News from the President

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Report
by Keith Calkins

I just returned from one of the IRF's most successful Tournaments in our short history.  The event was held in Seoul Korea on August 13-21 2010. The facility for the event was located inside an air conditioned tent at Sudo Electric Technical High School and included 7 portable courts with glass back walls and one complete glass court. 

These facilities were designed by an engineer in Korea and were put up in two weeks, using 125-150 workers to complete the project. The portable courts will be used in Korea and Asia in the future to develop racquetball.  It was an amazing facility and everyone indicated that the courts were excellent. Gangnam Country sponsored the event and the LOC and everyone worked hard to make this event special. There were over thirty Countries represented, with some playing in the Friendship Cup. 

The Opening of the Games was held in a beautiful facility that held about 400 people.  It was completely full and some had to watch and eat the dinner that was served outside the facility.  There was an hour ceremony with special entertainment by the Gangnam Symphony Orchestra and A Fussion Percussion Drum group.  Both were excellent and were enjoyed by all.  Short addresses were made by Keith Calkins IRF President, The Mayor of Gangnam Gu, The President of NCRA and Ron Grimes, President of E Force who is the IRF's major sponsor. A wonderful dinner was given for the players and all others in attendance.  It was an event to be remembered for the Racquetball World.

I personally wish to thank Gangnam Country, The LOC, Korean Racquetball Federation, Yuni Cobbb, IRF Vice President for Women’s Development, Osvaldo Maggie, IRF Tournament Director, Gary Mazaroff, IRF Operations Director and their staff for the work that was completed.  There were many others who worked so hard on this event.  I cannot mention them all, but there were over 100 volunteers and staff working diligently each day and we all thank them for this.

The quality of play was the best we have observed from the players.  There were quality matches throughout the tournament and many new players appeared on the World scene.  

The IRF held three Executive Board meetings during the two weeks we were in Korea.  Many items were discussed and will be reported later to everyone. The IRF's 15th World Congress was also held on the 12th of August. There were 23 Countries represented at the Congress.  The minutes will be distributed to the National Federations when they are received from the Secretary. One mayor issue was the adoption of a new IRF Constitution. The old Constitution had not been reviewed in many years and needed the review by the Congress. The new Constitution will be posted on our Web site in the near future.  It does include a new governance structure for the IRF and a new election procedure that was badly needed.

We held our first Athlete Commission meeting on the 13th of August.  There were over fifty players in attendance.  Three players volunteered to serve on a steering committee that will work in planning the next Athlete's Commission meeting at the World's in 2012.  I wish to thank  Maria Gomar (Guatemala), Raaj Mohan (India), and Marcelo Laprea (Venezuela) for stepping up to serve.  The Athletes will meet in 2012 and set up a permanent structure.  They will also select the Elite Athlete who will serve on the Board of Directors. This was something that the IOC requested from the IRF and the IRF will move forward with the work of these Athletes.

The IRF also held a Drug Education session for the Athletes and Coaches on the 13th of August.  There were about 60 people in attendance for the session.  It was our first attempt with this type of program.  We hope to improve the education of our players and coaches on the issue of doping.  This was a good start to address this goal. We were able to contact Dr. Lee from Korea who was in charge of the Education session. He was recommended by WADA, World Anti Doping Agency.  We appreciated the work that was done to present the session. We hope to follow up with more education sessions in the future.

There was several other meeting during the week.  One important meeting was the Asian Racquetball Congress.  There were several Asian Countries in attendance and they elected Dr. Cho Wangki from Korea to the Presidency.  I am sure his leadership will move this Federation forward during the next four years.  Dr. Cho Wangki was also selected by the Executive Board to hold the Asian position that was vacant on the Executive Board. He will become the Vice President of Asia on the Board and we welcome him and look forward to working closely with him in the next two years.

The closing banquet and farewell party was held at the host Hotel on Saturday evening. There were over 250 people in attendance and a wonderful dinner was served to the group.  Several Countries wore traditional dress and they all looked stunning.  Osvaldo Maggie was awarded the Presidential award.  Many Countries presented gifts to individuals during the evening.  It was a fitting end to a Historic Tournament.

The following are the 2010 Individual and Team results
Men’s Open Champion: Rocky Carson, USA.  Rocky also won in 2008
Women’s Open Champion: Rhonda Rajsich, USA.  Rhonda also won in 2008
Men’s Doubles Champions: Ben Croft and Mitch Williams, USA.
Women’s Doubles Champions: Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas Solis, Mexico.

Men’s Team World Champions USA.
Women’s Team Champions USA.
Combined World Champions USA

The complete results and final Team rankings will be placed on the IRF New Web Site.

Submitted by Keith Calkins
IRF President - Aug 23th 2010