From Left to Right. Top Row: Joseph Delgado (Team Head, Rutgers), Ray Davis (Racquetball Roundtable), Jon Panno (Team Pro Kennex, Woodbridge), John Patric (Classic). Middle Row: Nancy Luyando (Team E-Force, Middlesex College), Joe Camilo (Team Head, Hillsborough), Rick Foldger (Team Ektelon, Woodbridge). Bottom Row: Gloria Fidecaro (Team E-Force, Hillsborough), Jonathan Clay (Team Ektelon), Melanie Jones (Classic), and Edurado Mancheno (Team E-Force, Classic)

2006 New Jersey Racquetball Conference
Date/Time: Saturday 10/14/06 from 2 to 4 PM.
Location: Classic Atheletic Club, Fairfield New Jersey.

Attendees:
Bill Serafin, NJRF President--Team Head. (Not Present)
Diane Chappel, Team Head--DLC Sports. Facilitator.

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Joe Camilo, Team Head--Hillsborough
Jonathan Clay, Team Ektelon Ray Davis, Racquetball Roundtable.
Joseph Delgado, Team Head--Rutgers
Gloria Fidecaro, Team E-Force--Hillsborough
Rick Foldger, Team Ektelon--Woodbridge
Melanie Jones, Classic
Nancy Luyando, Team E-Force--Middlesex
Edurado Mancheno, Team E-Force, Classic
Jon Panno, Team Pro Kennex--Woodbridge
John Patric, Classic
Chris Thompsen, Riverview (Not Present)
Ron Van Horn (Not Present)

Offical Notes by Gloria Fidecaro (10/27/06)
Bill Serafin refused to post these notes on his website since he was not present. Gloria worked hard on making these clean notes from the meeting, so I posted them for the board.

Diane Chappel's Feedback (10/27/06)
Diane Chappel asked me to ammend what I wrote below with her comments, since I was late to the meeting I may have misquoted her. It doesn't change my feelings on the whole exhibition thing, but I would like to set the record straight as possible.

Actually - here's my quote - you were late and missed it - or misunderstood it (don't know which one - perhaps both?): Exhibitions bring multiple value: Kids and adults are awed by seeing and getting autographs from the Pros. Sudsy and Jason are on US Open DVDs, and the Tennis Channel. They are "stars". If you purchase their exhibition package around the same time as the NY Pro Stop - their rate is $1,500 since they are already here in the area. Outside of that timeframe - it obviously, due to travel expenses, costs more - in the $3,500 range.

Their sponsors HEAD and PRO KENNEX understand the value of promoting racquetball, and the importance of grass roots programs, and are willing to pay them to visit a neighboring school of where the exhibition is being held.

Exhibitions also keep current club members happy, and between the school visits and proper marketing of such an event, can generate more memberships for the club. You can also look to your sponsors to pay for such an event.

My Notes
Bill had the idea for a conference a while back. Gloria, Diane, and John started circulating emails about having different people come togeter to get information from Diane. So, I'm going to call it a conference. Parts of the meeting sounded like plans for an intervention, but I think overall it was productive and to Bill Serafin's, NJRF President, benefit. Unfortunately Bill could not attend, so that caused some murmurs of discontent. If my wife was sick and had to take care of my son, I wouldn't be there either. Family first.

I arrived about half an hour late and Diane was already running through the agenda. Diane did her job as facilitaor very well, avoided the politics, and gave hand-outs etc. She had to run off to another meeting so she left. She ran through some numbers about have Jason Mannino and Susdy Monchik do an exhibition for about $1,500 to $3,000. Part of the package would be to talk to schools, etc. She said that people who sign-up at clubs thus generating revenue for the club. I didn't think so. I'm pretty sure I can go up to fifty people on the street and ask care of or heard about racquetball? I think the answer will be no most of the time.

Diane also mentioned that Tom Keoh from NY sends out flyers, call players, and uses her broadcast service. She went through a couple of percentages, but my laptop and notes are in the car. I also thought that was ok, but being able to get clubs involved posted schedules and generating interest. My biggest point is communication and that's something we don't have.

