It appears there is a new WPRO commissioner ... Shannon Feaster has stepped down and the new commissioner is a sports marketer named Gigi Rock.

PRESS RELEASE

Spidey

It appears there is a new WPRO commissioner ... Shannon Feaster has stepped down and the new commissioner is a sports marketer named Gigi Rock.

PRESS RELEASE

Was wondering when an announcement would be made.

I believe Gigi is also Rhonda's agent.

Manny

Conflict of interest?

That would be a huge conflict of interest. Gigi Rock is not Rhonda's agent, however.

Denny E

That would be a huge conflict of interest. Gigi Rock is not Rhonda's agent, however.

I guess I took this comment as someone who would sound like an agent:

"I work directly with her and I have her schedule & I set these types of things up for her..If you need help with the event in marketing, etc let me know, I'll do anything to help Rhonda and the group bring racquetball back to the forefront." Gigi

Think she is great for this position. She clearly wants to help Women's racquetball and racquetball in general.

Hello....

I wanted to join the discussions to make sure that there is clear concise information going out about the WPRO, myself the new Commissioner and more.

First, thanks for talking about the WPRO ;-)

Second, I am not Rhonda's agent, I have never been an agent for any athlete, my business was in sports marketing, events, focused on Super Bowl, Olympics, and private celebrity functions and few odds and ends. With these odds and end, I have helped several organizations, celebrities and athletes by creating marketing pieces for them..."free"

Finally: My focus is on the organization bringing the WPRO into the main stream of sports and when I do that, I bring the sport and the elite athletes on both sides, men and women. I have an obligation to ALL the athletes of the WPRO.

Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions, wprocommissioner@wprotour.com

wprocommissioner

Hello....

I wanted to join the discussions to make sure that there is clear concise information going out about the WPRO, myself the new Commissioner and more.

First, thanks for talking about the WPRO ;-)

Second, I am not Rhonda's agent, I have never been an agent for any athlete, my business was in sports marketing, events, focused on Super Bowl, Olympics, and private celebrity functions and few odds and ends. With these odds and end, I have helped several organizations, celebrities and athletes by creating marketing pieces for them..."free"

Finally: My focus is on the organization bringing the WPRO into the main stream of sports and when I do that, I bring the sport and the elite athletes on both sides, men and women. I have an obligation to ALL the athletes of the WPRO.

Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions, wprocommissioner@wprotour.com

My deepest apologies for causing confusion!

Manny

wprocommissioner

Hello....

I wanted to join the discussions to make sure that there is clear concise information going out about the WPRO, myself the new Commissioner and more.

First, thanks for talking about the WPRO ;-)

Second, I am not Rhonda's agent, I have never been an agent for any athlete, my business was in sports marketing, events, focused on Super Bowl, