From the Desk of President ………

Greetings!

We held our 26^th NRAD Championship tournament in Colorado Springs, Colorado on April 29-30, 2011.  The event was held at the YMCA racquetball facility with 36 participants.  Raul Brown and his army of dedicated volunteers did a fabulous job of overcoming odds to host a very successful national tournament.  They turned more than $800 in profit from the tournament to NRAD.

Results

Rocco Saccente of Rochester, NY defeated Slemo Warigon of Elkridge, MD 15-7 and 15-9 in the final of Men’s Open to win his third consecutive division championship.  Saccente slimed down significantly for the event, and played superbly with new racquets.  You can find other tournament results online at:

http://www.r2sports.com/tourney/divisions/listAllDivs.asp?TID=7900&sortBy=defaultOrder

Congratulations to all division winners!

History

With the Men’s Open division victory, Saccente has now won six times in 1999, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011.  Only one person did better than him.

 According to NRAD’s historian, Stewart Gerlis, Victor “Bionic Arm” Peterman of Ohio won six consecutive Open championships from 1992 to 1997.  The Bionic Arm lost to Chris Andrew of Georgia in 1998, and to Saccente in the championship games in 1999 and 2000.  However, he bounced back to win the Open division championship by beating Saccente in 2002.  The Bionic Arm could not sign, but he had a heartfelt support for NRAD.  All in all, he captured seven Open championships – a record that seemed out of reach until now with Saccente getting closer to tying and breaking it. 

2012 NRAD Championship Tournament Host

There were no bids submitted for the 2012 NRAD Championship tournament in Colorado Springs, CO per the Association’s bylaws.  Thus, we voted at the general meeting to let Maryland host the 27^th NRAD Championship at a date to be determined.  You can go to the NRAD Website to cast your vote on which date to host the 27^th NRAD Championship tournament in Maryland.  We want to select date(s) that will attract most participants, including college students.  Other US states can now start preparing to submit their bids for the 2013 and 2014 tournaments in accordance with the NRAD Bylaws. 

--
Slemo Warigon
President, National Racquetball Association for the Deaf (NRAD)

Send mail to Bill Milbach with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2003 National Racquetball Association for the Deaf
Last modified: September 01, 2011