Enhanced Awards Program

Exciting Updates to the Racquetball Canada Awards Program!

Over the past year, we’ve been working hard to enhance and refine our Awards Program to better recognize contributions across all levels of our sport.

While we continue to celebrate our Legacy Awards – long-standing awards that honour individuals who have made a lasting impact on racquetball in Canada – we’ve also introduced new awards that shine a spotlight on the incredible individuals and organizations shaping racquetball in Canada.

We invite you to nominate outstanding candidates for the 2025 awards. To give everyone more time to adjust to the updated program, we have extended the nomination deadline for both the Hall of Fame and Awards Program to April 15, 2025.

What’s New?

☑️ Three New Awards! We’ve added the Innovation Award, Provincial Award, and Awards of Excellence to expand our recognition across different levels of impact.

☑️ Criteria & New Nomination Forms! Each award now has clearer, more meaningful criteria, ensuring nominees are recognized for their specific contributions. We’ve also created updated nomination forms for a smoother submission process.

☑️ Retirement of Two Awards. The Long Service Award and Coaches Award have been retired, with their spirit carried forward through our new and existing awards, ensuring all contributions are properly acknowledged.

Awards at a Glance

• Ivan Velan Award – Recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to racquetball at the national or international level as a builder, official, coach, or player.

• President’s Award – Honours individuals or groups whose outstanding contributions have significantly advanced Racquetball Canada’s mission and objectives over the past two years.

• Innovation Award – Celebrates an organization, coach, or sport leader whose leadership, creativity, and innovation have made a lasting impact on racquetball at the community, provincial, or national level.

• Susan Livingston Award – Recognizes an individual who has inspired, empowered, and motivated girls and women to engage in racquetball at the community, provincial, or national level.

• Marc Caouette Award – Recognizes a coach who has made a significant impact on youth (21U) racquetball programs at the community, provincial, or national level.

• Heather Stupp Award – Presented to a junior female athlete at the National Championships who demonstrates excellence and sportsmanship on and off the court.

• Sherman Greenfeld Award – Presented to a junior male athlete at the National Championships who demonstrates excellence and sportsmanship on and off the court.

• Awards of Excellence – Honours national team athletes and their coaches for achieving podium results in international competitions.

• Provincial Award – Recognizes one sport leader, coach, or organization per province for exceptional contributions at the provincial or community level. Recipients are determined annually at the provincial level.

A special thank you to Board Members Gwen Smoluk and Alyson Renaldo for their invaluable support in this initiative. We also deeply appreciate the input from our members and provincial representatives, which helped shape these exciting changes.

Visit the Hall of Fame and Awards section on our website for the full award criteria and nomination forms for both the Hall of Fame and Racquetball Canada Awards Program.