A web-based software company, Crossroads Access designs and deploys web identities for companies or organizations on the Internet. At the time, it seemed a long way from having anything to do with racquetball. 

But John, a player since 1958, had run into the same frustrations that many players have experienced over the years: fewer courts, more acrimony and what seemed a dwindling interest in racquetball.

Certainly there had been an ebb and flow that reflected the natural stages involved in life. High school, college, graduate school, wives, children, divorces and jobs all competed for court time. Later, friends encouraged him to sign up for an AmPRO clinic in 2002. “With the AmPRO course, you’ll really learn what you think you know about racquetball”. 

Between getting an AmPRO education and discussing what was happening in the field of racquetball program management around the country, John did some research and number crunching. He and the co-founder of Crossroads Access, Russ Smith, both had an interest in promoting the sport. As a result, they came up with a plan and decided to take some initial steps and see if anyone agreed with them.

One of those steps was to find a way to keep track of players and games. Like a lot of people, John had thought for some time that it would be nice if he knew how he played when he lost and also, when he won. The journals and record books some people use were problematic in that no one looked at them after they recorded a game or match. 

When the player who beat him in the 55s at National Singles in Houston ended up in the final, John decided to see if he could track how the player played, so that he could better compete against him the next time.

He used tally “sticks” for serves and rally-ending shots on the back of one of his wife’s business cards. Then it struck him. If this can be done on a business card, it could be done on a personal digital assistant (PDA) and kept, recalled or shared. The idea opened up a boatload of possibilities. Russ Smith, an avid ‘gamer,’ agreed and they came up with a version one of the PDA Profiler software in a couple of weeks.

Crossroads Access integrated the AMP racquetball software into their other software and technology products. At the same time they started talking to Gary Mazaroff, Director of AmPRO, about the AmPRO web presence, which debuted on January 1, at www.usampro.org. 

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