Ladder Rankings and Tournament Sign up

Announcements

• The top 10 players in the club will have a position in the ladder, and the initial order will be determined by attendance. After that, players can challenge the next person up to play for the higher ladder spot.
• Signups for the tournament this semester will begin tomorrow, Wednesday 10/24, and will close next Wednesday. The tournament fee is waived for dues paying members. It is $5 otherwise. Format will either be round robin or single-elimination. Prize Pool will be determined by number of participants. 

Court Specifications and Terms

Rule 2.1 Court Specifications
The specifications for the standard four-wall racquetball court are:
(a) Dimensions. The dimensions shall be 20 feet wide, 40 feet long and 20 feet high, with a back wall at least 12 feet
high. All surfaces shall be in play, with the exception of any gallery opening, surfaces designated as out-of-play for a valid
reason (such as being of a very different material or not in alignment with the back wall), and designated court hinders.
(b) Markings. Racquetball courts shall be marked with lines 1 1/2 inches wide as follows:
1.  Short Line. The back edge of the short line is midway between, and is parallel with, the front and back walls.
2.  Service Line. The front edge of the service line is parallel with, and 5 feet in front of, the back edge of the short
line.
3.  Service Zone. The service zone is the 5-foot x 20-foot area bounded by the bottom edges of the side walls and
by the outer edges of the short line and the service line.
4.  Service Boxes. The service boxes, used in doubles play, are located at each end of the service zone and are
designated by lines parallel with the side walls [see 4.2(b)]. The edge of the line nearest to the center of the court
shall be 18 inches from the nearest side wall.
5.  Drive Serve Lines. The drive serve lines, which form the drive serve zones, are parallel with the side wall and are
within the service zone. For each line, the edge of the line nearest to the center of the court shall be 3 feet from
the nearest side wall.
6.  Receiving Line. The receiving line is a broken line parallel to the short line. The back edge of the receiving line is
five feet from the back edge of the short line. The receiving line begins with a line 21 inches long that extends
from each side wall. These lines are connected by an alternate series of six-inch spaces and six-inch lines. This
will result in a line composed of 17 six-inch spaces, 16 six-inch lines, and 2 twenty-one-inch lines.
7.  Safety Zone. The safety zone is the 5-foot x 20-foot area bounded by the bottom edges of the side walls and by
the back edges of the short line and the receiving line. The zone is observed only during the serve. See Rules
3.10(i) and 3.11(a).

First Meeting for Fall 2012

Get stoked members!

The Gamecock Racquetball Club will be holding the first official meeting tomorrow, 

Wednesday, September 12 at Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center from 7-9PM!

We have courts 2,4,5 and 6 reserved just for the club!

Officers and Members will be introduced, and attendance will be taken!
Look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow!

For those of you who didn't get the welcome back email, I will re-post it to get you up to date with the club below. It is a lot to digest, but make sure to read and understand all of it!

"

Welcome back members!
I hope all of you had great summer! Get ready to have an awesome semester of racquetball this year! My fellow officers and I have a lot we would like to do for the club, and want to make it an awesome experience for you this year!

Here are the latest developments:

1.       Meetings will be held on Wedensdays AND Thursdays this year. They will be held at Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center 7:00 PM-9:00 PM. Courts 2, 4-6 will be ours.

2.       The FIRST meeting will be on Wednesday September 12, 2012.

3.       A new waiver system is in place this year.  Everything will now be done online through a computer, tablet or smartphone (Thank God) !  Anyone signing up to participate with the club will have to fill out an online form, accessing the form with their USC username and password (same user and pass you use to log in to Blackboard). 

Here is the page http://hydrogen.csd.sc.edu/campusrec/waiverlist.php

Waivers must be submitted by Wednesday, September 19, 2012!

4.       A new ladder system will be in place this semester! Ladder rankings will be posted at our new website:  http://gamecockrball.blogspot.com/.

The rules to racquetball, helpful videos, and more will also be posted here, so make sure to check it out frequently!

5.       We tried to keep this club cost free, but unfortunately we have to charge a small amount for dues this semester. Dues will only be $5 for the ENTIRE semester. We have to start charging dues because we found out last semester that we have to pay $4 for sports insurance for each member that is registered. This insurance will cover any catastrophic injury that requires more than $30,000 in treatment, up to a very high amount. Hopefully no one will need to use this, but it is MANDATORY that all sports clubs pay a certain fee for this.

Please don’t skimp on the fee, as it will only require you to sacrifice a Subway Footlong’s cost to pay for dues (Subway will actually be more with tax). Many clubs charge far more (tennis charges $30).

Dues will also be due on Wednesday, September 19, 2012!

6.       Raffles will be done again on occasion, and your attendance will directly correlate with your chances of winning, so make sure to sign in every time you are present at a meeting!

7.       Lastly, our Facebook Page is : https://www.facebook.com/groups/GamecockRacquetballClub/

There are a couple of people that I accidentally directed to the wrong Facebook page, so make sure to like this one!

That about wraps it up for the announcements. I know it’s a lot to digest, but please make sure to read it all!

"

Best,

Jon Chay

President of Gamecock Racquetball Club

A General Overview About Racquetball

The USA Racquetball Association (USAR) is the National Governing Body for the sport of racquetball, and is recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee. As stated by the USAR, racquetball is as follows:

1 – The Game
Rule 1.1 Types of Games
Racquetball is played by two or four players. When played by two, it is called singles and when played by four, doubles.
Cut-throat is the name generally applied to several non-tournament variations of the standard game when played by three players.

Rule 1.2 Description
Racquetball is a competitive game in which each player uses a strung racquet to serve and return the ball.

Rule 1.3 Objective
The objective is to win each rally by serving or returning the ball so the opponent is unable to keep the ball in play.
A rally is over when a player (or team in doubles) is unable to hit the ball before it touches the floor twice, is unable to return the ball in such a manner that it touches the front wall before it touches the floor, or when a hinder is called.

Rule 1.4 Points and Outs
Points are scored only by the serving side when it serves an irretrievable serve (an ace) or wins a rally. Losing the serve is called a side out in singles. In doubles, when the first server loses the serve, it is called a handout and when the second server loses the serve, it is a side out.

Rule 1.5 Match, Game, Tiebreaker
A match is won by the first side winning two games. The first two games of a match are played to 15 points. If each side wins one game, a tiebreaker game is played to 11 points. 
Unless a rule exception exists, the first side reaching the requisite score is the winner.

Fall 2012 Semester Beginning!

The Gamecock Racquetball Club will be kicking things off this year on Wednesday, September 12, 2012!
The meeting will be at Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center and will last from 7:00 P.M. - 9:00 PM.


This semester, meetings will be held on the Wednesdays and Thursdays of each week.
They will last from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM.

Courts 2, 4, 5, and 6 have been reserved for the club!

We hope to see you out there soon!

Welcome to the Home Page of Gamecock Racquetball Club at USC-Columbia

Welcome to the Homepage for the Gamecock Racquetball at the University of South Carolina.

In the future, announcements will be posted here.

Educational Videos about rules and strategies of the game will also be posted here for member benefits.

Thanks for your participation members! Hope you are all having a good summer so far!