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The 1^st Northern Ohio Juniors’ Racquetball Clinic

What a wonderful day at the Tallmadge Family Fitness Center in Tallmadge, Ohio. Junior racquetball in Ohio is coming alive. We had 31 kids by the end of the day, 14 of them were new to the sport. The response was overwhelming to veterans that were helping; Joe Dennison said he has never seen anything like it. Tim Machan worked his usual magic with the kids. His one on one treatment thrilled veteran player Ronnie Hubbard who missed the summer Junior Team Ohio camp due to vacation. Tom Travers proved again why he was the U.S.A coach for so many years. He taught even the best players a lot of new strategies, and still made time to talk to 7 year old Abby Lavely about hitting the ball flat.

What a demonstration match by ranked 12 and under players Danny Lavely and Andrew Carter. Danny pulled it out in the end 15-11. The demonstration match that drew the biggest crowd was the match between Mike Dennison and Shane Vanderson. They split a 2 game set. This sport needs more special players like Shane and Mike to promote it. We are so lucky to have them in our state. We have a great program for juniors in Ohio.

I loved watching two of the new boys, Gary Waterbeck and Abner Wyman sitting and waiting for someone to leave a court so they could go in and play.  Another 12 year old, Jonathon Bridge, kept asking if he had time for just “one more game”.  It was fantastic!  These kids could not play enough. It’s also great to have mothers like Bonnie McGuffy that came four hours with six kids from Cincinnati just so her kid’s could participate. Now that’s a mom that loves racquetball! 

Another special thanks to the U.S.R.A., E-Force, Ektelon, Pro-Kennex and Wilson for making it so we could give all new players a racquet and eye guards.  They really came through!  It is amazing how much support we received from the people in our community and Tallmadge Family Fitness Centers’ manager Jeff Lunieski.  Also, a special thanks needs to go to Sandy Jacoby, Dan Edmonds, Phil Taggart, and Joe Dennison for working with new kids. Without Joe Dennison I would not have been able to keep my sanity. They all did an excellent job. These individuals along with the racquet companies, our local sponsors and our racquetball instructors and pros made it possible to keep the event free for the kids. We hope to have more kids in the area tournaments this coming season, and keep juniors playing in the area clubs.

I also would like to thank Scott Hettesheimer for giving me guidance on putting the event on. He has done wonders in the southern part of our state. This event has sparked a lot of interest in racquetball in a lot of kids in our area. It was definitely worth all the work. We hope this will be an annual clinic that will get the season started on a positive note. Have a great season.

Respectfully Submitted: Dan Carter (Clinic Director) and father of a junior player that made me fall in love with this great sport.