(Dec 15, 2007) The 5th Juniors Only racquetball tournament held at ClubSport of Pleasanton on Saturday, December 8th hosted junior players from Petaluma Valley Athletic Club, Auburn Racquet & Fitness Club, Meridian Sports Clubs in Novato, Fitness West Daly City, Solano Athletic Club, Supreme Court 1 in Sunnyvale, Cross Court Athletic Club, ClubSport San Ramon and ClubSport of Pleasanton. Seeing the improvement in these players, most of who are returning players in our junior events, should make the program directors and junior coaches from these clubs very proud. The participating juniors were examples of fine players showing great sportsmanship. Not only do they love to play, they love to referee! Running an event for junior players is such a rewarding experience, not to mention a “breeze” compared to hosting adults. Hopefully we will have more of these fun, one-day events for our very deserving junior players. They are our future league, tournament and possibly professional players, and also our future program directors, racquetball teachers and coaches.
(Read more for full results)…Collegiate: SoCal Scrimmages
(Nov 10, 2007) Momentum in Southern California continues to grow for collegiate racquetball. On Saturday, November 11, the two leading schools with racquetball programs in the LA area, USC and CSUF, met for some head-to-head competition. (read more)…
Collegiate: Fall WCRC Tournament at UC Berkeley
(Nov 13, 2007) The 2007-2008 WCRC season is off to a HUGE start as we had 55 players from 9 different schools compete in the Fall WCRC tournament at Berkeley. Sacramento State edged Berkeley for the tournament win and the lead in the season standings. Danielle Evans (UC Santa Cruz) over Amy Benson (UC Davis) in the Women's I gold finals in a hard-fought tie-breaker. (We have a guess what Danielle wished for when she blew out her birthday candles that day!) Alejandro Ron (Sac State) over Carlos Penagos (SJSU) in the Men's I gold finals. Men's Division II: Jake Abernathy (UC Berkeley) over Stephen Hibbs (Stanford) in a tiebreaker. Men's Division III: Siva Gunda (UC Davis) over David Wong (UC Berkeley), also in a tie-breaker. Great matches! (writeup and full results at the WCRC website)…
California Players at National Doubles
(Oct 12, 2007) Fall is in the air so it must be time for the National Doubles. We had 107 players in Tempe AZ representing California at the 2007 National Doubles with 416 players from across the country joining in to make their best showings. We wanted to take a minute to recognize the California Winners and Finalist for this tournament and add a “hearty congratulations” to everyone who participated. Since this tournament will take place again in February 2008 on its new date on the calendar, we wanted to give you some inspiration!!!
(read more)…Aubrey O'Brien Appears in Sports Illustrated
The column, "Faces In The Crowd" recognizes O'Brien as one of the elite athletes who have achieved excellence through competition. O'Brien was a triple gold medal winner at the Junior Olympics where she won the 14-under singles, 14-under doubles and 16-under mixed doubles.
Aubrey is currently training and preparing to compete in the 2007 IRF World Junior Championships in Cochabamba, Bolivia. She will represent Team USA in singles and doubles. For more info about Aubrey and the USA Junior National Team, visit their web-site: www.usajuniorracquetball.com
Full article: Sports Illustrated Faces In
The Crowd
CSRA Supports US Juniors Team
(Sep 13, 2007) The CSRA Board and its members are pleased to announce a $1000 donation to the support of the US Junior Racquetball Team, specifically for the players representing California.
Thank you to all the players who have donated generously to this cause and to the coaches of our players. These are the future greats of our sport!!
-Peggine
Collegiate: SoCal Scrimmages
For many people this was their first time playing in a competitive setting, and they all played great and fought hard. It was a long day of competition with everyone having to play 9 singles games. For CalState Fullerton Jon Varona and Vito Caccuciolo dominated the event by winning all their matches, and Andre Mora scored 91 points for the team, but USC was a strong and steady, conistent team. The two Trojans who led their team in points was Alan Zhang and Grant Stubbins, but all their players made contributions to the overall total which made the huge difference. The final score was 644 to 524 points. Congratulations USC!
Thanks to Grant Stubbins and Jon Varona for working together and setting this up. Thanks to the teams at USC and CSUF for participating.
After hearing about the great turnout CSU Long Beach decided that they want to get into the mix. Next scrimmages are CSULB vs. CSUF and CSULB vs. USC, dates are TBD. There are schools starting clubs on other campuses and their is a lot of interest for collegiate racquetball; if this momentum continues look out for a Southern California WCRC Tournament in the Spring! If anyone has friends that play racquetball in any Southern California University please email the information to Jon Varona at jon.varona@gmail.com. He has been working with schools in the area to help start up recognized campus racquetball clubs.
