Rebooting racquetball
Utah State’s racquetball team is looking for new recruits.
“We’re trying to get a lot of the recreational players together,” said Josh Greenwell, captain of the Aggie racquetball team. “We want to make them aware that there is a racquetball club here on campus that they can potentially become involved with.”
The team hosted a tournament Friday, open to all USU students interested learning more about the sport. Greenwell and his teammates are especially interested in recruiting more women to play for USU’s team.
“Less girls have an interest in racquetball, since it’s a smaller sport,” said Brooke Sherwin, one of two women on the 14-person club team. “They would like more girls to join. We used to have four or five, and now we’re down to two.”
Sherwin, a junior at USU, said she believes more people would try out for the team if they were more familiar with the sport.
“It’s nice to be able to play here,” Sherwin said. “I love being able to go have a release, something fun to do.”
USU offers beginning, intermediate and advanced racquetball courses each semester.
“I’ve learned a lot in the class so far,” said Hillary Newton, a junior enrolled in the beginning racquetball class. “I really like racket sports in general. I would consider trying out for the team if I felt good enough.”
Newton said she plans on playing in Friday’s tournament, but her attempts to convince friends to sign up were unsuccessful.
“They hadn’t played before,” Newton said. “I think people are afraid to try the sport.”
Greenwell, a junior, expects the traditionally competitive Aggie squad to continue its winning trend this season despite several players graduating last year.
“We’ve been working mostly on improving a lot of our new players and getting ready to go to the big tournament in Portland at the end of the year,” Greenwell said.
The Aggies’ racquetball season will culminate in the 2014 Tournament of Champions, which begins May 14 in Portland, Ore.
“It’s going to be a really competitive tournament,” Greenwell said. “That’s what we’re preparing for right now. The top players in the world will compete, and we’ll be able to interact with them and hopefully pick up a few tips.”
In addition to featuring the eight best players from the International Racquetball Tournament, the Tournament of Champions hosts both singles and doubles competitions in ameteur divisions.
“Our divisions will be very competitive and tends to bring the best out of everyone,” Greenwell said. “It makes for an entertaining week of racquetball for everyone.”
— logan.jones@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @Logantj