RACQUETBALL MEETING
15 August 2007
First of all.. it is noted that we lost another racquetball club... The Ascona Racquetball club is no longer... However, on an upside... We have picked up Champions of Waterville to help fill the void. We will be starting off our season at the Waterville facility.. We welcome them back to the tourney scene. Hopefully we will see some new faces and the return of some of those we remember from the past.
The club in Pittsfield can be seen on the horizon as a possibility of having a tourney sometime in the near future. We'll keep you update as to the goings on there... Topsham still remains as a possibility, but alas, the summer has passed far too quickly and I (tom p) have negelected to make contact.. I will make sure to at least have made contact in the near future. Jon figures that MMA may be a site for a B & C only tourney. That would be awsome. It has been mentioned that some may be available for a mixed only tourney. We'll have to see how that shapes up.
Now.. onto business.....
A meeting was held for the board of Maine Racquetball and the advisory committee (club owners or their representative) at the Senator Inn in Augusta on 15 August. The purpose of the meeting was to develop a schedule for the upcoming year and discuss ideas to make tournaments better.
Tournament Schedule Posted on Web Site (with changes)
Some of the comments or suggestions discussed were:
50/50 needs to be revived to generate additional income to support the MeRA.
Raffle items could be donated by local businesses and given away.
Challenge events: How fast can someone hit a ball (speed measured by radar); hit a can of balls at the front of the court.
Court assignments need to be completed by 3 PM on Thursday and forward to Tom Pancsofar so that they can be put on the web-site. This will eliminate calling the club for times.
For two day tournaments – Light supper on Friday evening (pizza); and Light breakfast and lunch on Saturday.
Consolations should be offered.
Offering crew shirts, T-shirts and sweatshirts for sale, which would benefit Maine Racquetball.
We need to have e-mail addresses for anyone interested in racquetball so that they can be kept abreast of what is going on and just maybe they will opt to play a tournament or two.
A noontime instructional period. Steve Hayden has offered his time for a short instructional period to
Thanks in advance, we are,
Respectfully yours,
Jon Johansen
Roland Labelle
Please let me know if you have any questions or issues that should be discussed. We really need to get more people to the tournaments, but of course the budget is limited as to what we can do. I am hoping to visit clubs with racquetball courts and see if we get recruit some players. Maybe we can do mini-tournaments at these clubs. Any thoughts to increase participation would be appreciated.