A selection of Ashaway sponsored players met last weekend for a photo shoot and to try the Knight Trainer. We caught up with them to get their plans for the coming season:
Unfortunately Rachel experienced a stress fracture of her right tibia at beginning of June
After four weeks of being on crutches (and going on holiday to Australia!) she has been gradually getting back into full trainingGoals for this season:
Nathan RiceOver the centuries gut string was typically manufactured from very thin strips of beef intestine, chemically treated and twisted together. To maintain strength and durability, gut strings were quite thick. Even so, the natural gut string had something really good going for it-the property of "resilience." Also known as rebound or the "trampoline effect," good resilience translates into more power.
The era of synthetic strings began shortly after 1939 when DuPont developed nylon to compensate for the shortage of rubber brought on by World War II. Nylon strings quickly replaced natural gut strings because they cost less, were stronger, more durable and did not tend to absorb moisture, which caused unpredictable loss of tension. However, players stringing with nylon sacrificed some of the feel and resilience of natural gut. On the other hand, synthetic strings could be made thinner, which reinstated a little of the lost resilience, and provided less wind resistance, offering better feel and power. From this time forward, manufacturers have sought to provide increasingly narrower gauge strings to improve this increased feel and power.
The first nylon string offerings were designed in a monofilament construction. They were strong, but not very responsive, and tended to stretch with a lot of play. In the late '40s and early '50s, Ashaway developed the first multifilament nylon strings known as Multi-Ply® and Pro-fected®. These strings gave much more responsive feel and control of the shuttle. And, although they could be made narrower than monofilament strings - 19 and 20 gauge (.85 mm - 1.00 mm) - their multifilament construction also made them stronger.
The '60s and '70s saw Ashaway continuing to develop thinner, stronger, and more responsive multifilament strings. From the 19- and 20-gauge string of the previous decade, the strings edged toward 21 gauge (.75 mm - .85 mm) as the diameter of choice. Ashaway's Vantage® string was the product name for the most popular version of these strings.
In the '80s and '90s, Ashaway perfected microfilament technology, and string girth shrank further with 21 and 21 Micro (.70 mm - .75 mm), becoming the standard gauges. The most common badminton strings from Ashaway in that era were Rally® and Flex®.
In the current millennium, schools continue to use 20-gauge string, and that is for cost purposes only. 21 gauge is still the most common in badminton circles, but 21 Micro, which is 10% thinner, is rapidly gaining in popularity due to the improved durability of microfilament technology. Strings such as MicroPower™ and MicroLegend™ are examples of micro-gauged, multifilament strings that offer excellent power without sacrificing durability.
Now, a half-century after nylon stepped in to offer benefits natural gut users couldn't turn down, players will be able to enjoy the best of both worlds. On the horizon are 22-gauge badminton strings made from new materials such as Zyex®. These strings will combine superior strength and tension holding properties with a level of playability that has never been seen before.
Ashaway Racket Strings has signed squash great Natalie Grainger to a multi-year sponsorship agreement, company officials announced today. Grainger, who won the US Nationals in March after switching to Ashaway's new SuperNick® XL Micro, is currently ranked World Number 4 on the Women's International Squash Players Association ("WISPA") Tour.
"Having Natalie as part of our team is a great coup for Ashaway Racket Strings," said Steve Crandall, Ashaway's Vice President. "Not only is she a great player and a great coach, but as WISPA President, she is one of the true leaders in the sport and one of the most engaging people around. We expect she will be a force in our industry for many years to come."
Grainger is a former WISPA world number one ranked player and has been ranked in the top ten in the world for seven of the last ten years. She is President of the Board of WISPA, the governing body for the women's worldwide professional squash tour. Grainger is also Head Coach for the US Under 23 development program and an advisor to DC Squash Academy, an inner-city youth program that uses squash, combined with academic tutoring and mentoring, to enrich children's lives. She was formerly the US Junior Women's Team Assistant Coach, which finished a record-tying 4th at the 2005 Junior World Championships.
For her part, former South African and recently minted American citizen Natalie is also happy to be on the team of the only U.S. string maker. "Ashaway's been a leader in stringing for many many years," she said. "I've actually used Ashaway at different times for a fair bit of my career, and I've always been very impressed with their string. So I'm really happy that they've decided to sign me."
Ashaway is the Official String of USA Racquetball, the Professional Squash Association and the Women's International Squash Players Association.
The Ashaway stand was a hive of activity all week, our 200 personally signed posters by Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson went in the first 2 hours of play, Gail who visited the stand to collect a reel of Flex 21 Micro String said that it took longer than that for her and Nathan to sign the posters!
Rachel Howard returned from injury only 3 weeks ago, however she was on fire at the Elite Tournament in wimbledon this weekend, Rachel won the ladies singles in a close final 21-16, 13-21 & 21-19. 