Aubrey O'Brien (Auburn, CA), current US Junior Team member was recently featured in Sports Illustrated magazine for her accomplishments at the 2007 USA Racquetball Junior Olympic National Championships. The column, "Faces In The Crowd" recognizes O'Brien as one of the elite athletes who have achieved excellence through competition. She is currently training and preparing to compete in the 2007 IRF World Junior Championships in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Over 400 of the nations best racquetball players are currently competing in the 40th US National Doubles Racquetball Championships. The event is held at the Arizona State University, Student Recreation Center in Tempe, AZ and concludes on Sunday, September 30, 2007.

If you want to have a complete update on what has happened over the last couple of months in the sport of racquetball, download the latest IRF NEWSletter, no. 4/2007. Find all results of the IRF's regional competitions, as well as the World Seniors 2007 and other important information from the racquetball scene around the world.

Guatemala's Juan José Salvatierra Jr did very well at the recent Junior event in Costa Rica. He has been training for more than nine months and was very proud and happy about his bronze medal in the Juniors U 10-12 division. Especially proud was his father Juan Salvatierra who also served as coach for the whole Guatemala Junior Team playing in Costa Rica…

The European Racquetball Tour (ERT) has sccessfully started the new season with it's premiere event in Hamburg, Germany. While current European Champion Victor Montserrat from Barcelona lost his quarterfinal match against Germany's Oliver Bertels 15-14, 6-15 and 11-2, his predecessor, former European Champion Joachim Loof (GER) did better, reached the final and defeated Richard van Doezum (NED) 15-8, 15-13.

20 IPRO courses in 2007 already cleary show that interest in the IRF's certification arm is growing. In addition two courses wil be held in Mexico City in the near future where no major activity has been seen over years. To celebrate all these great activities, IPRO will co-host a reception during the US Open 2007 in Memphis.

The Kingscourt Handball & Racquetball Club hosts the Kingspan Kingscourt Open 2007 on October 27-29. It will be one of the last international competitions before the World Championships 2008 will be held in Kingscourt as well. Players from all over Europe and around the world are expected to compete in the 2007 Kingscourt Open and to test the courts....

The 15th Asia Championships 2007 made history. Never before have been more countries competing in this event and for the first time China and Taiwan were represented. The team titles were split between the two leading countries with Japan winning the ladies title and Korea winning the mens team competition.

The 2007 Italian National Championships will be held on October 11-12. Players can sign in for this important national event until October 3rd. The 2007 Italian Championships will be held at the Centro Sportivo Communale in Brembate.

Issue 5 of the European Racquetball Federation newsletter "Racquetball Europe" is now online. This issue reports on the recent European Championships 2007 in Italy, all the results and news of upcoming events.

The official website of the 14th IRF World Championships 2008 has been launched now. The Worlds will be held in Kingscourt, Ireland next year on August 1-10. Over 200 players from 40 countries are expected to compete in the World Championships which will be held in Ireland for the first time.

70 junior players have already signed in for the first Independence Tournament for Juniors in Costa Rica on September 13-16. The Indoor Club in San José will be hosting this competition while five countries will be represented: Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and (of course) Costa Rica. The Asociacion Costarricense de Racquetball is the organizer of this tournament.

Jim Winterton will coach the Irish National Team for the 2008 World Championships which will be held in Kingscourt, Ireland in August of 2008. The vastly experienced US coach who previously coached USA and Mexico to win World titles takes over the role from the begining of the new season.

Already the 14th editition of the "Torneo Internacional de Racquetball" will be held in Santiago de Cali, Colombia on October 09-15 this year in the Club Deportivo Cañasgordas. The event is sanctioned by the Federación Colombiana de Racquetball. Contact tournament director Juan Manuel Gutierrez for more or download the flyer below.

Chile's Angela Grisar won the 2007 South American Championships Ladies Singles title. She defeated Veronica Sotomayor (Ecuador) 15-10, 15-11. Grisar also paired up with her long-time doubles partner Fabiola Marquez to win the Ladies Doubles competition as well.

Woody Clouse (USA) was one of the defending champions at the 19th IRF World Senior Championships in Albuquerque, USA. He defended his seniors 35+ singles title against Enrique Esparza (Mexico) 15-4, 15-10. Over 200 players and a total of 18 countries from around the world were represented at the 2007 World Seniors.