(See the WCRC website for more information on collegiate racquetball)California Players at National Doubles
(Oct 12, 2007) Fall is in the air so it must be time for the National Doubles. We had 107 players in Tempe AZ representing California at the 2007 National Doubles with 416 players from across the country joining in to make their best showings. We wanted to take a minute to recognize the California Winners and Finalist for this tournament and add a “hearty congratulations” to everyone who participated. Since this tournament will take place again in February 2008 on its new date on the calendar, we wanted to give you some inspiration!!! You may notice that there are several multi-medal winners on this list – please forgive me if I left anyone off or goofed your name. Shoot me an email and I will make corrections.
| Division | Players | Place |
|---|---|---|
| W US Team Qualifying | Jacqueline Paraiso and her partner Aimee Ruiz, of New Jersey | US Team |
| WB & W45B | Adrienne Velasquez/Nico Richardson | Gold in both divisions |
| WC | Julia Mouser/Pearl Torres | Silver |
| W25A | Nancy Large and her partner from FL | Silver |
| W35+ | Debbie Tisinger-Moore and her partner from AZ | Silver |
| W40+ | Roxanne Davis/Lori Soares | Gold |
| Elaine Dexter/Jody Nance | Silver | |
| W45+ | Debbie Tisinger-Moore and her partner | Silver |
| W50+ | Elaine Dexter and her partner | Gold |
| Leslie Pawka and her partner | Silver | |
| W55+ | Merijean Kelley and her partner | Gold |
| Terry Ann Rogers and her partner | Silver | |
| W60+ | Merijean Kelley/Nidia Funes | Gold |
| Marquita Molina and her partner | Silver | |
| MXO | Janel Tisinger/Jason Samora | Silver |
| MXA | Dennis French/Dorcy Norton | Silver |
| MXB | Juan Diaz/Nico Richardson | Silver |
| MXC | Pearl Torres/Ralph Torres | Gold |
| MX35+ | Amy foster and her partner | Gold |
| Rafeal Filippini and his partner | Silver | |
| MX40+ | Jody Nance/Mark Nomura | Gold |
| MX45+ | Debbie Tisinger-Moore and her partner | Silver |
| MX50+ | Elaine Dexter and her partner | Gold |
| MX55+ | Steve Cohen/Terry Ann Rogers | Silver |
| MX60+ | Merijean Kelley/Mike Pawka | Gold |
| Luis Guerrero/Nidia Funes | Silver | |
| MO | Brian Klee/Jason Samora | Gold |
| ME | Gil Cepeda/Danny Newman | Silver |
| MB | Jim Latter/Kevin Loop | Gold |
| M24A | Ro Blackwood/Thomas (Alex) Baker | Gold |
| M35B | Jim Latter/Kevin Loop | Gold |
| Andrew Espinoza/David Aguirre | Silver | |
| M45 | Danny Newman/Gil Cepeda | Silver |
| M45B | John Dalisky/Vic Koliczew | Gold |
| M50 | Gene Pare and his partner | Silver |
| M55 | Bert Castelanelli/David Ortega | Gold |
| Eric Barkey and his partner | Silver | |
| M55A | Jon Christ/Steve Cohen | Gold |
| Barry Clyde/Mike Lippitt | Silver | |
| M60 | Mike Pawka and his partner | Silver |
| M65 | Luis Guerrero and his partner | Silver |
| M70 | Ken Moore/Paul Banales | Silver |
Rule for CSRA Skill Division State Champions
The winners of each CSRA State Singles or Doubles Championship Skill Division will be ineligible to play in that division for a minimum of one year or until after the CSRA State Championship Tournament the following year.
This rule applies to the winners of the Men's and Women's A, B, C and D divisions.
The winner of the Men's and Women's ELITE Division will not be eligible to ENTER an ELITE Division, but may enter an Open/ELITE Division and drop down if they lose in the first round and the man is not ranked in the top one third of the Open Division and the Woman is not ranked in the top 10 of the Open Division.
If the player accumulates no points in the higher division during that year, he/she may petition the CSRA Board of Directors to regain eligibility to play in the lower division.
Players on the Road to the Nationals
(Apr 3, 2007) Are you looking for a roommate? Maybe we can help connect people heading to Houston to share some of the costs and maximize your experiences! Email us with your name/gender/phone contact/email contactÊand you can make the connections. Here is the first person asking about Houston:
| Player | Contact | Share |
| Carlos Contreras | Ph: 707-585-7813 www.bearfinancialgroup.com | |
USAR/CSRA Membership Drive
There is currently a drive for new members of USAR/CSRA. For every new member you sponsor, your name gets thrown in the “hat”.
