Updated on

News from PARC and IRF in the Americas

March 17, 2023

Dear Worldwide Racquetball Family:

During January and February, IRF President Osvaldo Maggi traveled to several countries of the Americas to meet with national racquetball leaders. Positive meetings took place that brought the following results:

– Santiago de Chile, Chile: The construction of the racquetball venue to hold the XIX Pan American Games 2023 is moving forward slowly but strongly.

– Colorado Springs, USA: Several meetings were held with stakeholders that support the IRF and PARC. Discussion included new development programs and also exploration of possibly hosting a future IRF World Junior Racquetball Championships in the United States.

– Bogota, Colombia: The Colombian Olympic Committee and the Minister of Sport have created a Pro Federation Committee to re-fund the Colombian Racquetball Federation and enable the participation of Colombian racquetball athletes in 2023 events to include the XXXIV Central American and Caribbean Games and the XIX Pan American Games. Sincere thanks go to NOC President Ciro Solano, the Ministry of Sport of Colombia, and the members of the Pro Federation Committee.

– San Juan, Puerto Rico: The National Olympic Committee will support the constitution of a new Executive Committee of the National Racquetball Federation headed by Pucho Miranda. They will collaborate with the IRF and PARC to build Puerto Rican participation in future events.

 The outcomes of President Maggi’s visits to these countries and the meetings with their leaders serve as encouragement to all of us who love racquetball that the sport is moving forward nicely on the international stage.

We have so much to look forward to in the future!

Updated on

Andres Acuña selected as IWGA Athlete Representative

IWGA ATHLETES’ COMMITTEE: MAKING THE ATHLETE’S VOICE HEARD

https://www.theworldgames.org/news/The-World-Games-17/IWGA-Athletes-Committee-Making-the-athlete-s-voice-heard-2432

At its board meeting in January, the board of the International World Games Association (IWGA) agreed on the composition of the Interim IWGA Athletes’ Committee. As already announced, the Chair of this committee will be the Spanish karateka Sandra Sanchez.

The six other members of this committee are Cat Phillips from Australia (Flying Disc), Andrés Acuña from Costa Rica (Racquetball), the Swiss Floorball player Matthias Hofbauer, the Indian archer Abhishek Verma, Justyna Możdżonek from Poland (DanceSport) and the Canadian Powerlifter Rhaea Stinn. Board member Jan Fransoo will represent the IWGA Executive Committee on this panel and thus be the counterpart for the athletes. In the IWGA Office the committee will be supported by Guillaume Felli. The decision to form an Athletes’ Committee was communicated to the IWGA members at the Annual General Meeting in 2022.

Jan Fransoo explains the next steps: “The current IWGA Athletes’ Committee has an interim status until September 2025. By that time, an Athletes’ Committee will have been elected by the athletes of the next edition of The World Games. The 12th edition will take place in Chengdu, China. The main task over the next two-and-a-half years will be to prepare for the installation of this Athletes’ Committee, including the process of election, future powers, composition, and associated regulatory changes. The focus of our efforts will be on the regulations for the transformation of the provisional committee into a standard institution of the IWGA.”

Sandra Sanchez, who attended the IWGA board meeting in January in Madrid as a guest at the invitation of IWGA President José Perurena, says that she is aware of the responsibility. “The committee will make the athletes’ voice and assessment heard, and influence the IWGA’s decisions for the benefit of the participants in the Games. I feel very honoured to be able to lead the committee after finishing my active career in sport, and I’m looking forward to this new task,” says the winner at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, USA and 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland. She was Olympic champion at the 2021 Games in Tokyo.

One of the first tasks will be to convene a first official meeting with all members of the committee before the summer of this year. At this meeting they will also agree on their further course of action. The members will work on the rules of procedure.

José Perurena explained: “One of our basic principles is that we put the athletes and their needs at the centre. The establishment of this Interim Athletes’ Committee is another step on the way to putting this principle into practice. We are thus following the guidelines we set ourselves in the strategy paper ‘Growth Beyond Excellence’.” The 39 IWGA member federations decided to set up this provisional committee at last year’s Annual General Meeting.

