The Sacramento State racquetball team recently received approval for $1,500 in Dollars for Organizations & Clubs funding through ASI to attend the 36th USA Racquetball National Intercollegiate Championship. The event is to be held from March 26 through March 29 at the Athletic Club of Overland Park in Overland Park, Kan.

Senior Racquetball Club President Alejandro Ron, government major, said the team was unable to go last year because the previous president misfiled the Dollars for Organizations & Clubs request form, which resulted in grant funding being withheld. This year, the team filed for the grant a month earlier than the recommended one week deadline before the day of the event to guarantee its priority in funding and a spot in the championships.

According to the Sac State student activities website on Dollars for Organizations & Clubs, all student organizations are eligible to receive up to $1,500 a year with “at least 10 percent of the annual Dollars for Organizations and Clubs budget (being) dedicated to activities or events that occur off-campus excluding conferences but including competitions, meetings and conventions.”

The types of expenditures Dollars for Organizations & Clubs funding can cover include hotel, registration fees and travel expenses, but these expenses must be outlined in advance and presented in typewritten format to the Dollars for Organizations & Clubs Council. The committee is comprised of six voting student members supported by a non-voting resource staff who help evaluate the expenditure proposals given by organizations requesting funding.

Organizations who request Dollars for Organizations & Clubs funding must submit their request a week prior to any one of the biweekly meetings the Dollars for Organizations & Clubs Council holds and have a representative present at the meetings to further elaborate on the request and answer questions the committee may have.

But the disbursement of the funding can occur only after an event, as soon as the organization that requested the funding presents receipts or other proofs of expenditures to the Dollars for Organizations & Clubs committee to show that the organization spent the money appropriately and as outlined by the proposal approved by the committee. Ron said this means most of the team members will have to rely on their credit cards during the entire trip until they make it back onto campus.

In order to help pay for the costs of going to the Nationals, the team hosted its annual Sac State Spring Fling fundraising event on March 9 at the Laguna Creek Racquet Club in Elk Grove. The entry deadline for the one-day, all-day combined men’s and women’s doubles tournament was March 4 and required an entry fee of $25 with a first place prize totaling $100.

The racquetball club was founded by current coach Mark Salinas in 2000 after the original club disbanded shortly after winning two national titles in 1986 and 1987. In its appearance at the 2004 Nationals, the team placed fourth out of 48 teams from across the nation. In 2006, the team managed to rank No. 8 in the nation and at the state level; Ron said the team was ranked No. 1 in 2007.

The club is comprised of 10 men and an irregular women’s team. Ron said the team has done remarkably well despite the lack of a consistent women’s team since for the purposes of tournament play, the men’s and women’s scores are added together for the final tally. This puts the Sacramento team at a disadvantage compared to the colleges that field both a men’s and a women’s team.

The team is a part of the Western Collegiate Racquetball Conference, which hosts up to three tournaments a year during the fall, winter and spring. The Western Collegiate Racquetball Conference is comprised of surrounding campuses which include: Claremont, CSU Fullerton, CSU San Jose, Goldenwest College, Stanford, UC Davis, UC Berkley and UC Santa Cruz.

Sac State won the Fall Tournament hosted by UC Berkeley with a tournament total of 872, edging out the runner-up Berkeley team score of 844, and placed third in the Winter Tournament hosted in UC Davis. The UC Santa Cruz Slugs won the UC Davis tournament with a score of 942 while Sac State only earned a total of 640.

The Spring Tournament for the Western Collegiate Racquetball Conference will be held Saturday at San Jose State University.

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Contact Justin Tejada in the

Sports department at (916) 278-5145