Parent / Player Information Night

Hello Team !!

Hope everyone had a great summer, and you’re all off to a good start with school so far this year !

Lincoln Racquetball starts up on Sunday, October 10 at 5 pm at Multnomah Athletic Club, with our annual Parent and Player info night.   We will have a 1-hour meeting with both parents and players, then players can go hit the ball around for an hour afterwards, and parents can stick around and watch or ask more questions of the coaches.  The Oregon High School Racquetball program is unique to most other sports programs, and as such there is a lot of information for me to convey to parents and players.

Answers to some most frequently asked questions:

• When are practices?  We practice at MAC Sundays 5-7 pm, Mondays 7-8:30 pm, Wednesdays 7-8:30 pm, starting October 10 (see attached for complete schedule)
• What if my student has another sport/activity that interferes with a practice day?  Nearly all players have other sports/activities during racquetball season; if you have a weekly scheduled conflict, let coach Reid know, and we can work practices around that schedule.  It’s important for players to be able to practice twice/week at least.
• What is cost of program?  Cost is $140 for the season, includes league fees/uniform costs/State Championship entry fee (1^st event) and end of year awards cost
• Is Parent Night mandatory for parents?  All 1^st year parents should attend, and highly recommended for 2^nd year parents as well (it all starts sinking in by the 2^nd year).  3^rd & 4^th year parents we’d love to have you, but your choice if you’d like to attend.
• Are we committing for the season if we attend Parent night?  No, we use the first week as a trial week for the new players.  They can practice, learn basics, and see if it’s right for them.  We have a registration/signup night on Oct 17, at which we’ll need everyone’s registration forms and fees.

About the LHS Racquetball Program

Racquetball is a fast game that emphasizes footwork, quickness, accuracy and court awareness. The sport features both individual play, as well as “Doubles” and “Mixed Doubles” teams. 

This sport develops speed, endurance and tremendous hand/eye coordination. Team members will see improvement in their fundamentals, and will grow self- esteem and accomplishment by learning and rapidly improving their game. Our team will be focusing on proper swing fundamentals and footwork, which translate very well to other sports such as baseball, lacrosse and golf. 

The Lincoln team is coming off a fantastic 2009-10 season in which we placed 3rd as a team in Oregon, and 5th as a team at HS Nationals ! Lincoln senior Dylan Reid was Oregon HS State Champion, and came in 2nd at HS Nationals. 

Following are details for the 2010-11 Lincoln High School Racquetball season: 

• Season runs from mid-October 2010 – February 2011 
• 3 Practices per week starting October 10 
• Practices held at Multnomah Athletic Club (you don’t need to be a MAC member) 
• 4 League Tournaments, held once a month on Saturdays at various Portland/Salem area racquetball clubs 
• State HS Championship held end of January 
• National HS Championship held end of February (in St. Louis, MO) 

Some Oregon racquetball “did you knows”: 

• Last year 450 Oregon high school kids played racquetball on 63 high school teams, representing 26 different high schools.
• Oregon high school teams have won National titles the past 11 years, including Sprague in 2008 - 2010, Beaverton the previous 2 years, and Catlin Gabel the two years before that.
• Oregon State University won the National Racquetball Team Title at Collegiate Nationals in Arizona in 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2006, beating out teams such as Alabama, Colorado State,Texas, Oregon.
• Former Oregon junior racquetball stars now playing baseball at a high level include Trevor Crowe (2005 Pac-10 Player of Year, playing for Cleveland Indians), and Joey Lakowske (2007 OSU baseball team).