January - February 2001 | Vol. 12, No. 1 | Contents

NEW DIRECTIONS
by Luke St. Onge

I’m pleased to announce that – following the Court Club Initiative, the U.S. OPEN, the AmPRO Programming and Court Club Survey – we are now in the fourth phase of the Racquetball Industry Initiative. The industry’s major players — E-Force, Ektelon, Head/Penn, ProKennex and Wilson — met during the National Doubles in Baltimore and formally established the Racquetball Industry Council [RIC] as an advisory committee to the USRA designed to promote the sport through grants for development. 

In the first of those grant projects, Gary Mazaroff, Director of AmPro, has been given the charge of developing a program that would provide the industry with a baseline of standards for clubs and facilities without an Ampro instructional program. Once base figures in the areas of court utilization, membership per court, and retention of racquetball-versus-fitness members are established, they will become the reference point against which the success of an in-house, full-time AmPRO program will be measured. The next step will be to place an Ampro instructor/programmer in the club for a year, who will work on maximizing court utilization, boosting membership, increasing pro shop sales and cross-developing fitness members into racquetball players as part of their fitness routine. 

At the end of the year, the initial baseline figures will be compared against the closing, twelve-month numbers and the results will be tabulated and used in a major marketing campaign to promote racquetball within the fitness industry. Gary has chosen his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico for the “Profits Through Racquetball” research program. Venues will include both private and public clubs, military installations, colleges and universities, plus parks and recreation facilities. 

This is a major undertaking, and the entire industry will be asked to participate in the hope of gaining valuable market research that will support all of our goals for racquetball’s growth in a new century. Sales figures for 2000 are predicted to be up (reversing a six-year trend), and when we have those final figures in hand, we’ll announce them in an upcoming issue. Until then, we would like to thank the RIC and its members for their foresight and support of this critical program. With the RIC officially in place, we now enjoy a smaller version of the Tennis Industry’s “Tennis Industry initiative to Grow The Sport.” Sharing those same principals — and with all of us working together — success in racquetball’s own growth is certain to become a reality.


Top | Table of Contents | Racquetball Online | USRA
© United States Racquetball Association
All Rights Reserved