ships in July 1984 in Sacramento, Calfornia. Fifteen to twenty countries from Europe, Asia, and the Americas are expected, according to Han van der Heijden, the president of the Interna tional Amateur Racquetball Federation. Van der Heijden and his wife Marianne flew from their home in Holland to Costa Rica for the opening ceremonies and a meeting of representatives from each country before traveling to Monte Carlo for a World Games conference. The first World Games was held in Santa Clara , California , in the summer of 1981 as an alternative to the Olym pics. World Games '8 1 gave newer sports like racquetball, and more obs· cure sports like tug-of·war, a chance for international recognition. The U.S. rac quetball team won quite easily against Japan , Mexico, Holland, We st Germany and Ireland. The next World Games is tentatively scheduled for London in 1985. Money is defi ni tely a major factor hindering international racquetball competitions. All of Latin America is considered part of the Third World . The priorities of these governments are increasing industrialization, improving the standard of living, paying off national debts to the U.S. and Europe. Obviously, sending a racquetball team to the world champion ships is well down on the list of priorities, especially when so few people are playi ng the sport in their countries. But the numbers and popularity are growing, and many of the team captains expressed optimism in gaining governement support, espe cially if they can show the type of pro gress tha t is being made by tournaments such as the one in Costa Rica .
Unity and communication are al so
u.s. B5th {arimO
learn photo. Top row : (L to R) Stan Wright. Dan Ferris, Evan Terry , Ray Navarro, lim CAscio . 2nd row: Tammy Hajjar. Kathy Gluu1Ia. Trina Rasmussen , Steve Trent. Front row: Malia Kamaho ah oa, Ma rc; Drexler, Co ach Ed Mart in, Cindy Baxter.
"To become a
member of a complete athletic country club can cost as much as S 12,000 U.S. dollars for initiation and S 100 per month. So you probably won't find any racquetball players among the 60% poverty class.
Rudol/o Echeverria (right) sings with the Costa Rica team at banquet.
major obstacles to the development of racquetball in Latin America . Although the Latin Americans are anxious to learn, there is a real shortage of books, maga zines, clinics and in s truction. Many of the countries are interested in importing coaches from the U.S.-not necessarily a top player, but someone wi th many years of teaching experience who likes to travel and isn 't expecti ng to get rich. (Anyone interested in spend ing a month or more in Latin America should contact Luke St. Onge at th e AARA headquarters in Colorado Springs.) Another problem facing racquetball players in Latin America is the price and scarcity of equipment-with import duties and shipping fees, racquets and equipment cost twice what they do in the U.S. Maga zine subscription s are also infla ted in price due to overseas pos tage, but still everyone was grabbing up gratis copies of International Racquet ball and subsc ription application s. Here's a country·by-country update on racquetball in Latin America :
COSTA RICA is probably the most organi zed Latin American country, per haps because it's so small (about the si ze of Wes t Virginia), and it's easier to get everyone together , un like the la rger coun trie s like Mexico. Also, as the "Swi t zerland of Central America ," Costa Rica is the oldest democarcy and the country most open to U.S. involve ment and investme nt. But much of the growth has to be attributed to the elite group of racquetball players who have worked to build up the sport in their country. Rud olfo Echeverria is the owner of Polymer Corporation and ha s been pre 20