Jan Fransoo explains how the current members were nominated: “We communicated with our Federations and asked them to provide us with suitable candidates. Gender equality was important to us in this process. In addition, the athlete representatives should come from all over the world and clearly show the diversity of the sport within The World Games family. Above all we asked for confident and experienced athletes. Their informed opinion carries weight in the further development of our event. We are convinced the current composition meets these expectations. I am very much looking forward to the cooperation that is about to begin.”

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ITA Webinar Series 2022

Our October monthly webinar is dedicated to “Supplements & Informed Decision-Making Part 2”.

This is the second in a series of two webinars designed to support informed decision-making around supplement use. The session will cover topics such as batch-testing and methods that can be used to select the safest supplements, seeking out expert advice and how to conduct a self-assessment if athletes do not have access to a qualified dietician, and other key points that will help athletes protect themselves from inadvertent doping. The first session discussed food-first approach to training and performance; a recording of the webinar can be found on ita.sport.

Joining us for part two are nutrition expert Catherine Naulleau, a former elite athlete in rowing and Canadian Olympic Team performance dietician at multiple editions of the Olympic Games, from Sochi 2014 to Beijing 2022. Also joining the webinar is Cassie Fien, an international track and field athlete from Australia and member of the Sport Integrity Australia Athlete Advisory Group. Catherine will provide practical tips on the safer use of supplements in sport and Cassie will share her story of testing positive for a prohibited substance from supplement use.

The experts will deliver an interactive presentation and leave time at the end of the webinar to take audience questions.

As always, we are pleased to deliver these webinars in English with simultaneous translation to four additional languages – Arabic (العربي), Spanish (español), French (français) and Russian (русский).

Attached are three banners that you can use for social media promotion. As a reminder, the attached

Topic: Supplements & Informed Decision-Making Part 2

Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PeL1k5oeREiTBAf3vvNvLQ

Event date: Thursday 27 October, 14:00 – 15:00 CET

Panelists:

Cassie Fien, Track & Field Athlete, Sport Integrity Australia Athlete Advisory Group member

Catherine Naulleau, Former Rower & Canadian Olympic Team dietician

Moderator: Olya Abasolo, ITA Education Team

ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE DATES OF THE XXXIII IRF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022

Colorado Springs, CO-USA, August 04, 2022.

Dear Players, Teams, and the Worldwide Racquetball Family,

For reasons of hotel availability in Guatemala City, the host city of the XXXIII IRF World Junior Championships, we are forced to change the dates of the event to December 2 to 10, 2022. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause, and we very much look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

The IRF Board of Directors and the National Racquetball Association of Guatemala

Updated on

IRF Announcement Regarding Scoring for Upcoming Tournaments

Dear Racquetball Family,

The IRF sends greetings to everyone and would like to clarify scoring for the remainder of 2022.

Rally scoring (in other words a point scored on every rally won) applies in all of the below:

For the World Games in Birmingham, USA (16 men and 16 women, singles only):

The same scoring will be used as the individual competition at PARC in Bolivia — Best of 5 games, with the first four games to 15 points and a tiebreaker game if necessary to 11 points, with just that tie-breaking fifth game winning by 2 points. The difference with the World Games is that with the single elimination format and only 32 competing, matches that are too short would not provide the international exposure desired for Racquetball.

For the IRF World Championships and IRF World Junior Championships, the scoring will be best of 5 games to 11 points, all games won by 2 points.

 

For those who would like more background, please continue reading:

Racquetball, along with many other sports, has the opportunity to provide support to and cooperation with international sports organizations such as the IOC and Panam Sports that make decisions on inclusion of various sports in premier high-level events like the Pan American Games.

The desire is that racquetball matches should be exciting, fast-moving, not overly long, and easily understood by spectators, both live and later on the Olympic Channel, YouTube, et al. Very lengthy racquetball matches can seem endless to new and casual spectators. When we lose spectators, the future of our sport is in jeopardy.

