If you want to learn more about our club feel free to read this…

In Fall 2008, Will Alvarez created a constitution to begin the process of making racquetball a registered student organization. However, with upcoming study abroad commitments, Will’s efforts were continued in the spring of 2008 by Bryce Brockelman. The Racquetball Club became a registered student organization in Spring 2008, but due to the lack of dedicated players and structured practices, it was difficult to push the club to a higher level. It also didn’t help in the beginning of Fall 2008 that Bryce transferred out of UConn.

After Bryce’s exit, the club’s leadership was taken over by Jonathan Bailey and Prasant Venimadhavan. Practice times were set on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the first ladder tournament was created to rank the players in the club and create a sense of competition. Plans were made to submit a proposal to become recognized as a club sport as the club expanded over the Fall semester.

Jon, Prasant, and Matt Jenings went to UConn’s first tournament in January 2009, the Al Tamucci Open. After this tournament, UConn players participated in several tournaments, including the last of four Eastern Collegiate Racquetball (ECRC) meets on January 29, 2009 – February 1, 2009 and the Regional Collegiate Tournament on February 20, 2009 – February 22, 2009. Players also participated in other non-collegiate tournaments such as the Rhode Island Winter Shootout and the Connecticut State Singles championships.

On February 25, 2009, Jonathan & Prasant went in front of the Club Sports Council to present the Racquetball Club to officers of all the other official club sports on campus, following which UConn Racquetball officially became a recognized club sport. An officer board was established at this point, and plans to obtain funding and expand the club even further were put into motion.

Since then, the club was extremely fortunate to obtain sufficient funding from the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) to hire a well-qualified coach, Russell Palazzo. Dues were charged to get funds in our account to pay for our entry fees to the ECRC. We worked with Rollout Racquetball to create team jerseys for our tournament players, and these were distributed at the beginning of the Fall 2009 semester to the team. We will be participating in our first full ECRC season in 2009-2010, outfitted with our new jerseys and our skills sharpened by our new coach. We now have a women’s team, with four girls joining the tournament roster in Spring 2010.

In 2010-2011 academic school year the team achieved terrific success the Men’s team came in 2nd right behind Penn State University and The women’s team was in 5th giving UConn a combined 3rd place finish heading into regionals.

In 2011-2012 led by John Beninato and Kierstan Lurcott Men’s and Women’s Team captains and new coach Joe Palazzo the Uconn team came in a 3rd place again overall.

2012-2013 This year the team is led by junior Leeann Waterbury and senior Jeff Celone.  This is a rebuilding year as the team has lost a lot of upperclassman including all american Kirstin Ferreira.  The women’s team wins regionals just narrowing out Penn State and the men’s team finishes 4th overall.

2013-2014 This year the team is led by Graduate Student Jeff Celone.  We welcome lots of newcomers as its there first year and competition.  The team once again finishes 3rd overall in team standings with a 2nd place women’s overall and 5th place men’s overall.

2014-2015 This year the team welcomes their new coach Scott Eliasson! The team is led by Katie Neils.  The team looks to strengthen their depth and add younger members.

2015-2016 Katie Neils served as team president and women’s captain and Andrew Carrier served as men’s captain.

2016-2017  Naagma Timakondu served as president and women’s captain and Anthony Partyka served as men’s captain.

2017-2018 Naagma Timakondu served as president and women’s captain and Riccardo Ribas served as men’s captain.

2018-2019 Julia Guay served as president, Deirdre Hennessy served as women’s captain, and Riccardo Ribas served as men’s captain.

2019-2020 Chandler Boucher served as president, Chelsea Chen served as women’s captain, and Alex Coenraads served as men’s captain.

2020-2021 Alexa Maddalena served as president, Lauren Dougher served as women’s captain, and Danny Fryer served as men’s captain.

2021-2022 Rebecca Riter served as president, Lauren Dougher served as women’s captain, and Max Mueller served as men’s captain.