Focusing on juniors
To grow the sport, Bustos said there’s only one thing to think about.
“Without a doubt, I believe the key is having a solid junior program,” he said. “After all, they are the future of the sport. Some parts of the country have high school racquetball, which I think is fantastic. Even if juniors want to play other sports, racquetball is a great complimentary sport due to its fast-paced play, demands on fitness levels, speed, agility, etc.”
Evans gave kudos to the parents.
“I would say that the parents have been the biggest supporters of the program,” Evans said. “I actively try to recruit kids and parents for the program. I constantly am talking to parents and kids. The players at our club have been extremely supportive
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“We need to get involved in the UIL of the public school system or at the very least introduce racquetball to the school system as a club sport with competition between schools. We need to have delegations approach the clubs to encourage them to not take out racquetball courts or to add courts to their facilities.
“Our state organization needs to make a push to encourage more players to offer their time to promote and teach juniors. At tournaments there has to be a push for parents to bring and enter their kids in tournament, be it sending invitations to the parents, giving breaks in family entry fees, offering activities for the kids on Saturday night to entertain and add extra fun not just racquetball, highlight the junior division play so other kids not participating might get interested. Have short training camps during the tournament for juniors.
“Racquetball will only survive and grow if we adult players invest even a small amount of our time and talent towards a potential junior player. Not everyone can teach a kid, however, you can encourage the juniors and steer them to someone that can teach. I see too many players as selfish with their talents. I understand that not everyone can be as involved with the juniors as I am, however your game will not suffer too much if you offer a few minutes and a few points to a junior sponge. Juniors soak up the tips and attention we give