Additionally, a number of other factors that are well known to experienced tournament directors must be considered, such as length of the tournament in days; available courts; number and types of divisions offered; duration of matches; number of countries and athletes participating; being able to offer both individual and team competitions at each event, etc. Matches shorter in length can open up potential opportunities for improved tournaments experiences.

Adjustments to scoring approaches may seem to many to be a “moving target,” and we appreciate the patience of the international racquetball community as we find just the right balance.

In this year of change and transition, the IRF Technical Committee and the IRF Board of Directors are dedicated to identifying the best equation for success as we work to ensure that Racquetball will be included and competed for many years to come!

Official communication letter

 

Updated on

RON BROWN HONOURED BY INDIGENOUS SPORTS HALLS OF FAME

Ron Brown, member of Canada Racquetball and PARC’s Vice President North America, has been inducted as a member of the Indigenous Sports Hall Of Fame. Congratulations Ron and all the Canadian racquetball community!

Information from https://racquetballcanada.ca/ron-brown-honoured-by-indigenous-sports-halls-of-fame/

WINNIPEG (April 28, 2022) – Racquetball Canada would like to congratulate Ron Brown who was inducted to the Manitoba Indigenous Sport Hall of Fame this past week and recently inducted into the North American Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame.

Brown, who has a long history with the sport of racquetball, was one of the inaugural members inducted to both all-Indigenous Halls of Fame, two of the first in North America. Brown is of Mi’kmaw ancestry and is a proud member of the Annapolis Valley Mi’kmaq First Nation in Cambridge, Nova Scotia.

“From baseball to racquetball, roller hockey to running, we celebrated the legacy, passion, and contribution made by our inductees,” stated the Manitoba Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Council (MASRC) in their news post about the Manitoba Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Brown was inducted along-side fourteen other honourees who have also made significant contributions to sport including Reggie Leach, Jocelyn Larocque, Angela Chalmers and Theoren Fleury.

“I am thrilled to be a member of these two Halls of Fame, but to be one of the first group of inductees to be honoured is pretty special.” said Brown. “I am very proud of my heritage and to be recognized in the midst of two incredible groups of Indigenous athletes and builders is humbling.”

“I am a true champion of racquetball,” said Brown. “I played all the other sports, but racquetball was and is my true passion. I am proud that racquetball was acknowledged as a highly competitive sport through my recognition.”

Brown spoke about the importance of the Manitoba Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame. “One of the primary reasons for the establishment of the Manitoba Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame is in answer to the ‘Calls to Action’ found in the Truth and Reconciliation Report. And to share important stories about Indigenous contribution to sport.” said Brown.

Call to Action #87 calls upon “all levels of government, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, sports halls of fame, and other relevant organizations, to provide public education that tells the national story of Aboriginal athletes in history.”

The goal of the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame is to honour and recognize the Indigenous sport cultures of Canada and the United States by recognizing outstanding leadership and achievement in individual and team athletics.

Brown’s story is an important one to share. His ancestry is passed down from his maternal grandmother, who lost many rights through the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869. The Act, which later became part of the Indian Act, granted extreme control over those with First Nations status and marked the beginning of gender-based restrictions.

As a result, when Brown’s grandmother married a non-Native man, she was stripped of her First Nations status, as were any children from her marriage. It has been a generational fight for the reinstatement of rights for those who lost their status and it wasn’t until 2011 that Brown was granted his First Nations status.

Brown’s induction into the Manitoba Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame not only highlights his incredible contribution to sport but provides context as to why the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is so important.

Brown’s current contribution to racquetball is at the governance level. He is Racquetball Canada’s representative to the International Racquetball Federation and the Pan American Racquetball Confederation. He also serves as a committee member with Racquetball Canada. But his legacy spans decades, highlighted by his involvement as a national team coach. Brown represented Canada as a coach at twenty international events over a period of twenty-six years. He also was the personal coach for several Canadian racquetball greats and served as the coach for Racquetball Canada’s National Training Centre in Winnipeg. He is a recipient of several awards including being a member of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and a recipient of Racquetball Canada’s Ivan Velan Award.

