USA Racquetball rulebook codifies accessibility across multiple formats

Sections 5 through 10 of USA Racquetball’s rulebook are dedicated to multi-bounce, outdoor, wheelchair, visually impaired, hearing impaired, and deaf racquetball. The same document requires changes to Sections 1 through 10 to follow published rule-change procedures, and the latest rulebook includes seven rule changes passed by the USA Racquetball Board of Directors in July 2023.

The rulebook makes access part of the game, not a side category

The foundation stays the same across every format. Racquetball is still about winning each rally by serving or returning the ball so the opponent cannot keep it in play. What changes is the way the rules translate that objective for different athletes, whether the match is played in a standard court, outdoors, with extra bounces, or under a disability division.

In late 2025, the organization also invited member comment on wording changes that would rename Visually Impaired Racquetball as Low Vision Racquetball and Hearing Impaired Racquetball as Deaf/Hard of Hearing Racquetball, with approved changes set to take effect September 1, 2026.

Wheelchair rules preserve the rally while changing the mechanics

The wheelchair section shows how precisely the sport redefines movement without diluting competition. In that format, the wheelchair is treated as part of the player when the rules refer to a server, a person, the body, or body contact. When the book refers to feet, standing, or similar language, the rear wheels become the point of reference instead.

That same logic carries into the bounce count. A double bounce in standard wheelchair play is treated as three bounces, and the service motion is more flexible than in the standard game. The serve may begin from any place in the service zone, but the rear wheels cannot cross the service line or short line before the served ball crosses the short line. If a wheelchair or assistive device malfunctions, the rules allow a requested delay, but the clock is capped at five minutes.

Vision and hearing divisions put clear eligibility thresholds in writing

USA Racquetball’s visually impaired section is built around measurable standards, not vague eligibility language. A player must have visual acuity no better than 20/200 with the best practical eye correction, or a field of vision no better than 20 degrees. The rules also spell out three blindness classifications, B1, B2, and B3, giving officials and players a defined framework instead of case-by-case guesswork.

The playing rules are just as specific. In visually impaired racquetball, players may make multiple attempts to strike the ball until it is touched, stops bouncing, or passes the short line after touching the back wall. The section also includes the blast rule, which applies to balls that carom from the front wall to the back wall on the fly.

Hearing-impaired racquetball uses a different threshold. Eligibility requires a hearing loss of 55 dB or more in the better ear. The current rulebook places those categories inside the same governing structure as the rest of the sport.

The record books show that these divisions are not new

The historical record backs up the rulebook’s present-day structure. USA Racquetball’s record books show wheelchair national champions going back at least to 1982, with Jim Leatherman listed among the men’s champions that year. The championship history through 1996 includes names such as Chip Parmelly, Donna Cline, Jeannie Nicklos, Rick Slaughter, Tammy Riggs, and Stacie Norman.

The governing body also maintains a separate deaf champions history.

The local test now falls to clubs and tournament directors

The rulebook can define the lane, but it cannot force every club to offer every format. That is where the practical gap sits, with tournament directors deciding whether a sanctioned event actually includes wheelchair, low-vision, hearing-impaired, or deaf divisions, and whether local staffing, court scheduling, and event structure match the rules on paper.

The current book covers sanctioned and non-sanctioned play in the United States, and USA Racquetball keeps archived rulebooks and old magazine issues dating back decades.