Farewell from Executive Director Mike Grisz

As you may be aware, I’m stepping down as Executive Director of USA Racquetball at the end of the year. I will have served 2 years and 3 months, I am turning 68 this month, and I feel it is time for other voices to be heard. I am proud and honored to have held this position.

What has happened in the last two years?

1. Our 4 national events (Juniors, National Indoor, High Schools, and Intercollegiates) had increased participation each year.
2. We hosted the 2024 IRF World Championships in San Antonio; the first time it has been in the United States since 1996.  It was a great event for racquetball and for the US Team.
3. We partnered with Manilla Athletics to begin new junior programs in six to eight new cities.
4. We partnered with Team Dovetail, which sponsored all of the next generation events in 2023 and 2024.
5. We partnered with KWM Gutterman to sponsor the 2024 National Indoor tournament.
6. We partnered with WIS Inventory Solutions to sponsor the US Junior Team.
7. We continued our partnerships with Head/Penn (official ball) and Gearbox (official racquet).
8. We solved our backlog of SafeSport and Background Check issues, and passed 3 SafeSport audits.
9. We relaunched, with Jim Winterton and Fran Davis, the USA Racquetball Instructor Program.

While I feel we are in a better spot than 2 years ago, USA Racquetball is facing huge challenges in the coming years:

1. Our USOPC funding has been reduced by a third. This is consistent across National Governing Bodies (NGBs), and not specific to USA Racquetball.
2. Our membership revenue has stabilized; but it is not enough to meet our expenses and sustain our programs (more on this below).
3. Although the number of people playing racquetball in the US has leveled off in the last few years, we continue to lose courts across the country.

The proposed 2025 budget shows that USA Racquetball only survives if we increase membership revenue, sponsorships, and donations. 

USA Racquetball is a lean organization. We only have one paid employee. Everyone else is a volunteer – giving not only their time but also their money. All volunteers pay their own way to the national events to run them. Our biggest expenses are our insurance (including the insurance that covers tournament directors, coaches, and sanctioned-event participants); our investment in junior programs, and payroll. Note this doesn’t include the national events, on which we break even. 

USA Racquetball is a necessary and vital part of racquetball. Without it, there would be no National Events, no US National Teams, no tournament insurance, no free tournament/league software (we pay for R2Sports), no national advocate for the sport we all love.

It is a stressful time for our sport.  We need your help. We need more people to get involved at the grassroots level. There are many people who are doing so much – help them. Help us by:

• Renew your membership. If it lapsed, come back. Even if you don’t play tournaments, support racquetball. If you play with people who don’t have memberships, get them to join.
• Give us a Giving Tuesday gift.  It’s tax-deductible (as are all donations; we are a 501 (3)(c) organization). All Giving Tuesday gifts go towards the National Teams,
• Have a business or know someone who does?  Or, just want to give back to racquetball in a specific way? Let’s talk about sponsorship.   
• Do something for racquetball in your area – start a league, run a tournament, become a coach and teach beginners how to play. 
• Volunteer with USA Racquetball – you can help in a variety of ways; reach out if you are interested.

I never imagined I would have such an opportunity to be Executive Director of USA Racquetball. The position has been very stressful, but also rewarding. I’ve met and reacquainted with many of you in our great racquetball community. I love this sport. If you’ve read this far….thank you, and please help the sport and USA racquetball in as many ways as you can.

Mike Grisz