2023 WorldWide Racquetball Day

Exciting New Program! WorldWide Racquetball Day

There are going to be MANY opportunities to play in racquetball tournaments in the 2024 season, but the 2023 WorldWide Racquetball Day will be the first of its kind. Just like you didn’t want to miss the first US OPEN Racquetball Championship in Memphis in 1996, we are planning on this amazing set of racquetball shootouts to be globally unifying.
What is it?
Globally, we will be 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 already have an event planned for the weekend of September 9-10, have the tournament director add it to our list of worldwide events!
What is the Goal?
Well, we’re 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 of 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 will be providing materials to help you run a local round-robin, with lots of suggestions and R2Sports assistance with round-robin formats. Our group of coordinators have centuries of experience and ideas to make your event great.
Why participate?
With the help of regional coordinators, we will be creating incentives for tournament directors and players. September 9/10 is two weeks before the big KWM Gutterman 3WALLBALL Championships in Las Vegas. Mike Coulter has graciously offered to start the incentives with a bit of 3WB swag and a few entries. More info soon, any ideas for fun giveaways are welcome.
Who is planning to participate?
Everyone worldwide is invited to participate. We want to know who is hosting a tournament that day, and we’ll create a map to be 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.
So far, PARC (North/Central/South America) is on board. The timing was perfect to present the idea at the General Assembly at the Pan American Racquetball Championships in Guatemala City on April 4th. Marie Gomar translated the plan into Spanish, and the whole room started buzzing with ideas to get started. Marie may end up being one of our official translators!
Next will be a trip to Asia Racquetball Federation countries by IRF President Osvaldo Maggi. We hope they are as excited as the PARC leaders!
Then, we will concentrate on Europe. Ireland will sign up, we know. Maybe some of the Air Force bases, too. Germany, Italy, Spain?
Racquetball Travel?
Consider looking for a WorldWide Racquetball Tournament anywhere in the world on September 9 or 10.
And What About 2024?
We plan to have our racquets-across-the-world event again in September of 2024. 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 Cindy Tilbury at 303.888.4461 or cindy.tilbury@att.net.