Some technical problems in Cuenca, Ecuador cause a delay in submitting the daily results from the 4th South American Chmpionships. The first match round results have now been received and are available for download. Stay tuned for more.

Racquetball in Brazil is moving forward quickly. A new junior program has been recently established and currently junior girls are in the majority to learn the basics of racquetball. "There are a lot of children interested in having racquetball lesssons", says Silvia Zillo from the Brazil Racquetball Federation. Maybe some of them can already compete in the 2007 World Juniors?!

Ireland will begin the 2007/2008 season with a tournament in Arklow on the 15th & 16th of September. The competition will have events in Mens Open Singles and Womens Open Singles as well as Open Doubles. All money collected will go towards funding the Irish Junior Team to the World Championships in Bolivia in December.

Special recognition for our President Keith Calkins in Rio de Janeiro. During the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) meeting in July, Calkins was honored for his long time involvement in sports, especially in the PASO movement. Congratulations Mr. President. One of the recent major sucesses is racquetball's inclusion in the 2011 Pan American Games in Mexico.

The starting times for the 19th World Senior Championships 2007 are now available online. Players from around the world will compete in Albuquerque, NM, USA and three venues will be used to make sure that every match will be played on time.

Some great international racquetball events are just around the corner, the Asia Championships will be held in Korea, the IRF World Seniors in Albuquerque, USA and the South American Championships are also coming up in Ecuador. All three events received a great amount of entries and great competition and great sportsmanship is guaranteed.

A few weeks ago, a local TV station in the Netherlands, visited a training session  of the Dutch Racquetball Team. In their sport program all different kind of sports are tried out by the reporter, this time it was racquetball. The broadcast can now be viewd on the internet

John and Dave Ellis found inspiration in the popularity of racquetball and the spirit of the players in Bolivia. "Racquetball is very strong in Bolivia, with much enthusiasm and many junior players.  We just could not get over the amount of press coverage we encountered", both said after their return to the US.

The European Racquetball Tour (ERT) traditionally kicks off in Hamburg, Germany. The 24th Hamburg Open Championships 2007 will be held September 21-23. The racquetball season 2007/2008 is a very special one as the 2008 World Championships will be held in Europe (Kingscourt, Ireland) next summer and all National Team players need to qualifiy for their teams in order to compete.

After the successful European Championships in Brembate, Italy, some changes within the IRF World Rankings had to be made as well. While European Ladies Champions Marie-Josee Collet stays in the top 5 of the ladies ranking, Victor Montserrat, winner of the Mens Singles title celebrates his debut in the Mens Singles World rankings.

20  junior athletes trained in Phoenix, Arizona last week in preparation for the Junior World Championships to be held In Cochabama, Bolivia this December. The team trained at the Arizona State racquetball courts and also at the Velocity Training Center owned and operated by former racquetball player  Rich Barker.

At the Annual General Meeting of the Racquetball Association of Ireland held on 21st July, Sean Gargan (Kingscourt) was elected as the new President of the Irish Association. He takes over from Pat Keane who was at the helm for the last three years. A new Vice President was also elected, with Arklow`s Adam Neary taking over the position.

Marie-Josée Collet (France) and Victor Montserrat (Catalonia/Spain) are European Singles Champions 2007. In a re-match of the 2005 final, Collet defeated Susan Farell (Ireland) 15-13, 15-2 while Montserrat defeated Noel O'Callaghan (Ireland) 15-1, 14-15, 11-7.

The 19th IRF World Senior Racquetball Championships are coming August 28th to September 1st. The entry deadline for this event has been extended until August 10th. EMail and even telephone entries are now accepted to avoid any delays.

Team Ireland won both competitions of the 2007 European Team Championships that were concluded yesterday. In both finals the Irish faced a young German Team and the outcome of both "battles" was decided in the doubles games, after both countries won one singles match each.

Just one day to go until the Opening Ceremony of the 14th ERF European Championships 2007 in Brembate, Italy. Nine countries will be represented in these Europeans that will be held in Italy for the first time. And with Turkey and Catalonia (Spain) being represented at the Europeans for the first time, this event will be even more special and unique.

