There's been developments off court in women's pro racquetball, as a new organization has been announced: the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT). Organized by Andy Kulback and T.J. Baumbaugh, the LPRT will be a player run organization.
The Racquetball Blog talked to Kulback, and he indicated that LPRT events would be open to all players. They are in the planning stages for their tournament schedule, but they hope to have 10-12 events next season. The idea is to "retrench" and create "a solid foundation" before figuring out their "growth path," according to Kulback.
We pointed out that there aren't a lot of regular tour players in their 20s, and Kulback indicated their growth path would mean some player development. To that end, he suggested that some collegiate players have indicated they will be playing more events this coming season.
Also, Kulback suggested they'd like to see some of the young talented players from Central and South American play on tour more often. One way to do this may be to schedule events closer together in time so as to help such players who travel to the US to play a chance at playing a couple or three events in one visit. Colombian Cristina Amaya played the last three events of last season without returning home, but that was a span of six weeks, which is not a brief time.
Having some events in Mexico, which the LPRT is exploring as a possibility, could also help the Latin American players.
Kulback and Baumbaugh are organizing the LPRT now, but there will be a search for a commissioner and a Board of Directors will be created. But he emphasized "the players will be the owners of the tour" even though they won't necessarily be involved in day to day decisions.
Asked about sponsorships, Kulback said many of the usual supporters within the racquetball community have been approached and they would like to look outside the racquetball industry as well, but they need to "get our own house in order first" before reaching "outside of the sport to find sponsorship opportunities." Kulback states "the initial response from the racquetball community has been very positive and the LPRT is looking forward to working with those supporters and building those relationships."
The Racquetball Blog also contacted Gigi Rock, Commissioner of the Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) about this development, but she declined to comment on it at this time.
Too many cooks?
When The Racquetball Blog first heard that a new women's tour was in development, we were concerned, because it's a situation we've seen before in racquetball (with the Catalina tour in the men's professional game back in the early 1980s) and in other sports (such as boxing) and one that usually is not good for the sport in question.
It's fine for there to be separate national organizations, but it's best for there to be one organization overseeing professional competitions, as golf or tennis have. Hopefully, the LPRT and WPRO could make some sort of reconciliation so that there would be no split of players between the two. Such splits lead can lead to confusion among fans if one organization's #1 player or champion differs from the other, which has happened in boxing over the past few decades and in our opinion contributed to that sport's decline in popularity.
One thing is clear. People care about women's racquetball and want to see it succeed and grow. However, there are differences about how to accomplish that.
Hopefully, those differences won't end up being counter productive to women's racquetball.
Follow the bouncing ball….
Friday, July 13, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
And Now We Are 4
The Racquetball Blog began four years ago today with the purpose of providing "independent writing and reporting on racquetball."
During that period Rocky Carson and Rhonda Rajsich have won two World Championships (will they make it three each next month?), Mexicans Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas have won three straight women's doubles titles - Worlds, Pan Am Games and Pan Am Championships, and Kane Waselenchuk has won just about every tournament he's entered.
We've been to the last four US Opens and watched countless hours of racquetball over the web via ESPN 360, UStream and, of course, the IRT Network. Web-casting has been a tremendous help to us.
Over the last four years, some people have arrived on the scene: Jose Rojas, Charlie Pratt, Krystal Csuk, Gigi Rock, and some have left: Jack Huczek, Mitch Williams, Dave Negrete, Brenda Kyzer, Jo Shattuck, Shannon Feaster, and still others left and came back: Alvaro Beltran and Kristen Bellows.
It's called The Racquetball Blog, but it could have been called The Racquetball Journal or Racquetball Reporter, which perhaps would have given a better indicator of what we're trying to do here. Because we're not about stirring the pot with indefensible claims or unfairly biased opinion or SHOUTING hyperbole. A lot of sports coverage uses that approach. We don't.
The tone here is respectful and fact based, although not always conventional. Our model is The Economist, which is part of the reason for using the "we" construction, not "I". Also, the facts or arguments should stand for themselves, and using "I" might get in the way.
Despite the straight up approach, we've apparently still annoyed people on occasion. Clearly, you can't always please everybody. So it goes.
But we hope that if you care about racquetball, as we do, that reading The Racquetball Blog will be pleasing more often than not. Feedback is welcome. You can make comments on each post or email us - theracquetballblog@gmail.com - and you can follow us on Twitter @racquetballblog.
We look forward to more "independent writing and reporting on racquetball," and hope you do too.
Follow the bouncing ball….
During that period Rocky Carson and Rhonda Rajsich have won two World Championships (will they make it three each next month?), Mexicans Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas have won three straight women's doubles titles - Worlds, Pan Am Games and Pan Am Championships, and Kane Waselenchuk has won just about every tournament he's entered.
We've been to the last four US Opens and watched countless hours of racquetball over the web via ESPN 360, UStream and, of course, the IRT Network. Web-casting has been a tremendous help to us.
Over the last four years, some people have arrived on the scene: Jose Rojas, Charlie Pratt, Krystal Csuk, Gigi Rock, and some have left: Jack Huczek, Mitch Williams, Dave Negrete, Brenda Kyzer, Jo Shattuck, Shannon Feaster, and still others left and came back: Alvaro Beltran and Kristen Bellows.
It's called The Racquetball Blog, but it could have been called The Racquetball Journal or Racquetball Reporter, which perhaps would have given a better indicator of what we're trying to do here. Because we're not about stirring the pot with indefensible claims or unfairly biased opinion or SHOUTING hyperbole. A lot of sports coverage uses that approach. We don't.
