Notice of Election of ISRA Officers and Board Members

The ISRA Board will hold its Annual Meeting on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. As with all ISRA meetings, this meeting is open to the membership. The Annual Meeting is particularly important since all members attending have a vote in the election of the ISRA Board of Directors. If you plan to attend, please contact Marla Cusano at marcusano@comcast.net for time and location.

Officer and Board positions are staggered two-year terms.  This year, the open positions include Vice President, Treasurer, three of the four Zone Vice Presidents and four Governing Board member positions.

The Officer slate is:

Cheryl Kirk for Vice President

Michelle Halverson for Treasurer

Geoff Peters for North Zone VP

Doug Halverson for West Zone VP

Steve Angelo for South Zone VP

The following four individuals are being re-nominated to the Governing Board:

Patrice Calvi, Steve Goodman, Joe Silius, Lynne Weisbart  

Opposing slates and individuals must be nominated in writing by a current member and received prior to May 25, 2012.  If there are no additional nominations, the Nominating Committee’s slate will be accepted automatically.  Anyone interested in running for office or a Board position should contact Marla Cusano at marcusano@comcast.net. 

Additionally, any ISRA member who wishes to help improve the quality of racquetball in Illinois is welcome to join the Auxiliary Board.  Come out and support Illinois Racquetball!

Signed

The ISRA Nominating Committee

Marla Cusano (Chair), Pam Grace, and Rick Seaberg

General Update

The USA Racquetball Ektelon Regional Championships are in the record books and were a fitting end to an Illinois season in which our attendance at sanctioned events was up over last year in almost every tournament. We certainly have work to do to increase our competitive participation among women and juniors, but the overall trend is extremely positive, and we are dedicated to finding new ways to introduce more recreational players to tournaments.

Next year, you can expect to see several more One Day Events like the great doubles tournament that Krystal Csuk ran at LA Fitness (Naperville) in January where 69 players competed from dawn to dusk. We also hope to see smaller shootouts at a number of locations that have not recently held tournaments – this can serve to introduce more folks to competitive play and reduce their time and travel commitments.

Look for the preliminary 2012-2013 tournament calendar to be published to this website early this summer.

We are open to your suggestions and ideas - please send your thoughts to petersgeoff@hotmail.com.

Good luck to the Team Illinois players who will be competing at the Ektelon Nationals beginning on May 23 in Fullerton, California! As of today, representing Team Illinois will be: Eric Battaglia, Watmora Casey, Josh Cohen, Ben Croft, Krystal Csuk, Laurel Davis, Cheryl Gudinas, Juan Herrera, Brent Huff, Cheryl Kirk, Leo Klimaitis, Eric Mathews, Horace Miller, Keith Minor, Geoff Peters, and Ray Redelman.

Congratulations to those players who earned the right to play in a higher division next season! We call it our "Moving on Up" list for 2012-2013. They are eligible for one last time at the Ektelon Nationals and then move up starting at the first event of the season – Racquet for the Cure in Peoria (June 8-9)!

To Men’s Open: Patrick Sands, Summerfest; John Puccio, Turkey Shoot; Josh Cohen, ISRA State Singles; Tom Horton, Shamrock Shootout; David Lyvers, USAR Regionals

To Men’s A: Alcides Gutierrez, Summerfest; James Camasto, ISRA State Singles; Howard Chan, Shamrock Shootout

To Men’s B: Ric Marroquin, Summerfest; Matt Reeser, Turkey Shoot; Alan West, ISRA State Singles; Art Davis, Jr., Shamrock Shootout

To Men’s C: Rogelio Ruiz, Turkey Shoot; Todd Greenstein, ISRA State Singles; Hector Herrera, Shamrock Shootout

To Men’s Open Doubles: Bruce Nelson/Eric Marion, ISRA State Doubles

To Men’s A Doubles: Arnold Ortega/David Cieslewicz, ISRA State Doubles

To Mixed Open Doubles: Carolyn Watkins-Vazquez/Joe DeArmas, Turkey Shoot; Jonelle Dubois/James Camasto, ISRA State Doubles; Marla Cusano/Patrick Sands, Shamrock Shootout

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU ON PLAYING WELL AND EARNING THE RIGHT TO MOVE ON UP!

At the USA Racquetball Regional Championships we inducted Chris Evon and Art Shay into the Illinois Racquetball Hall of Fame. Congratulations to these two deserving individuals on their accomplishments - we'll have photos and an article in the next issue of the ISRA Newsletter!

Your ISRA Board