some of our pupils play tennis, so there are transferable skills.”
A game centred around whacking a ball against a wall with the palm of your hand sounds simple.
But fortunately for this reporter the Newbury Fives Club, a group of adult players who hold regular sessions at the courts, were on hand to deliver an impromptu coaching session.
This quickly confirmed that the sport is much, much harder than it looks.
It’s also a lot of fun however, and even five minutes of light practice is enough to break a sweat.
Newbury Fives Club is run by an incredibly friendly group, who encourage newcomers to come along and give the game a go.
They meet at the courts every Saturday, as well as alternating Tuesdays or Thursdays.
To learn more, those interested should contact Paul Holland at newbury.fives.club@gmail.com
After a quick crash course, Talbot was happy to explain some of the intricacies of the game.
“You can spin the ball, to get backspin, topspin, sidespin,” he explained.
“It adds to the unpredictability of it.
“And if you can get the ball behind that buttress, then the bounce is unpredictable, which makes the game more fun.”
Perhaps owing to it’s roots, Eton fives is played with a certain degree of courtesy.
Players apologise for mistakes, always shake hands, congratulate each other at the end of each match, and even have the right to turn down serves which they don’t fancy returning.
“The server will ask, ‘where do you want it?’,” said Talbot.
“There’s no referee, they referee themselves.
“It’s very sporting, and the players have to negotiate any conflict.
“It’s about teamwork, courtesy, working together.”
St. Bart’s club is going from strength to strength, but like many smaller sports it faced uncertainty a few years ago.
“With the COVID year, we lost that connection with the younger students playing the game from the beginning,” he explained.
“We relaunched fives a couple of years ago to get the younger students playing.
“They go through their time here playing the game, so we have a new generation.”
Eton Fives is a truly unique sport, played by only a handful of people, but at St. Barts it’s being kept alive and well by a number of enthusiastic youngsters and a friendly local club.
It might just be the best sport you’ve never heard of.
