BALA CYNWYD, PENNSYLVANIA, MAY 12, 2006
Kevin Klipstein, Chief Executive Officer of the United States
Squash Racquets Association (USSRA), announced today that the
Competition Task Force recommendations regarding revisions and
improvements to the U.S. Championships structure has been approved
for implementation. The revised U.S. Championships structure,
including the tournaments commonly known as "nationals," will begin
rollout in the 2006-2007 season.
The recommendations for improving the nationals structure has two
phases:
- In the first phase, The U.S.
Championships, Age and Skill Level tournament will be
separated. The Skill Level tournament will be renamed the USSRA
Championships and include all skill level divisions, with
prize money at the highest level. The tournament will take place
in the heart of the season, late January. The traditional U.S.
Championships, the Age Group tournament, will be played during
the same traditional weekend in March and will have the Men's (S.L.
Green) and Women's Closed Championships on the same weekend.
- In the second phase, the
Association will merge the U.S. Open pro tournament for men
and women with the current Age Group Championships and introduce a
separate U.S. Closed Age Group Championships for U.S.
citizens.
Ken Stillman, USSRA Board
Chair, provided the following comments on the changes, "The task
force has done incredible work in creating a structure that
rationalizes our nationals and provides more opportunities for
people to play. We will have several tournaments with distinct
objectives and personalities. The Association will now use these
events to continue to grow participation at the national, regional
and local levels."
The changes to the nationals structure come at a time when the
Association is working hard to improve the quality of the
tournaments it runs and to build each national championship as an
asset for the Association. The USSRA created the task force to
address recognized problems with the current structure of the U.S.
Championships, which in the current state combines men's and women's
closed professional draws, open age group, and skill level draws.
Some of the issues with the structure ranged from the dilution of
draws, to player confusion by overlapping divisions between the open
age groups and the skill levels.
Klipstein praised the process and recommendations by saying, "We
need to thank John Musto and all the task force members for being so
rigorous in their approach, setting guiding principles at the start
of the process, soliciting broad input and allowing the
recommendation to truly evolve. We will now work to ensure active
participation in these tournaments by communicating extensively with
local associations, teaching pros and the players themselves."
Klipstein created a Competition Task Force chaired by John Musto in
February of 2006 to review the nationals structure and provide
recommendations on how to best align the United States with
traditional world standards and innovatively address the diverse
needs of all U.S. squash players, be they citizen, non-citizen, age
group, or skill level player. Other members of the task force
included Bob Burton, Richard Chin, Alec Decker, Eric Godes, Bob
Hanscom, Shabana Khan and Kevan Pickins.
|
PDF Version
Recent US
Events:
About the USSRA
The USSRA is the national governing body and membership
organization for the sport of squash in the United States and
is a non-profit organization. It owns and licenses tournaments
including the U.S. Open, as well as all other U.S.
Championships.
The organization also selects and supports the U.S. Teams that
compete internationally, maintains the official ratings and
rankings system for the U.S. and invests in programs to grow
participation in the sport at every level. |
|
