International Racquetball Federation Update First nine months 2009

Dear All,

I would like to take a moment to bring you up to date on the developments within the IRF during the first six months of 2009.

1 We have just come from what can be arguably the best International Racquetball competition ever. The World Games exposed the sport for the first time to International Olympic Committee Members as well as over 70 countries worldwide.
Led by IRF President Keith Calkins the IRF contingent of 60 plus made up of players from 13 Countries , 10 officials, and many coaches and delegates showcased Racquetball to the World over 4 days.
Racquetball was showcased on the Korean Racquetball Federations all Glass Portable Court as well as the first new Racquetball Court built in Taiwan in 25 years.
The Taiwan Racquetball Federation believes that this Event will bring a boom of court building in Taiwan and could exceed Squash in the future.
The World Games is a IOC supported Multi-International Sports competition for non Olympic sports founded in 1981. Racquetball was a founding sport competed in 1981 in Santa Clara , California.
The World Games is a major step towards the inclusion of Racquetball in future Olympic Programs.
The 2013 edition of World Games will be held in Cali, Colombia and once again Racquetball will be a full medal sport on the program.
For complete results please go to the IRF web site— www.internationaracquetball.com

2 Racquetball has been confirmed as a full medal sport for the Central American Games to be held in mid December 2009 featuring the seven counties in Central America. Competition will be held in San Pedro Sula , Honduras.

3 Racquetball has been confirmed for the Central American Caribbean Games in mid July 2010 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico 4 new Racquetball Courts are being built at the University where the competition will be held. They will be a lasting legacy for the sport.

4 The Pan American Sports Organization-PASO – has approved the quadrennial coaches seminar under the IOC Solidarity Program. 22 Coaches from 14 countries in the Americas will meet under the auspices of IPRO and Gary Mazaroff for a week in Guadalajara, Mexico. This is a major program under PASO to continue the development of Racquetball and all Pan American Sports. The entire seminar is funded from IOC Solidarity funds.
The program is administered through each countries National Olympic Committee.
Supporting Gary are Ron Brown, Miguel Perea, Coach Moreno, David Ellis, Jo Shattuck as well as experts from the Mexican Olympic Committee.

5 Racquetball is once again a full medal sport in the Pan American Games that will be held on the beautiful 5 glass courts at the Olympic Complex in Guadalajara , Mexico –October, 2011. More on this at a later time.

6 The IRF has signed a 4 year agreement with Penn as the “Official Ball “of the IRF. We would like to thank Doug Ganim of Penn for his and Penn’s continued support of racquetball worldwide.
Penn joins E-Force as a major Sponsor of the IRF and its major World and Regional events.

7 The IRF held a strategic Planning Session in February to chart the course of the IRF for the future. It was great success with major participation from all major areas of the International Racquetball Partners.
The goals and objectives that came out of this exercise can be found on the IRF Web Site.

8 The 4th Annual World Seniors Doubles Championships were held in Vancouver, British Colombia. Over 130 competed and it was a great success. We are currently negotiating with Ireland to hold the 2010 edition of the World Doubles. Look for more information as it becomes available.

9 The WSRC which is one of the longest running year to year International Racquetball Competitions will once again be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The entire event has been restructured and the committee is most excited about this years Worlds.
To date 12 countries are sending competitors. We expect up to 20 to compete.
The WSRC are World Racquetball Championships under the umbrella of the IRF. The WRSC is open to all racquetball players worldwide.

10 The IRF World Juniors are on schedule for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for this December.. For all information please go to the IRF Website.

11 The 2010 IRF World Championships are shaping up nicely for Seoul, Korea. The all Glass Portable Court used at the World Games this year will be featured as the championship court located in a nearby shopping center with 7 other portable Glass Back Wall courts installed in a Exhibition Hall nearby. The courts will be used to promote Racquetball throughout Asia after the Championships.

12 The Korean Racquetball Federation has been recognized by the Korean Olympic Committee which is a big step towards having Racquetball included in the Asian Games.

13 The IRF will make a decision on how to upgrade its web site to make it interactive and user friendly at its Ex Committee meeting to be held in conjunction with the Junior Worlds in the Dominican Republic this December.

14 The IRF with the support of the IOC, PASO, and ARISF will embark on a major level 3 certification of its coaches and officials through its IPRO coaching and certification arm. IPRO is recognized by the IOC, PASO, and ACODEPA for coaching and official certification.

15 The IRF will continue its out of competition testing using the Regional Games to test its athletes under the World Antidoping Association.( WADA )

16 The World Senior Doubles Racquetball Tournament has been awarded to Kingscourt, Ireland, the home of the 2008 World Championships.

17 The IRF is working on a plan to Web Stream all of its major events. The first event will be the Bolivarian Games this November.

18 The IRF will be hosting a International Racquetball Federation Reception Wednesday evening as part of the U S Open. This is the 10 year that the IRF has hosted this reception.

19 IRF President Dr. Keith Calkins will be meeting with the Government of Catalonia regarding the building of a new Court Facility . Catalonia is a province of Spain. When this happens it will be the first new courts built in Europe since Ireland.

Please feel free to contact us at anytime regarding any of these developments at lstonge@internationalracquetball.com

Regards,

Luke St Onge

Sec General—IRF-PARC