USA Racquetball Board/Association Update

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by USA Racquetball

USAracquetball MOD Background

The USA Racquetball Board of Directors meets the last Monday of each month and works from an agenda tailored to short-term activities and long-term growth with topics that include executive committee reports, executive director updates, and committee updates.

September Board Meeting Recap

At the September 29th meeting, the Board received reports from the Legislative Committee, Rules Committee, Finance Committee, Election Committee, and U.S. Team Committee. Here’s a bit more detail:

  • Proposed Bylaws revisions are brought by the Legislative Committee for Board approval after meeting the Bylaws-mandated 15-day notification.
  • National Rules Commissioner Joshua Jones introduced six proposed rule changes by the Rules Committee for Board approval before sending them on to USA Racquetball members for their feedback (coming soon).
  • The Finance Committee led by Sandy Rios is preparing the 2026 USAR Budget for Board consideration and vote.
  • The Election Committee reported that the deadline for Statements of Interest for the next Board election would be October 17, after which next steps will be followed to identify a slate for Board approval in November.
  • The U.S. Team Committee updated the Board on the planning for the U.S. Junior Team/Delegation’s trip to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, December 5-13. Approximately 100 persons will travel, including 34 athletes, 6 U.S. Junior Team coaches, a physical therapist, and an impressive number of “cheerleaders,“ i.e., family members, private coaches, and additional staff members.
  • The Hall of Fame Committee has a new chairperson, Todd Boss, who is leading the committee’s efforts to bring recommendations to the Board on the Hall of Fame Class of 2026 and Annual Awards to be announced in February at the National Indoor Championships.

Ankored Migration

Cheryl Kirk updated the Board on the vendor migration from Players Health to Ankored that is currently in progress. Ankored offers a compliance tracking platform that will administrate completion of SafeSport training, background checks, conflict of interest disclosures, and code of conduct acceptance. All will be executed via E-sign and managed based on the various roles volunteers, employees, and contractors hold. Ankored and R2 Sports are working to create an integration so that Ankored’s data transfers over to USAR members’ profiles. Ankored’s customer support team and the rest of their staff are top notch, and we feel we are in very good hands.

USOPC General Assembly

One of the Executive Committee points covered at the September meeting concerned the recent 2025 U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Assembly, September 23-26, in Salt Lake City. Kristin Wattz and Cheryl Kirk attended representing USA Racquetball. They were joined by Erika Manilla who arrived at the end of the week to attend the USOPC Athlete Council Assembly. This was a valuable networking opportunity with many of the National Governing Bodies (NGBs) under the USOPC. Sessions included topics such as policymaking, CEO/Board relationships, philanthropy, and new SafeSport structure and guidelines as well as a review of proposed medical standards for each NGB. Kristin said, “Many best practices and ideas were exchanged and networking was accomplished that has already led to post-Assembly discussions and potential partnering.  It was a week very well spent in the future home of the 2034 Winter Olympics.”

Development/Marketing

The Development Advisory Group met on October 3, 2025. Plans were finalized for adding the fundraising request in Give Direct for donations to send our U.S. Junior Team coaches and physical therapist to the Dominican Republic for the IRF World Junior Championships in December. This group is working with the Social Media Group to publicize this campaign. Discussion took place regarding starting social media posts around Giving Tuesday, December 2, 2025.  

Conclusion

That’s a snapshot on what’s currently going on with the Board and USA Racquetball.

For a full breakdown of Board, Bylaws, Policy, and Committee information, please visit www.usaracquetball.com and select Governance from the dropdown menu (home page/top left).

Contact us with questions at ed@usaracquetball.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Two reminders:

The First Quarter State Association and Tournament Director call is scheduled for January 6, 2026. Please contact Cindy Tilbury at cindy.tilbury@att.net. if you would like to be added to the email list to be notified of the time and Zoom link information.

The R2 site for the USA Racquetball Indoor Championships, February 11-15, 2026, is accepting entries at https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=50421.