FORT RUCKER, Ala. (July 12, 2012) -- The Fort Rucker Physical Fitness Facility will hold a racquetball tournament July 21 at 8 a.m. to give people the opportunity to participate in teams or individually to win trophies as well as bragging rights, according to Cedric Smith, organizer for the tournament.
"We've got a few players coming from out of town playing and we've got some local players as well," he said. "We would love to get more interest in the tournament from novice to open players."
The tournament will be a one-day shootout played in eight different categories in six different divisions, according to Smith.
The divisions will be Novice, D division, C division, B division, A division and Open division, he said, adding that professional players will not be allowed to compete.
"A novice player is someone who has been playing for less than six months and has never won a tournament," said Smith. "If a person has won a tournament as a novice, they get moved up to the next division, which would be D."
From there they would move up the division ladder moving to C, B, A, and Open, then eventually professional, depending on their skill level, he said.
Smith said that the tournament is classified in divisions to prevent people with different skill levels competing against one another, adding that sometimes open players will compete in A division-level tournaments just to easily win.
The tournament will also have a doubles category and a masters category, which is for participants 55 and older. Trophies and T-shirts will be awarded in each category of the tournament.
The doubles tournament will be played as round robin, which means that different skill levels will play against each other, according to Smith.
"People that participate will also have the opportunity to win a new racquetball racket that will be raffled off," he said.
The cost to participate in the tournament is $15 for singles, $15 per person for doubles, and $25 per person to participate in both singles and doubles.
Smith, who also works as Air Traffic Controller Quality Assurance on Fort Rucker, is an avid racquetball player and also officiates many intramural league games on the installation.
"[Racquetball] is a lot of fun and a good workout. It's excellent cardio," he said. "What I love about it is that it's one of those sports that if you lose, you have to blame yourself -- you can't blame anybody else."
He also said the physical demands of racquetball are very high if a person is looking to play competitively.
"The game is very demanding physically -- you've got to be in good shape to play," he said. "If you're going to play in tournaments, it requires a high-degree of fitness."
For more information on the tournament, call 255-2296.
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