Brown has worked directly with programs targeted at those who are marginalized. As the manager of Supreme Racquet Club in Winnipeg, Brown ensured inner city youth in Winnipeg had the opportunity to learn and play racquetball. At the international level, Brown contributed to the development of coaches from other Pan American nations. He has continued his important work professionally through his current role as the President and CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg, and as a volunteer with many critical community organizations including the Winnipeg Poverty Reduction Council, Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg, and the Winnipeg Indigenous Executive Circle.

Racquetball Canada congratulates Ron Brown on his achievements as he is honoured by Manitoba Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame and the North American Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame.

More information about the Manitoba Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame, including Ron Brown’s biography can be found by clicking here.

More information about the North American Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame can be found by clicking here.

Updated on

International Racquetball Federation [IRF] Officially Sanctions Racket:Next

March 15, 2022

 For Immediate Release

 International Racquetball Federation [IRF] Officially Sanctions Racket:Next

 

Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA: In a decisive vote of the IRF Board of Directors, Virtual Reality racquet sport game Racket:Next [aka Racket: Nx] has become a fully sanctioned sports discipline of an IOC-Recognized global sports federation, effective April 1, 2022.

With this action, Racquet:Next becomes the first electronic game of any sort to become an official global sport.

 

IRF [Colorado Springs, USA]; Racket:Next developer One Hamsa [Tel Aviv, Israel]; and the Metaverse Sports Association [San Francisco, USA]; signed a Memorandum of Understanding in July 2021. At that time, the IRF endorsed Racket:Next and committed to progress toward full sanctioning of the game as a sport.

IRF Secretary General Luke St. Onge said at the time: “When we realized what this combination could mean not only for our federation but for all of racquet sport, we jumped all over it. This will be a game-changer both for us and for world sport. We look forward to sharing so much more as this exciting partnership unfolds.”

As St. Onge predicted, the partnership has unfolded and “the game” has changed. Dean Schear, IRF Chief Financial Officer and Chair of the IRF Virtual Sports Committee, added, “Bottom line, we have a great vision, a great team, and the sense of urgency and commitment to act now.”

The IRF has been asked to participate in the E-Gaming Pavilion at The World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, in July. The IRF is also a candidate to participate in the Olympic Virtual Series later this year.

Metaverse Sports Association CEO Victor Bond, who drove and facilitated the agreement, commented, “This is a marriage made in future-sport heaven: a world-class developer and a unique, successful, and wonderful game with a fully global international IOC-recognized sports federation that has the vision and the grit to not just look around the corner but to go there.” Bond added, “This is one big step in our collaboration and one gigantic leap for the new technology of sport.”

One Hamsa CEO Assaf “Usul” Ronen added: “This first-ever sanctioning act supports Racket:Next’s core design principles as a fully athletic and visceral game, allowing players of all racquet sports – not only racquetball – to make every racket sport move, except for those that would not work in the average living room (like a racquetball dive or a clay court tennis slide), immersed inside a lighted, responsive, audio-filled dome, in a game that is purely skill based.”

Ronen continued, “Racket:Next has already surpassed 300,000 players worldwide, led by the fastest-growing VR headset, the Meta Quest 2, in which it’s been a top-rated title since its launch in 2019. Since 2021 we also witness a surge of players on emerging China-based platforms. Racquet sports, all together, is the largest sports category in the world, eclipsing even world football.

For more information:

web: www.racketnext.com  email: racketnext@gmail.com

International Racquetball Federation: www.internationalracquetball.com

One Hamsa: www.onehamsa.com

Metaverse Sports Association: www.virtualsportsassociation.com

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International Racquetball Federation: The International Racquetball Federation is the governing body for all internationally sanctioned racquetball events. Racquetball is an extremely fast sport where balls can travel in excess of 150 mph in a 40 ft. long, 20 ft. wide, and 20 ft. high court.

