2nd Year of Our Exciting Program -- WorldWide Racquetball Day April 2024 Update

The folks associated with USA Racquetball (staff, volunteers, players, social media posters) had a great time putting together the First-Ever (!) WorldWide Racquetball Day in September of 2023. I hope you got to participate and felt the support and love from all over the racquetball world. I know I certainly did.  We think we found many new players who had never tried an organized event before. Fingers crossed they will be ready to play again in September 2024, because we are planning our Second-Ever WorldWide Racquetball Day September 7th (and 8th to round out the weekend). 

Don’t miss out. If you can’t find a 2024 WorldWide Racquetball Day scheduled event near you, create one! There is plenty of time and we can send some resources your way, if you need anything at all. 

What is it? 

Globally, we are asking as many tournament directors as are available to host a round-robin, self-refereed, no-frills tournament. Indoor and/or outdoor participants are welcome to join in the fun. A small number of players is more than okay! If you can do an event that is a little different than that, that’s good too! 

If you already have an event planned for the weekend of September 7-8, no matter the event format, have the tournament director add it to our list of worldwide events! Just email Jonathan Greenberg at the USA Racquetball office (jonathan@usaracquetball.com). 

What is the Goal? 

Well, we are the USAR Membership Committee, so one important goal is to find some new members for every U.S. state and every country’s racquetball association. Equally significant is to create a feeling of worldwide unity of all the players and leadership of our sport. Many times, we get asked the question, “Whatever happened to racquetball?” and it is crystal clear to the hardcore players that it is alive but struggling since the lockdowns. But we *also* know that we are one of the most hardy and steadfast groups who could not give up our passion for any reason. We see the membership numbers coming back steadily, and we hope to find non-member enthusiasts and get them connected to our community. Self-refereed fun and competition are also happening. 

Reserve the date! 

If you are available, consider hosting a tournament at your local courts. Play if you don’t feel experienced enough to run one. If you are willing to learn and give it a chance, we have a whole set of tournament director tools available to help you run a local round-robin, with lots of suggestions and R2Sports help assistance with round-robin formats. Start with the Planning Tips document. Our group of coordinators have centuries of experience and ideas to make your event great. Call us! 

Why participate?

With the help of regional coordinators, we will be creating incentives for tournament directors and players. September 7/8 is a few weeks before the big KWM Gutterman 3WALLBALL Championships in Las Vegas. Take the opportunity to practice for Las Vegas. 

Who is planning to participate? 

Everyone worldwide is invited to participate. We want to know who is hosting a tournament that day, and we will add you to the 2024 world map.  Click here and scroll down to the map to see the current committed events.  This map is displayed on USAR’s and other countries’ websites. Any player anywhere will be able to find an event that day just by looking at the map and signing up using the instructions for that location.

PARC (North/Central/South America) is on board again. The original idea was presented at the General Assembly at the Pan American Racquetball Championships in Guatemala City on April 4, 2023. Marie Gomar translated the plan into Spanish, and the whole room started buzzing with ideas to get started.  Marie held a huge event in Guatemala City in 2023. 

ARF also welcomed the plan and had an event in South Korea for our Asia players. China may participate in 2024, too. 

In Europe, Ireland and Germany held events for the ERF. Look for a few more locations there this year. 

Special Toolkit for Directors

Just in case you want to put on a 2024 WorldWide Racquetball Day party and don’t know where to start, we have created a special Tournament Director ToolKit for you. Find it here—and start creating some buzz right away! Use the logo on your social media posts and videos. 

Racquetball Travel?

Consider looking for a WorldWide Racquetball Day gathering anywhere in the world on September 7 and 8.  2023 countries included: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Japan, South Korea and, of course, many cities across the USA. Where do you want to go?  Bring your racquet.

And What About 2025? 

We plan to have our racquets-across-the-world event again in September of 2025. Dates may change, based on other big events in each part of the globe. 

Volunteers Needed

If you have ideas or want to get involved with our WorldWide Racquetball Day team, we want to hear from you. Contact Jonathan Greenberg (jonathan@usaracquetball.com) to get on the map, or talk to Cindy Tilbury at 303.888.4461 or cindy.tilbury@att.net.