Students invited to participate in racquetball tournament

By Logan Jones

Junior Brooke Sherwin prepares to serve Friday at the tournament.

Utah State University’s racquetball team is sponsoring a tournament this weekend in the HPER building.

The tournament, open to all USU students, begins at 5 p.m. on Friday for intermediate players and continues Saturday at 9:30 a.m. for advanced players.

“It’s a local tournament we’re putting on that anyone can sign up to play in,” said Josh Greenwell, captain of the Aggie racquetball team. “We’re trying to get a lot of the recreational players together and make them aware that there is a racquetball club here on campus that they can potentially become involved with.”

Greenwell and his teammates are especially interested in recruiting more women to play for USU’s team.

“Less girls have an interest in racquetball, since it’s a smaller sport,” said Brooke Sherwin, one of two women on the 14-person club team. “They would like more girls to join. We used to have four or five, and now we’re down to two.”

Sherwin, a junior at USU, said she believes that more people would try out for the team if they were more familiar with the sport.

“It’s nice to be able to play here,” Sherwin said. “I love being able to go have a release, something fun to do.”

USU offers beginning, intermediate and advanced racquetball courses each semester.

“I’ve learned a lot in the class so far,” said Hillary Newton, a junior enrolled in the beginning racquetball class. “I really like racquet sports in general. I would consider trying out for the team if I felt good enough.”

Newton said she plans on playing in Friday’s tournament, but her attempts to convince friends to sign up were unsuccessful.

“They hadn’t played before,” Newton said. “I think people are afraid to try the sport.”

Entry in the round-robin style tournament costs $10, and participants have the option to play in either singles or doubles matches. Students are free to sign up for either the intermediate or the advanced level.

“This is the first time we’ve done something like this at such a cheap entry cost since we have a different goal in mind,” Greenwell said. “This isn’t so much about fundraising as it is about bringing players together.”