The USAR will have a drawing on May 1. The winner receives airfare and a free entry into the National singles.
CSRA will have a separate drawing at the same time. With an award of Free entry into the 2007 State Doubles and 2008 State Singles tournaments + 1 year Free USAR/CSRA membership going to the member that sponsors the most new members. Also, two names will be drawn out of our “hat”, with one receiving 2 years Free USAR/CSRA membership and the other receiving 1 year Free USAR/CSRA membership.
New members will get the benefits of receiving the USAR magazine which arrives every other month full of great information. The instructional tips alone are worth 3X+ the cost of membership. Members are also on the list to receive notices of upcoming events. Every member is also eligible for secondary medical coverage during a sanctioned event in case of injury and has the opportunity to compete for a place on the US team as well as attend performance and training camps.
Membership is NOT just for tournament players. Club players trying to improve their game can get tons of great advice from the magazine. Juniors can get inspired and will be informed of events they may not know of otherwise.
The membership form can be downloaded here: membership-drive-jan-2007.pdf
2007 State Championships
The Fitness West Club in Daly City played host to this years State Singles Championships. This was also the first year that a State Singles could be eligible as an alternate Qualifier for entry into the 2007 National Singles in Houston.
The R2Sports online entry system is gaining in popularity with the players across the country with the players about to gain access to their start times and division draws as well as entering the tournament. The players in the State Singles have also shown a partiality to the online system with over half of the 120 participants signing up on the web.
Jack Hughes was able to update the draws actively during the tournament utilizing a paperless system for the first time. For future events, this online system is available to all tournament directors for all sanctioned events and includes the assistance of our board members whom have experience with the R2Sports system.
This year the Board of Directors tried something a little different with prize money pools in every division. For straight draws, prize money was awarded though the Semi-finals and for Round Robin draws, prize money was awarded by points for 1st, 2nd & some 3rd places based on winning at least one match and the size of the draw.
Several players chose to donate their prize money back to the racquetball association for use in the Juniors and general development programs as well as a few folks making a donation on their entry form. Our sincere thanks to: Jack Easterday, Tony Jammal, Nidia Funes, Tori Davis, Jeff Marshall, Mark Nives, Alyse Cori & Margaret Pederson.
I would personally like to thank the participating Board of Directors for their efforts over the weekend to provide a quality event centered on the players satisfaction: Jack Hughes, Brian Dixon, Del Villanueva, Larry Steiner, Margaret Pederson and a super special THANX our perennial volunteer – Terri Ann Rogers.
Congratulaions to all players for participating in your State Singles Championships. The following is the Champion and Finalist results for the 2007 State Singles Championships. For complete results, please review the draws by going to the tournament website through the californiaracquetball.org/calendar link.
| Division | Winner/Finalist |
|---|---|
| Men’s Open | Jason Samora / Herb Yamashiro |
| Men’s Elite | Matt Barserian / Gil Cepeda |
| Men’s A | Jeremy Mayer / Kevin Loop |
| Men’s B | Kyle Kazmierczak / Jim Latter |
| Men’s C | Zachary Brancato / Jack Easterday |
| Men’s D | Jesse Serna / Mitch Forrest Jr. |
| Men’s under 24 | Matt Berserian / Kyle Severns |
| Men’s 25+ | Brian Feng / Jason Samora |
| Men’s 35+ | Armando Villa / Richardo Espinosa |
| Men’s 45+ | Jim Durham / Steven Ducich |
| Men’s 55+ | Jim Ferrell / John Lomonaco |
| Men’s 65+ | Ron Dorst |
| Men’s 75+ | Vinnie Caramagno / Jose Sanchez |
| Men’s Under 24 A | Carlos Penagos / Tony Jammal |
| Men’s 35+ A | Joel Schneider / Jeff Marshall |
| Men’s 45+ A | John Lomonaco / Richard Aal |
| Men’s 35+ B | Charlie Terrazas / Jose Castillo |
| Men’s 45+ B | Paul Flores / Clay Alexander |
| Men’s 55+ B | Hank Estrada / Carlos Contreras |
| Men’s 45+ C | Jack Easterday / Doug Litwin |
| Men’s 55+ C | Warren Hackbarth / Henry Taylor |
| Women’s Open | Mary Tessier / Aubrey O’Brien |
| Women’s Elite | Esther Lozano / Margaret Pederson |
| Women’s A | Alyse Cori / Devon Pimentelli |
| Women’s B | Haoning Yang |
| Women’s C | Jessica Winn / Irene Djohan |
| Women’s D | Linda Winn / Beverly Bachoo |
| Women’s 45+ | Lee Hardiman |
| Women’s 25/35 B/C | Haoning Yang / Amy Palko |
| Women’s 25+ C | Irene Djohan / Angela Hahn |
Collegiate: 2006 Tournament at Berkeley
![[Cal Tourney Photo]](images/2006berkeley_groupshot.jpg "Group Photo, Berkeley 2006")
The Aggies came hunting for Bear, and bagged one in the end. Their weapon of choice, a stellar women's team. That didn't stop the men's ballet squad from mugging for the trophy photo, though... Seriously, congratulations to the team— we're all looking forward to the next tournament.