The tone here is respectful and fact based, although not always conventional. Our model is The Economist, which is part of the reason for using the "we" construction, not "I". Also, the facts or arguments should stand for themselves, and using "I" might get in the way.
Despite the straight up approach, we've apparently still annoyed people on occasion. Clearly, you can't always please everybody. So it goes.
But we hope that if you care about racquetball, as we do, that reading The Racquetball Blog will be pleasing more often than not. Feedback is welcome. You can make comments on each post or email us - theracquetballblog@gmail.com - and you can follow us on Twitter @racquetballblog.
We look forward to more "independent writing and reporting on racquetball," and hope you do too.
Follow the bouncing ball….
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
What training requires
One of The Racquetball Blog staff recently met up with a racquetball coach we know. Coach is a gruff old guy, and this is how the meeting went.
"Hey coach! How's it going?"
"Still getting up in the morning," he said. "What are you doing to improve your game?" Never one to beat around the bush, coach.
"Well, you know, it's summer, so I'm running a bit and working out."
"Do you not understand English? I asked what are doing to improve your game? Be specific!"
"Uh, well, I'm running a couple of times a week and ---"
"How many times a week? For how long? How far? At what pace?"
"Well, about half an hour, twice a week, and-- uhhhh...."
"You don't really know, do you?" Coach asked, and our guy sheepishly shook his head. "Well, then you're not training. Do you know what training involves?"
"Oh sure! There's doing cardio and pumping weights and all that stuff!"
Coach sighed, "yeah, yeah, smart guy. But what training needs is this," and he pulled a little book and a pencil out of his pocket.
"What's that?"
"What the hell's it look like? It's a pencil and a notebook. Tell me you're not as dumb as you look."
"I'm not as d--- No, wait, how's that going make me a better racquetball player?"
"If you're training, then you need to be making progress. It's fine to be going for a run, or doing yoga or pilates or whatever the activity of the week is now - lord knows more people should be doing something instead of sitting around on their backsides. But really if you're only doing that, then you're just treading water, because you're not making progress. Training means progressing. And to know if you're progressing you need to keep a record. That's where this comes in," he said waving the pencil and notebook in the air.
"Oh, I see."
"Do you? 'cause it sounds like you don't. Understand, you need to know what you're doing this week, so that you can do more next week. That's what progression means. Doing more later than you are now. But you won't know if it's more unless you have a record of what you're doing now."
"Well, I can just remember. I've got a good memory."
"Well, ain't you special. People forget stuff. Believe me; they do, especially stuff they do a lot, and if you're training, you should be doing a lot of stuff, which means you should be writing it down--"
"I got an iPhone! Can I use that keep my records?"
"Sure tech-boy, use your iPhone. Write in the clouds, if you want, or open a vein and write in blood. Whatever. Just keep a record."
"Sure, coach!"
"All right. I'll want to see that record later. Make sure you're actually making progress not just piddling about."
"Sure, coach!"
Coach's eyes rolled, and he said "right. Well, it's lunch time and I'm hungry, so I'm going to go eat. Good-bye."
"See ya coach!"
Follow the bouncing ball….
"Hey coach! How's it going?"
"Still getting up in the morning," he said. "What are you doing to improve your game?" Never one to beat around the bush, coach.
"Well, you know, it's summer, so I'm running a bit and working out."
"Do you not understand English? I asked what are doing to improve your game? Be specific!"
"Uh, well, I'm running a couple of times a week and ---"
"How many times a week? For how long? How far? At what pace?"
"Well, about half an hour, twice a week, and-- uhhhh...."
"You don't really know, do you?" Coach asked, and our guy sheepishly shook his head. "Well, then you're not training. Do you know what training involves?"
"Oh sure! There's doing cardio and pumping weights and all that stuff!"
Coach sighed, "yeah, yeah, smart guy. But what training needs is this," and he pulled a little book and a pencil out of his pocket.
"What's that?"
"What the hell's it look like? It's a pencil and a notebook. Tell me you're not as dumb as you look."
"I'm not as d--- No, wait, how's that going make me a better racquetball player?"
"If you're training, then you need to be making progress. It's fine to be going for a run, or doing yoga or pilates or whatever the activity of the week is now - lord knows more people should be doing something instead of sitting around on their backsides. But really if you're only doing that, then you're just treading water, because you're not making progress. Training means progressing. And to know if you're progressing you need to keep a record. That's where this comes in," he said waving the pencil and notebook in the air.
"Oh, I see."
"Do you? 'cause it sounds like you don't. Understand, you need to know what you're doing this week, so that you can do more next week. That's what progression means. Doing more later than you are now. But you won't know if it's more unless you have a record of what you're doing now."
"Well, I can just remember. I've got a good memory."
"Well, ain't you special. People forget stuff. Believe me; they do, especially stuff they do a lot, and if you're training, you should be doing a lot of stuff, which means you should be writing it down--"
"I got an iPhone! Can I use that keep my records?"
"Sure tech-boy, use your iPhone. Write in the clouds, if you want, or open a vein and write in blood. Whatever. Just keep a record."
"Sure, coach!"
"All right. I'll want to see that record later. Make sure you're actually making progress not just piddling about."
"Sure, coach!"
Coach's eyes rolled, and he said "right. Well, it's lunch time and I'm hungry, so I'm going to go eat. Good-bye."
"See ya coach!"
Follow the bouncing ball….
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