Congratulations to Rocky Carson and Rhonda Rajsich as "back to back" World Outdoor Racquetball World Champions!  Rocky and Rhonda both won their respective singles divisions in the recent Ektelon WOR National Championships held in Huntington Beach, CA, USA. Overall, between these two players, they won 5 divisions...

After the decision that racquetball will be on the 2011 Pan American Games program, IRF officials are certainly happy and proud of this achievement: "Our sport is the only non-olympic sport so far that is on the program for 2011", IRF Secretary General Luke St. Onge stated, "the Olympic loop has been closed once again in the Pan American hemisphere."

The Cochabamba Country Club will be the venue of the 19th IRF World Junior Championships in Bolivia. The event will be held December 14 - 20 and boys and girls from around the world are expected to compete in this important junior competition. The IRF has now launched the information & event website that can be entered with the link below.

Special honor for Lucy & Raul Zachrisson, Juan Salvatierra and Ernesto Townson. Those four from Guatemala competed in the recent World Senior Doubles in Germany and brought home three gold and one bronze medal(s). No wonder that they were specially honored by their National Federation for such an achievement.

TV West, a local TV station in the Netherlands, recently visited a training session  of the Dutch Racquetball Team. In their sport program all different kind of sports are tried out by the reporter, this time it was racquetball. The program will be broadcasted mid August. The exact date of the broadcast will be posted on the Dutch Racquetball site.

Racquetball in the Olympics... well almost. During the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala, Racxquetball was introduced to IOC members EVERY DAY at the Olympic Street in front of the hotel. The goal was that IOC members  could see the sport from the hotel lobby, or while driving by on the way to their work sessions or  at least see them appear in the local news while reviewing the papers in the evening.

The weight doesn't matter in racquetball... 220 kg in total won the 35+ seniors division at this years' National Masters in Mexico when Miguel Perea and Jaime Maldonado defeated No. 1 seeded Fabian Parrilla/Pedro Basilakos 15-14, 11-15 and 11-10 to get into the final  where they won against Rafael Filipini/Sergio Martinez 15-14, 8-15 and 11-8. In racquetball, people just play with the heart...

Racquetball has been added to the list of sports that will be played in the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. Mario Vazquez Rana, president of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), made the announcement in the organization's general assembly in Rio de Janeiro, where the 2007 Games will be held. Racquetball was played in the previous three editions before being dropped for Rio de Janeiro.

Pictures from the recent 2007 IRF World Senior Doubles Championships in Hamburg, Germany are now published. These pictures are in no specific order but certainly reflect the atmosphere and sportsmanship of the 2007 World Senior Doubles.

Former US team coach Coach Jim Winterton conducted another successful week long camp for Irish juniors in Kingscourt. Twenty eight selected Irish juniors were put through their paces at the camp. Jim was ably assisted by Elma Gibney and Liam Hughes, coaches to the Irish Junior Team.

The Kyung jae Newspaper Korean National Racquetball Tournament is more and more becoming an international event.  Over the past two years international players have won singles titles.  This year was no different as Samantha Salas from Mexico won the 2007 Women’s Open title. The Korean Racquetball Federation hopes to continue to attract a diverse international field in future years. 

Francisco Gómez and Carolina Gómez won in the Mens and Ladies Open divisions of the 1st Colombian Racquetball National Tournament 2007 that were held in the city of Bogota. The tournament attracted Ektelon as the main sponsor, supplying the official tournament balls. A number of 110 players from all over Colombia participated in these Championships.

Mexico's Campeonato Nacional Infantil Juvenil Selective 2007 will be held on July 12th-15th at the Juarez Racquet Club, the venue that also hosted the 2005 IRF World Juniors. Players from all over Mexico will compete in singles and doubles divisions for National titles.

Less than a month to go until Europe's best players will compete in the 14th European Championships in Brembate, Italy. It will be the first time ever that the Europeans will be held in Italy and there are strong hopes that this event pushes the local efforts of promoting Racquetball and that there will be major sponsor and media interest also.

The latest newsletter of the European Racquetball Federation has just been published. Results from the last tournaments of the 2006/2007 season as well as some additional information on the upcoming European Championships in Italy are included the the 4th edition of "Racquetball Europe".