[Read the full tournament recap at the WCRC website]
|
![[Cal Tourney Trophy Photo]](images/2006berkeley_trophy.jpg "Trophy Photo, Berkeley 2006") WCRC Commissioner John Bardos awarding the travelling trophy to the UC Davis Aggies. |
2006 Juniors Nats - “Zach’s Nats”
| “Last summer, a few of my racquetball buddies and I went to Lansing, MI for the Junior National Racquetball Tournament. This was the second time I went to the Nationals but it was my first time going with just my friends. …” | ![[Zach]](Juniors/zak_portrait_sm.jpg "Zach") Zach |
2006 State Doubles Sweatshirts
We have a limited number of Large sweatshirts from the 2006 State Doubles available for purchase - $15 includes shipping. Grey - No shrink.
—Peggine (
)
Their Moment in the Sun
Congratulations to the California state players for an awesome showing in Tempe this past month at the USAR National Doubles. See anyone you know? Tell them “congrats,” and if you see yourself, give yourself a pat on the back. Hours of additional entertainment from this list:
- Call up each of these heroes-in-our-midsts, find out what their favorite cookie is, and then send it to them!
- If you didn't go, pencil your name in and daydream about the fun you would have had. (feel free to make up any placing you want—nobody's looking)
- Print out the list and use it as a road-trip game for your kids: have them count how many state players had multiple placings!
- Hunt for typos, and then send them to the ...
| State Player(s) | Division | Placing |
| Rocky Carson | MO | 1st |
| Jason Samora | MO | 3rd |
| Marc Pollack,Ricardo Soto | ME | 2nd |
| Dave Peckinpaugh/Mike Peckinpaugh | MB | 1st |
| Richard Aal/Tom Lonardo | MB | 2nd |
| Raphael Carrillo/Robert Balsimo | MC | 1st |
| Jason Geis/Rafael Filipini | M24/25 | 4th |
| Ro Blackwood/Thomas Baker | M24/25A | 2nd |
| Bill George/Bronc Hughes | M24/25A | 4th |
| Raphael Carrillo/Robert Balsimo | M25C | 3rd |
| Gregg Solis/Jon Dunn | M30 | 2nd |
| Mark Nomura/Tim Annear | M30 | 3rd |
| Randy Long/Ron Miremontes | M35A | 3rd |
| Jon Christ/Steve Cohen | M45/55B | 1st |
| Ruben Baraja/Bud Bristol | M45/55B | 2nd |
| Hank Estrada/Dave Peckinpaugh | M45/55B | 3rd |
| Gregg Imuta/Roy San Miguel | M45/55B | 4th |
| Bert Castelanelli/Dave Ortega | M50 | 4th |
| Gene Pare | M50 | 2nd |
| Bert Castelanelli/Dave Ortega | M55 | 3rd |
| Eric Barkey | M55 | 1st |
| Mike Pawka | M60 | 1st |
| Robert Lattanzio/Scott Rudoni | M60 | 4th |
| Janel Tisinger | WO | 2nd |
| Lori Soares/Roxanne Davis | WE | 3rd |
| Sue Goodwin | WE | 1st |
| Paula Likens | WA RED | 2nd |
| Carla Francis | WA Blue | 2nd |
| Esther Lozano/Louis Doran | WB | 1st |
| Arleen Jimenez/Carolina Cruz | WC | 1st |
| Janel Tisinger | W24/25 | 1st |
| Elaine Dexter/Jody Nance | W30/40 | 1st |
| Debra Tisinger/Solanna Taragan | W30/40 | 2nd |
| Arleen Jimenez/Carolina Cruz | W35 RED | 3rd |
| Debra Tisinger | W45 | 1st |
| Brenda lee/Cindy Gilbert | W45 BLUE | 1st |
| Marni Wagner/Paule Likens | W45 BLUE | 3rd |
| Leslie Pawka | W50 | 2nd |
| Sue Goodwin | W50 | 3rd |
| Elaine Dexter | W50 | 1st |
| Kathy Trotter/Nancy Large | W50 RED | 3rd |
| Terry Rogers/Carla Francis | W55 | 2nd |
| Nidia Funes | W60 | 2nd |
| Jason Geis/Lori Soares | MXE | 1st |
| Roxanne Davis/Marc Pollack | MXE | 3rd |
| Cindy Gilbert/Gil Cepeda | MXE | 2nd |
| Lori Soares/Dan Malsack | MXA | 1st |
| Pearl Torres/Ralph Torres | MXDC | 3rd |
| Colleen Keating/Jeff Sligar | MXDC | 4th |
| Debra Nathan/Rudy Chavez | MXD24/25 | 3rd |
| Kari Gardner/James Swift | MXD24/25 | 1st |