One Hamsa: Born to the deserts of the middle east, One Hamsa is a game design studio formed to craft quality VR games. We care about unique content, unreasonable levels of polish, and providing our players with value.

Metaverse Sports Association: The Metaverse Sports Association is dedicated to the development of high-quality athletic virtual reality games into officially sanctioned global sports. Racket:Next is our and the world’s first success. There will be more

Updated on

IRF Rules Changes Announcement

Dear International Racquetball Family,

As many of you have probably already heard, we at the IRF have approved some significant changes to Racquetball competition on the international level. We would like to take this opportunity to describe these changes and the rationale behind them. Keep in mind that these changes will become effective 1 February 2022.

1. The first is the scoring system, often referred to as “rally scoring.” With rally scoring, a point is earned at the end of each rally, by the winner of the rally, regardless of whether the winner of the rally is the server or the receiver.

  • The best of five (5) games will be played.
  • The first four (4) games will be played to 15 points, win by one (1) point.
  • If a fifth (tiebreaker) game is necessary, it will be played to 11 points, win by two (2) points.
  • There will be one (1) timeout per game.
  • There will be a limit of two (2) appeals per game.
  • The time between games will be two (2) minutes.

The main reason for this move to rally scoring is that many times our matches are too long in duration. That negatively affects the feasibility of televising, in addition to negatively affecting Racquetball in Olympic Chain tournaments with the extensive number of days that are required to complete all of the matches. Additionally, we know the general public often does not understand Racquetball and becomes lost and confused trying to follow our scoring format as it has existed in the past.

In short, we want to make Racquetball a game that everyone, players and spectators alike, can enjoy equally, whether or not they know it and understand it well.

We understand that change sometimes brings uneasiness and requires short-term adjustments, but we have learned from the experience of other sports that made the same scoring changes years ago (as with Volleyball, Badminton, and Squash). They feel it was very positive for them.

Another benefit of rally scoring is that we can also provide the return of the team competition to our tournaments. This is something that we have been wanting to do for a while, but it was just not possible due to match length. Instead, with the new rally scoring system, creating games of shorter duration gives us the time to again offer the team competition.

Rally scoring will take effect beginning 1 February 2022 at each IRF, PARC and ARF tournament going forward including the IRF World Junior Championships later in 2022.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Two additional changes we consider very positive for inclusiveness and heightened opportunities in international competition are:

2. Adding a Mixed Doubles division to each tournament, something that has already been done successfully in several tournaments. Mixed Doubles is steadily gaining in popularity, and lead organizations across the globe are actively looking for ways to make sports even more inclusive and interesting for women to play.

3. Adding a Junior 21 & Under division to the IRF World Junior Championships. We believe this move is very important since it covers an age range between 18 and 21 years old when many players who do not yet have the experience and expertise to qualify for the adult teams. Those players have been known to leave Racquetball for other sports. Now, they will have the possibility to continue their international competitive development playing the sport of Racquetball.

World Cup age ranges will consist of 21 & Under; 18 & Under: and 16 & Under. Esprit Cup ranges will now be 14 & Under; 12 & Under; and 10 & Under. Bringing 14 & Under into the Esprit Cup category will give non-point-earning experience to additional players who did not qualify for their country’s national teams but are seriously preparing for future success in the older World Cup divisions.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

IRF Rule Change

At the World Congress at the IRF World Championships in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on 28 November 2021, a rule change* was approved concerning appeals, effective 1 January 2022: The player must stop in the moment of a perceived wrong call and make an appeal immediately concerning the last play between the players. *This rule change will be reflected in the updated 2022-2024 IRF Rulebook to be released soon.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Conclusion

Please be assured that these important changes underwent a long process of research and analysis involving many people and organizations who walked the path with us. Our gratitude goes to everyone for their invaluable collaboration.

We are confident that these decisions will benefit Racquetball and create further strength and momentum for success on the World stage and in the Olympic Chain of Events.

