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Racquetball Canada Newsletter |
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April 2004
Junior NationalsThe Canadian Junior National championships will begin April 26 in Charlottetown, PEI. This is one of the major events on the racquetball calendar. You can follow the event on the website, which will have results as the tournament happens. We wish all the Junior National players well, hope they perform their best and have fun. Pan-American ChampionshipsThe Pan American Championships will begin shortly in Ecuador and run from the 4-10 of April. Representing Canada in men's singles will be Brian Istace and Corey Osborne, and in women's Lori Jane Powell and Amanda Dunn. The women's doubles players will be Josée Grand'Maître and Jennifer Saunders, and men will be Tom O'Brien and François Viens. Congratulations to all the players named to the team! Best wishes to you. Look for updates on the Racquetball Canada website. National Racquetball WeekNational Racquetball Week was a success again this year with several events across the country, including a women's clinic in Vernon, B.C., a coaching clinic in St. John's, NL featuring national team member Corey Osborne, as well as several open houses and provincial tournaments. There was a nice article in the Moncton paper about racquetball from the activities there. If you know of any racquetball media coverage in your area, we are always interested in hearing about it. Please send a note to either the national office, or the Vice President for marketing and communications. Draw master namedCongratulations to Rino Langelier on being named Racquetball Canada's drawmaster. He succeeds Racquetball Canada's long-time drawmaster Cliff Hendrickson. The draw master is responsible for scheduling all the matches at the Racquetball Canada's events: Junior and Senior nationals, and the national team selection events. Western Canada Team ChallengeThe 2nd Western Canadian Team Challenge was held the last weekend of March in Calgary. Started by Mike Volek last year in Brandon, this year's event was hosted by Cliff Hendrickson and held at the Fish Creek Club in Calgary. Played like tennis's Davis Cup, but with only singles matches, this event involves men and women representing their provinces in Open, 30+, 40+ and 50+ divisions. Each division is worth the same amount of points, so the women in 50+ are as valuable as the Open players. You have never seen such excitement about a women's 40+ match as there was during this event. Team Alberta won the tournament, with Saskatchewan finishing second, British Columbia third and Manitoba fourth. But a good time was had by all. Next year's event will be in Regina, with British Columbia hosting it the year after. Elite PlayersChristie Van Hees is now ranked 4th on the LPRA tour. She beat Cheryl Gudinas in the final of the Nashville tournament. On the way to the final, Van Hees defeated Angela Grisar in the round of 16, Rhonda Rajsich in the quarter finals, and Kerri Wachtel in the semi finals. On the IRT, the Louisville tournament wasn't a good one for Canadians. Mike Green lost to Shane Vanderson (3 games to 2) in the round of 16s, and Kane Waselenchuk, playing his first tournament since January, also lost in the 16s, to Sudsy Monchik (3-1). Waselenchuk did better in the Greensboro event. He defeated Josh Tucker (3-1) in the round of 16s and Alvaro Beltran (3-1) in the quarters before losing to Jack Huczek (3-0) in the semi-final. Waselenchuk is now ranked 3rd on the IRT. Green wasn't so fortunate in Greensboro, as he lost to Sudsy Monchik (3-0) in the round of 16. Green is now ranked 9th on the IRT. He is trying to finish in the top 8, because then he will be able to go straight into the main draw in tournaments next year rather than going through qualifying. We wish him the best in achieving that goal. In the former Canadian department, Woody Clouse lost in the final of the Colorado Springs IRT event to Chris Crowther (3-0). Full results of the men's and women's pro tours can be found at their respective websites: Tournament ScheduleThe complete list of tournaments for March is:
Specific information (e.g., entry form, results, etc.) for tournaments is available on the provincial websites that can be accessed through the RC links page. The Racquetball Canada tournament schedule is available on the RC website. Nationals Entry Forms AvailableEntry forms for both Senior Nationals and Junior Nationals are now available on the Racquetball Canada website. The Junior Nationals form is also available as a PDF at www.playracquetball.ca. In closing...Any comments on or suggestions for the monthly Racquetball Canada newsletter should be sent to Evan Pritchard at evan333@mts.net. |
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