I got the chance to meet and talk with Ray Davis, the host of Racquetball Roundtable. We talked about the show and what happened to the SJRA (South Jersey Racquetball Association) Seems down South a lot of the clubs that were part of it have disappeared. So he joined up as Racquetball Director at one the LA Fitness clubs down there.

I asked Ray how often he does any Jersey content, he said not very often. Since he has listeners all over the country he has to cater to the masses--totally understandable. He did offer that he'd have someone on the show to talk about how to promote or develop juniors. So something like that could be useful to the entire community.

Talking about LA Fitness opened up a can of worms. LA Fitness has been opening up a lot of clubs with courts and our first reaction was that's great. Finally a group of clubs that's adding courts instead of taking them away, but there's a catch. These clubs exist for members only, so the chance of running a sanctioned tournament are impossibly slim. Also I think Juniors need to be about sixteen in order to step on a court. Diane mentioned that people are working to change that. So it's been difficult to even publish league forms with the corporate eyes watching.

Jon Clay mentioned something about NJ State Singles last year and I was pretty quick to add about one person who caused a lot of bad blood in and out of the draw. Jon said that he's a good friend of his and does a lot for racquetball. I kind of shrugged it off and let it go. The guy would have to do "a lot" to overcome the damage I think he did to the event. Telling people they smelled or were pretty fast for a cubby guy is just unsportmanlike and unprofessional. To have a shouting match off the court or others distrubing things is also not what I'm there for. Anyway seems to be a common occurance in NY according to a player that day and she was quick to add that attendenace has been dropping steadily.

Anyway without Diane we kind of danced around. We talked about what positions some people would like on this "Board of Directors" We have three to four people that run Juniors programs. I offered to put them on the web, with Bill's permission, and get them some exposure. I took the webmaster job--easy to guess.

Then it came back to Bill and how to tell him about this meeting. Joe Camilo from Hillsborough did a little role-playing with me pretending to be Bill. John Patric was quick to grab all my notes from the meeting so far. So I basically said that you have a good group of people willing to help you out here. Some are most jaded than others, but overall a good group. I added, "Well no one really wants to squeeze you out, well except for Jon" and I looked over at Jon Clay with a smile. Jon Panno looked over with a laugh, "I was thinking the same thing." It's nothing Bill doesn't already know.

Sometimes it's easy for people to say, "Oh, I can do a better job." or to point out where people have stumbled, given up, etc. It's different to walk the path. Bill has been President for a long time and haven't really had much help. I don't think it fair to throw stones. It's much better to stand with him and make things better. He has a lot of contacts and experience to do well. I was quick to point out that "No one can do it alone."

Then we talked about what would happen if Bill stepped down. Jon Clay was quick to say he'll want to be President. I didn't say anything. I kept thinking about my family and my wife's work, so I didn't step up. I really want Bill to remain President, but I would step up as well--just to make it interesting. I've been to almost all of Bill's tournaments helping out for about three years, been to most of the travel leagues, run my websites, listservs, etc. So I feel like I've done my share for Jersey as well. Not sure what being President would entail, I don't think anyone else does either. So it's not an easy burden to carry.

Oh before I forget, Gloria made a comment about the club listings and how it's been under construction since 2003. She promptly handed me a print-out from a 411 website. I took it and plan to work on it, but I want to target clubs we have a relationship with. I've always felt Bill's website is his site. I make updates, but don't really feel empowered to really cut loose on it. I also don't have a lot of time to devote to it.

Closing
Having ten people sitting down at a table to talk about improving racquetball in New Jersey was a good thing to see. Gloria made the point that if we each took something, we could make a signifficant contribution. It's apparent we have a different angle and difference interest in Racquetball. We kind of all grab a different part of this monster and believe the problem to be something different, but coming together and working on each of those facets as team will do so much more than anyone of us could do alone.

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