Future of Racquetball -- Outreach Advisory Group Update
by Laura Pesek
The Outreach Advisory Group has been working hard over the past few months. We just recently completed our first outreach survey entitled “Your Opinion Counts!” focused on getting thoughts and feedback on how USA Racquetball can improve State Association & Tournament Director Quarterly Calls.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this inaugural outreach effort! We received some excellent feedback and several suggestions on how to make quarterly calls more valuable for everyone involved. Here are some examples:
- Publish a meaningful and attention-getting agenda well in advance of the call.
- Ask guest speakers and other experts to present information and facilitate discussions on key topics.
- Shift the focus of the call from a “report-out” to a more interactive and problem-solving discussion on issues facing our sport such as:
- How to grow memberships and the sport
- Fundraising ideas
- Planning and executing professional, profitable, high-quality events
- How to partner with facilities to save courts profitably
USAR will be using the above recommendations and all of the feedback provided by the survey respondents to craft a new approach to the Quarterly Calls. This will likely be executed in phases, so please be patient as changes are implemented over time.
And if you were not able to participate in this survey, there is still time for your voice to be heard! Starting in March, the Outreach Advisory Group will be facilitating a series of focus group discussions open to members who are willing to share their constructive ideas on all things racquetball. We’ll be discussing topics such as:
- State and regional needs and best practices
- How to grow the sport of racquetball
- Court programming techniques
- Any and all other issues relevant to focus group participants and the sport as a whole
If you would like to participate in a future Focus Group, please reach out to any Outreach Advisory Group team member. We’d love to have you join us - Your Opinion Counts!
Sincerely,
Future of Racquetball Outreach Advisory Group
Laura Pesek (lapesek@yahoo.com)
Brian Ancheta (brianancheta1@yahoo.com)
Mark Baron (aceserve01@gmail.com)
Bob Frazier (bob.frazier@mchsi.com)
Sandy Rios (srios13@stx.rr.com)