Dare To Come In The Cage
Outdoor racquetball on Waikiki unique caged courts is flourishing again, and preparing to host a world championship in December
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a late-night talk show with Quincy Jones. “We downgraded to a state championship because we didn’t want to do the world’s right then and (not) continue it,” says Britos, who returned to Hawaii several years ago to help start the University of Hawaii film school. “I’ve been waiting to do this, and finally this is the moment when we feel we can sustain the tournament rather than have just one shot.
“These courts ... it’s nice because you have such a melange of people. You get a lot of locals, you get Beach Boys, you get military that come down here, you have the regulars.
“We have a family from Waianae that comes out every weekend rain or shine - has been doing that for 40 years. So it’s quite a community, and it’s nice out here because you can bring your kids. I have a 16-, a 13- and a 3-year-old they come down and they can swing on the monkey bars, play Frisbee, play a little racquetball. There’s lots of families like that, and everybody barbecues so it’s a nice atmosphere. ... I’ve been coming out here since I was 16, in 1979.”
Mainlanders, Britos says, call Waikiki’s two outdoor courts “The Cage” because of the chain-link fence that replaces the usual side walls. We’ve “got these little side walls over here, which are unique to these courts, and they throw the players off, but the players with the best mechanics and skills always do well out here cause they can hit the ball straight in and out,” says Britos. “If you’re a little bit off in your game, it’s going to be exposed out here. So players come from the Mainland, and it takes them awhile to adjust. It’s like, ‘Dare to come in The Cage.’ “
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Outdoor racquetball’s popularity has grown from the ‘70s to ‘90s when it was almost “like a bastard stepchild to indoor racquetball,” says Britos. “Right now, in order to be considered one of the top players in this sport period you have to come play outdoors.”
That growth is something that Matt wants to see continue similar to that of beach volleyball, which is now an Olympic sport. “Just to see it grow as a sport would be the best thing that would come from any tournament, besides winning of course,” says Matt, whom Britos says is so skilled people pay him to play.
As for Matt’s dad, he’s seen players come and go - “a lot of good surfers came down, too - between waves” - and seen the equipment develop from plywood rackets to balls that were stripped from tennis balls. “Talk about coming back,” the Commander says, holding a new-style rubber ball. “It’s practically identical to the first balls we used. ... It’s got gas inside. The more gas, the pep-pier it is, I guess, huh?”
The game “pretty much remains the same,” says the Commander, who opened the Windows on Hawaii revolving restaurant after retiring from the Navy. “The view stays the same, but the people change.”
Having played until he was 87, the Commander says his favorite memory of the courts is watching his family come out and play the sport he loves.
“Well, there’s no membership, everybody’s automatically a member and there’s no charges,” he says.
“Just grab a racket, and when they call your name up you get yourself a good workout and enjoy the view.”
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