| Amy Foster | MXD30 | 1st |
| Jody Nance/Brian Klee | MXD30 | 3rd |
| Brenda Lee/Tim Annear | MXD30 | 4th |
| Lisa Hjelm/Mark Nomura | MXD35 | 4th |
| Cilia Vigil/Tom Lonardo | MXD40 | 3rd |
| Ken Stone | MXD45 | 2nd |
| Debbie Tisinger | MXD45 | 3rd |
| Elaine Dexter | MXD50 | 1st |
| Kim Cameron/Rick Ramirez | MXD50 | 3rd |
| Russ Mannino | MXD55 | 2nd |
| Terry Rogers/Mike Pawka | MXD55 | 3rd |
| Nidia Funes | MXD60 | 1st |
| Fred Roe | MXD60 | 2nd |
| Marquita Molina | MXD65 | 1st |
| William Baker | MXD65 | 2nd |
2006 State Doubles
Photos from the recent State Doubles tournament have been posted in the Photo Gallery.
Website Renovations
(Sep 25) I've been making some changes to the website, and appreciate your feedback and help in getting it updated. If you have revised club information, or if you see a problem on one of the site's pages, please email your
As part of the website's design, I wanted to have an image of a player as a graphical framing element on the page. John Ellis was kind enough to provide a good-quality image that I used. Several of the board members as well as several state members suggested that I should take care to avoid the appearance of favoritism for a single manufacturer (and I think John's wife, Jen, was concerned about the rumors of all of the teenage girls printing out the page and pasting it on the covers of their school books).
For the time being, I'd like you to say "hi" to
Zippy, our bouncy blue friend. Zippy's blue color was carefully selected to be a tint that would
show no favoritism to any single ball manufacturer. Long-term, I'd like to explore displaying images from our
state players on a rotating basis. I'd encourage folks to send me good-quality pictures that
will fit the design. (Images should show a single subject, should have a simple uniform background,
and be related to racquetball–I'll be happy to discuss the possibilities of a photo further with
anyone who sends email.) Please send submissions to the error-prone webmaster mentioned above...
—your error-prone (but well-intentioned!) webmaster
CSRA Election Results
The Board of Directors of the CSRA is pleased to announce the results of our recent vote for the Board of Directors. Jack Hughes and Michael Martinez have been re-elected, and we're delighted to be joined by Larry Steiner as our newest board member.
Friends of the CSRA
We are setting up a Friends of the CSRA web page to acknowledge the financial contributions of individuals and organizations who are making a special effort to support our state racquetball program.
At this point, we'd like to recognize the following contributors at the Gold level: Mike Lippitt, Rick Betts of Spartan Supply, Brian Dixon of First Security Loan, and Peggine Tellez of Edward Jones; the following contributor at the Silver level: David van Deren of Comfort Air HVAC and Jack Easterday; and the following contributors at the Bronze level: Allan Nuttall, Bill Goddard, Gary Kahler, Barry Lynes, Jim Railey, Joe Greenleaf of Greenleaf Printing, and “Bozo” (the state’s most anonymous supporter).
—We thank you.
Beyond the Short Line
September 2006 CSRA Newsletter
In this issue:
- Juniors coverage: State Championships and US National Junior Olympics
- Recap: Elana Aalways Smiles Charity Fundraiser
- Recap: Spring Sprung at the Sierra Spring Splat
- Recap: Fundraiser Tournament for Contra Costa County Homeless Shelter
- Upcoming Events, and notes on upcoming 2006/07 Season
Read it all by downloading the Sep 2006 CSRA Newsletter