Hello All,

Please find below additional information about our ongoing transition to Trackie from R2.  Please review this information carefully – it is important.

Why all the changes?

Racquetball Canada is migrating services for rankings, event registration, event management and membership from R2 to a Canadian company called Trackie.  Our migration to a new partner for the previously-mentioned services is rooted in Sport Canada funding requirements and Canadian privacy laws.  Further, we require improved access to our ranking data at all times.

We are mandated by Sport Canada, and it is a condition of our funding, that we provide all services in both French and English; we will be able to do this using Trackie.  As well, there are provinces whose provincial privacy laws require that registration data be housed on Canadian servers.  Due to these requirements, we are moving to a Canadian service provider for the above-mentioned functions as they can meet our bilingual service requirements and their servers are in Canada.

Where to find information?

All information regarding Racquetball in Canada, events and rankings can be found here on our website.  Click on rankings to find ​current rankings.  Events and links to them can be found under the Competing tab.  2020 event information will be accessible in mid December (additional information below).

Memberships

• Racquetball Canada and our provincial partners have moved to a new membership structure.  If you are unfamiliar with the changes to membership and why they were made, you can review the background information and rationale here:  

• In the new structure the membership year will run from August 31 to September 1 annually.  Racquetball Canada memberships will be the same price regardless of when they are purchased and all will expire on August 31 annually.  We have exported the existing Racquetball Canada membership database into the new system (Trackie).

• If you purchased your Racquetball Canada membership between April 1 and November 15, 2019, your Racquetball Canada membership will expire August 31, 2020, so you will not need to renew your membership until next fall.

• If you purchased your Racquetball Canada membership prior to March 31, 2019, you will be required to renew your membership when you register to play in a tournament in 2020. 

• Please review the document linked to above for a complete overview of the new membership structure and pricing.  In short, if you play at selection events or nationals, your Racquetball Canada membership will be $30 (this used to be $25.00).

• If you do not play at selection events or nationals, there is a $3.00 Racquetball Canada membership that will apply to you.

Tournament Management on R2 until December 31 2019

Due to our transition to Trackie from R2, the racquetball.ca website and associated racquetball events page have been shut down.  If you have a tournament that occurs between now and December 31, please review the information below.

• As soon as your event is done, please let Adrian Webb, Terry Nelson and myself know so we can be sure to export your results.

• If you have an event already set up to run on R2 between now and December 31, you should still have access to it by logging in through this link. , filter by country and sport to access your event.

• If you run into issues accessing your tournament please let Adrian Webb or myself know and we will assist you in getting everything sorted out.

• If you are planning to run a tournament on R2 between now and December 31 and you have not set it up in R2 yet there will be a $20 fee payable to R2 for set up.  Trackie has offered to reimburse tournament directors for this cost.  If you need to set up a tournament on R2 between now and the end of December, please let Adrian Webb and myself know so we can assist you and insure you get the registration fee reimbursed.

• There may be a disruption with the online payment options available to tournaments that will run before December 31, 2019 but have not yet been set up.  If you need online payment options for a tournament you have yet to set up in December, let Adrian Webb and me know so we can assist you with that element as well.

Tournaments that occur on and after January 1, 2020

• All tournaments that occur January 1, 2020 and beyond will be run through Trackie as this system integrates event registration and event management with our membership and ranking system.  All events must be run through Trackie in order for players to be included in rankings and to insure that all players are members and insured (insurance is provided with a membership).

• There will be a tutorial available the week of November 25th for provinces and tournament directors regarding how to set up an event in Trackie.  This will include a word document and a video.

• Anyone will be able to set up a sanctioned event on the Trackie system.  The system will automatically check to make sure everyone who registers to play is a member (if someone is not, they will be automatically linked to the membership system to renew or purchase a membership).  The system also has a sanction approval built into it.  Before an event can go public, the event will need to be approved by the respective PSO (for AB, SK, MB,  QC and NB) or by Racquetball Canada (for BC, ON, NS, NL and PEI).  The sanction check is in place to verify that the tournament director is a member of Racquetball Canada, that the event has an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) in place and that there is insurance in place.  The specifics around this process will be outlined in the tutorial.  Instructions on what an EAP is and how to fill one out will be provided as well as additional information about insurance. Insurance is in place for all provinces either through provincial insurance provision (AB, SK, MB, QC and NB) or through the Racquetball Canada insurance program (BC, ON, NS, PEI, NL).  The sanction requirement has been added as a double check for safety and to insure we have the correct documentation for our insurance company should an incident  occur.  Adrian Webb will still be a point of contact for assistance with tournament set up and management.

• Please note that everyone playing in any tournament (including doubles only tournaments) must be a member of Racquetball Canada and their province ( if applicable).  The sanction while linked to rankings is also a requirement for insurance.  The sanction verifies that the event,  its director and all participants are insured and proper rules are being followed. So all tournaments will need to be sanctioned and run through Trackie.  Without these elements in place (sanction, insurance and membership), Racquetball Canada and our member provinces are liable.  This is standard practice for sport organizations.

• Jan Hanson (Chair, Communications) and I have a meeting set up next week with Trackie to link the events/tournaments that are created in Trackie with the events listed on Racquetball Canada’s events page.  Once approved and public, the events/tournaments created in Trackie  will automatically load to the events page on the Racquetball Canada website.  We expect to have this operational by mid December.

Rankings

• Racquetball Canada is using the same double-jump ranking system that has been in place for the last number of years.  The ranking process and procedures have not changed.

• The Trackie team is now completing the rankings for Racquetball Canada.  For the period between November 15 and December 31 the rankings will be updated manually with the results available from R2.  As of January 1, tournament results from Trackie will automatically be integrated with our ranking system.

• Although the old rankings and events pages are no longer available, Racquetball Canada has the data required to continue with the creation and maintenance of our rankings.

Please continue to check (and read) your email, the Racquetball Canada website and social media for updates as we move through this transition.  Questions and concerns are welcome and can be forwarded to myself by clicking on this link.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Donna Harris

Executive Director | Directrice Executive
Racquetball Canada