May 9, 2022
Notice of Annual Meeting – ISRA Board of Directors
The ISRA Board of Directors will hold its Annual Meeting on June 7, 2022. As with all ISRA meetings, this meeting is open to the membership. If you are interested in attending, please contact ISRA Board President Cheryl Kirk at cherylkkirk@aol.com for the time and location.
Any ISRA member who wishes to help improved the quality of racquetball in Illinois an familiarize themselves with Board processes is welcome to join the Auxiliary Board. ISRA President Cheryl Kirk’s email address is cherylkkirk@aol.com.
Come out and support Illinois Racquetball!
April 15, 2022
It’s been a full two years since we held the 35th Annual KWM Gutterman Shamrock Shootout presented by My Pillow, what many of us consider to be the end of the way the world used to be in our sport (really, in the whole world). Since then we have had numerous fits and starts, lost many members from our core membership base due to the lack of events, and slowly climbed out of the changes required by the global Covid-19 pandemic. We’ve managed to run a number of events over the past year with various mandates in place and of course drops in the number of entrants as a result of a lack of practice time and discomfort in competing. However, in the last few months the numbers have been bouncing back, and we expect to see a full Tournament Calendar for the back half of the year beginning with an anticipated great turnout for the traditional Summerfest at Glass Court.
In the last month, we’ve held a highly successful IRT Pro Stop – the 37th Annual PapaNicholas Coffee IRT Shamrock Shootout presented by the Glass Court (View results at https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-results.asp?TID=38590) and a small but highly competitive 2022 Illinois State Singles & Doubles Championship (View results at https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/viewResults.asp?TID=38589). We have updated our local, regional and national events calendar to the right for everything that we know as of today. Make plans now to get back on the courts and support our sport!
One special note from PapaNicholas Coffee who stepped up to sponsor the Shamrock Shootout this year. PapaNicholas is continuing to offer a free Coffee Bar at Glass Court for members and guests so that players can sample their great coffee. In addition, they have set up a special code: racketball50 (no, that is not a typo) for use by all of us on the papanicholas.com website. That code will get you a 50% Discount on anything for sale on the site (and shipping is free over $50 per order!). This is how we can show loyalty to great sponsors like Jim Schlicher and the PapaNicholas brand, so please order coffee (even better, set up a subscription) and share the code with family and friends!
Our very successful Junior Team Illinois wrapped up their competitive season last week with plans to maintain the momentum through the USA Racquetball National Junior Championships in late June where Illinois will field 4-6 competitors in Des Moines. Coaches Barry Dixon, John Thorson, Marian Bala, Andy Pitock, and Jairo Torres are to be commended for their dedication to the kids, and we look forward to some summer clinics to bring in more kids as we move toward the next season. Certainly our great turnout at the IRT Junior Clinic at the Shamrock Shootout indicated that we have additional kids interested in joining the program. If you know of a junior player who might be interested, please let Dan at Glass Court know, and the JTI Team will follow-up with the parents! We all know it’s a great sport and Juniors are the future of our game. Let’s introduce as many kids as possible to racquetball!
If your Membership to USA Racquetball has expired, whether or not you plan to play another tournament in the near future, please consider taking a minute to renew it. It helps our sport stay healthy and bounce back from the past two years — it’s an investment much more than a competitive license!
You can also consider a tax-deductible donation to USA Racquetball to fund the growth of our sport. There is a “Donate” button on almost every message from USAR, and the Board of Directors (including our own Cheryl Kirk) is focused on specific programs that are moving our sport forward in both visibility and participation. As a 501-C-3, USA Racquetball donations are fully tax deductible, and hopefully many of you will be able to help USA Racquetball, the National Governing Body for Racquetball under the USOPC.
As always, thanks for your support, and we hope to see you on the courts soon!
— Your ISRA Board of Directors
