My Story

Hello and thank you for reading our page. My name is Michael Meyer, and I am the Vice-President for Tournaments for Saint Louis University's Racquetball Association (SLURA). Quite simply, I have a strong commitment to the sport. I played for four years at Saint Louis University High school, participating in High School National Tournaments three out of my four years. In 2009, I was privileged enough to be on the national champion team. In the 2009 - 2010 season, my doubles partner and I were All-State players, as well as state champions. 

Our Story

Upon entering Saint Louis University, I wished to continue my racquetball experience, but discovered that the club and team was incredibly small. Coming from an established team with 90 players, to an association with 5 players was a shock. Besides myself, one of those players was also a freshman, and the remaining three were soon graduating seniors. My colleague and best friend, Chris, and I began to take leadership over SLU racquetball in spring 2011. Over two years, we have grown from 2 net players to now 27 registered players. Most of these players are highly competitive in local tournaments, occurring four times annually. We also established two annual tournaments, hosted at Saint Louis University's campus, which bring in local and state-wide players from five universities, including Saint Louis University, University of Missouri-Columbia and Washington University in Saint Louis. 

Our Mission

The mission of SLURA has never been to transform into a national bastion for collegiate racquetball. Rather, our mission has been to promote collegiate and local health and an inclusive, recreational, yet competitive, atmosphere. 

Firstly, we do not hold tryouts, and therefore, do not make cuts. SLURA is divided into the Racquetball Club and the Racquetball Team. Anyone is invited to join the club for recreational purposes, which practices simultaneously with the team. The team is participates competitively in local tournaments. Any players are welcome to join the team, provided that they pay for their first tournament entry fee, as well as their national association membership fee (roughly $75). Additionally, SLURA has is composed of the Intramural racquetball program, where inexperienced players can compete in intramural play from any level of the student body. 

Secondly, SLURA welcomes faculty and staff participants. As an incentive, faculty and staff are able to include SLU racquetball as a sports team, earning them bonus rewards for SLU's health insurance plan. Additionally, faculty and staff enjoy access to SLURA's sponsorship package with EForce Inc, which provides players with incredibly discounted gear packages, encouraging faculty, staff and students to play more competitively. 

Finally, for the past two years, SLURA has held a booth at Saint Louis University's health fair. At this fair, SLURA advocates racquetball as an excellent method to decrease stress and chance of heart complications, through intense cardio activity. 

Our Hope

SLURA has reached a point in its growth, where we can enter the next level of competitive play, Collegiate Nationals. In 2014, this event will be hosted at North Carolina State University. This is incredibly exciting for us, as this is the first year that SLURA will be participating. Due to its cost though, SLURA hopes to send 10 players to the tournament, giving us a very hopeful shot at becoming a top 10 team. (Personally, I believe that we can do it.) The total cost is expected to be around $10,000. Already we have received funds from our Student Government Association and our Annual Fall Tournament, but we could really use some help. The fact of the matter is that several players are deterred at the individual contribution and may be deterred from playing in the tournament. It is my hope, as VP for Tournaments, that any player, who deserves a spot to play, will play in the tournament. We need your help to make this happen. Below is a breakdown of the costs*:

• $5,400 roundtrip for airfare (From St. Louis to Raleigh)
• $3,120 for the hotel (6 nights, 7 days)**
• $1,445 for the entry fee