Archives: News

Welcome to the Pennsylvania State Racquetball Association’s official blog! For now, that’s the name, but the word blog comes with a lot of negative connotations, and I will likely change the name later.

First of all, thank you to everyone who participated in our State Doubles Tournament this past weekend! We have, and will continue to post pictures and videos from the event. A special thank you to Josh Reddinger, who ran the event successfully. I am relatively new to the board, and the inner workings of putting a tournament together from a management standpoint, as well as financially. However, aside from running an hour behind from time to time (which is virtually unavoidable), the tournament ran without a hitch, and the compliments far outweighed any complaints. This is vital because in the end, the tournaments are for the players, and the players’ level of enjoyment is what matters.

A special thank you to our sponsors Quaker Steak and Lube, and Ski’s Pizza for the generous donation of delicious food. And one last thank you to Rodney Hake, Travis Aldinger, and Tim Page.

Rodney helped coordinate with Ski’s Pizza to provide us with Subs and Pizza. Please, if you are local to York, or are ever visiting, go visit them in Dover, the food they provided was fantastic.

Thank you to all the players traveling from hours away (Pittsburgh, Philly, New Jersey, Maryland, DC and Virginia!), and from out-of-state! Your participation is appreciated and always encouraged!

And finally, thank you to Travis and Tim for playing host to our event, and providing us with excellent facilities and supplies to help us run everything.

Here is a list of the winners from this past weekend, as well as pictures! (Some pictures will be uploaded when available!)

Junior Singles Advanced – Connor Golden

Men’s Open – Travis Aldinger / Michael Silvio

Men’s Elite (Open Consolation) – Ben Sylvester / JT Mylan

Men’s A – James Priar / Rob Neidlinger

Men’s B – Dean Villone / Robert Janney

Men’s C – Tom Farley / Rodney Hake

Men’s 25+ – Seth Parker / Wally Ruiz

Men’s 35-45+ A/B – Mike Kehoe / Paul Sucro

Men’s 55+ A/B – James Kressly / Paul Cressman

Men’s 65+ – George Hardinger / William Chadwick

Men’s Centurion Open – Wally Ruiz / Daron Morrill

Women’s Open/Elite – Dottie Kelly / Pat Musselman

Women’s A – Holly Reitzel / Aase Leslie

Mixed Open/Elite – Karen Morton / Wally Ruiz

Mixed A’s – Kevin Goulet / Holly Reitzel

Event overview – http://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=18890

— Mike Spiro

In the past year and a half, the PSRA Board has made a concerted effort to promote the sport of racquetball, incentivize tournament directors to run sanctioned events, and reward all Pennsylvania players with membership benefits.

Here are all of the following items that have been approved by the PSRA Board:

• Offer Free USAR Membership Tournaments – All USA Racquetball sanctioned tournaments require participants to be USAR members – a $50 annual cost.
  • In 2015-16, we held 2 tournaments (1 in Pittsburgh, 1 in Philadelphia) that charged a fixed entry fee and then rewarded all PA members with a paid-for USAR Membership.
  • In 2016-17, we are having 3 tournaments (1 in Easton, 1 in Pittsburgh, 1 in State College) that will again charge a fixed entry fee in return for a paid-for USAR Membership. This will reach more of the PA membership with this benefit as we target the east, west, and central areas of the state.
• Incentivize Tournament Directors to Run Sanctioned Events
  • All tournament directors can apply for a $500 award in order to offset club rental costs at the conclusion of their PA sanctioned event and after the event has been finalized in r2sports within 14 days.
  • All tournament directors can receive discounted Head/Penn balls from the PSRA. At the conclusion of their PA sanctioned event and after the event has been finalized in r2sports within 14 days, they can then apply for a full reimbursement of the cost of the racquetballs.
  • All tournament directors can apply for a full reimbursement of the cost of sanctioning an event at the conclusion of their PA sanctioned event and after the event has been finalized in r2sports within 14 days.
  • All tournament directors can apply for a full reimbursement of the cost of all PA Junior entry fees at the conclusion of their PA sanctioned event and after the event has been finalized in r2sports within 14 days.
  • All tournament directors can apply for a 50% reimbursement of the cost of all PA Collegiate entry fees at the conclusion of their PA sanctioned event and after the event has been finalized in r2sports within 14 days.
• Reward Junior Participation in Tournaments
  • All PA juniors will have no entry fee cost for any PA sanctioned tournament.
• Reward Collegiate Participation in Tournaments
  • All PA collegians (including PA residents attending college outside of PA) will have 50% of their entry fees discounted for any PA sanctioned tournament.
• Welcome to 3 new PSRA Board Members: Mike Kehoe, Anthony Saba, and Mike Spiro

The Pennsylvania State singles championship has finally returned to Penn State. We’re down to ten courts but they should be ready to handle the best racquetball PA has to offer.

In celebration of our return to the Happy Valley, we are offering prize money for every singles skill division.

Men’s and Women’s Open— 1st—$600 2nd – $300
Men’s and Women’s Elite— 1st—$300 2nd—$180
Men’s and Women’s A—1st—180 2nd—$120
Men’s and Women’s B—1st— $120 2nd—$84
Men’s and Women’s C—1st—$84 2nd— $60
Men’s and Women’s D—1st—$60 2nd—$48

SIGN UP HERE!!!!

PSRA has created a program to promote referee certification. PSRA will reimburse the $10 fee after you pass the referee certification. During all PSRA run tournaments where referees are paid $5, certified referees will be paid $10. This gives players an opportunity to make some money back but also learn more about the game. Email referee@pa-racquetball.com with a copy of your receipt. You must be a PA resident.

For more information about the USA Racquetball Referee program click here.

The PA State Singles Championship will be returning to the IM building on the Penn State main campus March 4-6th. Construction for the past 2+ years has hindered (pun) us playing at our state’s geographic center. The construction included the removal of 2 of the 12 courts but the playing conditions should be a tremendous improvement. Check your email for emails from R2Sports.com to sign up.

There are currently 2 openings on the PSRA board of directors. We are looking for 2 motivated and positive PA residents that would like to volunteer their time to make racquetball better for ALL Pennsylvania racquetballers. The board will consider anyone interested in the next few months and the selection will be made democratically by the full board. Please send an email with any qualifications if interested to info@pa-racquetball.com. Below are some expectations of all board members

Board Members will:

• Promote racquetball in the community with a positive and approachable attitude
• Prepare for and attend at least 10 monthly board meetings a year
• Assist in determining the organization’s mission and purpose.
• Review all organization’s policies and bylaws.
• Ensure adequate financial controls are in place.
• Play in, direct or assist in the direction of a sanctioned tournament or shootout within Pennsylvania
• Play in, direct or assist in the direction of a league or coach/instruction in an official capacity
• Be a current PA resident with a USA Racquetball membership

Other needs of the board include:

• Artistic/creative people for shirt designs
• Website design
• Marketing
• Business negotiation skills
• Social networking
• Photography
• Videography
• General computer skills
• Writing skills

We successfully ran a tournament in Pittsburgh where 40 Pennsylvania players received a 1 year membership for their participation. At $60, this is a steal! It included food and an athletic shirt without a bunch of sponsor logos. Another tournament will be held in Feasterville to cater to the Philadelphia player population. Please come out and support PA racquetball.

A number of Pennsylvania residents made the trek to Minneapolis for the 40 Annual Racquetball US Open. As the biggest and most popular competition in our sport, 800 players from around the world participated.