The Rambler Fitness Center at Randolph AFB in Texas hosted the first of what we hope will be several events across the country for racquetball involving combined service personnel.

This being our first event in Texas, we attracted players not only from the local area, but from several surrounding states, from as far away as California, Idaho, New Hampshire and Virginia. These players represent the untapped loyalty to racquetball in our Armed Forces that we are committed to serving.
In the time it took to get the word out, this event was filled to capacity with nearly 60 players in 14 skill and age levels, with a few 70+ aged players!!

The Rambler Staff under Rick Prado, with Marlin Richardson and Ray Salinas as our facility contacts, were very receptive to the preparations for our tournament. Messa Cyr, Jean Lopez, Perisha Milikich & Gislaine Powers helped us be sure the site was ready and able to shine for this event.

Coast Guard’s Glenn Martineau and Cibolo resident/dependent, Clarita Parra, worked very diligently to be sure the player’s needs were taken care of. The tournament ran on-time or ahead of schedule due to the pool play and round robin formats with the participates ready to head to their courts. Talk about Military Precision!!

This event is an example of the type of program we are bringing to bases around the country and it was with great pride that Texas was our first “out of state” event. It appears that the fever is catching on all over the country; tournaments in Washington State, Connecticut and possibly Washington DC/Virginia will be showing up on the calendar leading to the USMRF National Championships. These events are dedicated to providing racquetball competition in which only our Active/Retired/Veteran Military Service personnel, and in some cases, dependents may participate.

There are other areas of focus for racquetball in the Military on the horizon. The Texas event marked the formation of the first Base Chapter with Fort Hood stepping up. We will be looking to other folks involved in racquetball on their bases to join us as we work to spread these programs everywhere we are needed.

And now on to our results:

• Men’s Open/Elite - Eduardo Salehroa over Gene Couch
• Men’s A - Shaun Stone over Luis Feliz
• Men’s B – Don Jorgensen over Ysa Garza
• Men’s C/D – Eric Rios over Scott Robinson
• Men’s 25+ - Lorenzo Valdez over Adam Smith
• Mens 25/35/45 B – Antony Bethel/Tom Mccullough
• Men’s 35/45 A – Jeff Elder over Brad Parra
• Men’s 35/45 C – Scott Robinson/Gerard Andrews
• Men’s 55/65 C/70A – Joseph Bowman/Lewis Edwards
• Women’s – Clarita Parra/Lilia Garcia
• Men’s Doubles – Open - Eduardo Salehroa/Donald Sims over Jimmie York/Gene Couch
• Men’s Doubles – B – Ysa Garza/Luis Feliz over A.J. Fernandez and Antonio Fernandez
• Men’s Doubles – C – Dennis Pfohl/Henry Rocha over Lilia Garcia/Odie Nordin
• Men’s Doubles – 45/55 Brad Parra/Jeff Elder over Arthur Evans/Robert Jones