We wish everyone a smooth transition to these announced international competition changes, and we hope that the pandemic will allow us all to return to full normal activity as soon as possible!

Sincerely,

The IRF Board of Directors

Osvaldo Maggi (President/Argentina), Marcelo Gómez Pacheco (Vice President/Costa Rica), Luke St. Onge (General Secretary/USA), Cheryl Kirk (Secretary/USA), Carlos Ruiz (Treasurer/Venezuela), María Renée Rodríguez (Athlete Representative /Guatemala), Dr. Estuardo Wer (Guatemala), Miguel Perea (Mexico), Dr. Cho Wangki (Korea), Yunhui Cobb (USA), Aisling Hickey (Ireland).

IRF CHANGES ANNOUNCEMENT

Updated on

IRF ANNOUNCES CHANGE IN 2021 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS PLANS

August 28, 2021 – In an effort to be able offer both an IRF World Championships (Adult) and an IRF World Junior Championships, as well as to be mindful of and concerned for the pandemic-related health and safety of country delegations as well as the host countries themselves, the IRF today announces changes in plans for both events.

The IRF World Championships (Adult) will now take place at the same time as the IRF World Junior Championships in late November/early December in Guatemala City, Guatemala. This reflects a change in dates but not location since Guatemala City was the originally announced host country.

The IRF World Junior Championships dates reflect only a small change (see below), but the host country is now Guatemala and not Costa Rica as previously planned. We hope to return to Costa Rica in 2022, and we are so grateful for Costa Rica’s dedicated ongoing partnership with the IRF in serving the worldwide racquetball family. Official invitations are being developed for both events and will reach national federations as soon as possible. We strongly suggest that everyone wait to receive these before booking airfare. Even then, we suggest researching refundable flights and/or travel insurance possibilities since we all know the pandemic often compels changes as new information comes available.

The general plan, subject to modifications, is:

  • Adult event arrivals and practice the last weekend of November
  • Juniors arrive the first part of the week of 29 November
  • Adults and Juniors compete simultaneously for several days
  • Adults conclude the first half of the week of 6 December
  • Juniors continue competition through the end of that week, likely traveling home on the originally planned date of 12 December

While we certainly recognize that this schedule will present various challenges for the delegations and for the IRF, we are excited at the prospect of Junior players being able to meet the world’s best racquetball athletes and hopefully observe them compete in a World Championships event (pandemic measures permitting).

To address that point, we are working to develop protocols and approaches to put as many safety measures into place as necessary and indicated to reduce risk. Our first priority is the well-being of everyone involved. We appreciate the collaboration and relationship with the IRT and LPRT as we worked together to find the best way to be able to host these IRF international competitions with as little impact as possible on their event schedules. There is much more information to come! We are grateful for the understanding and flexibility on everyone’s part as we all continue to navigate the pandemic as best we can in our lives and in our sport.

In conclusion, we’d like to mention two very uplifting points:

We are excited for Guatemala as they host their first international event on their long-awaited brand new courts. Congratulations, Guatemala!

The IRF World Championships (Adult) is the sole qualifier for the 16 men’s singles positions and 16 women’s singles positions that will be competed in The World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, next summer. Players qualify for themselves, not as country representatives. We wish everyone good luck!

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Updated on

PARC Announces Suspension of XXXIII Pan American Racquetball Championships

For Immediate Release

20 August 2021

 

Pan American Racquetball Confederation Announces

Suspension of XXXIII Pan American Racquetball Championships

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – The Pan American Racquetball Confederation (PARC) and the Bolivian Racquetball Federation (FEBORA) announce the suspension of the XXXIII Pan American Racquetball Championships. The event was scheduled for 3-11 September in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

This decision was taken due to the measures against COVID-19 in some countries that would normally participate as well as the current COVID restrictions in the host country.

The rescheduled date for this competition is 9-17 April 2022, and more information will be shared as it becomes available.

PARC President Marcelo Gómez Pacheco commented, “We look forward to the improvement of the world situation, and we wish everyone good health and safety until we can all be together once again.”

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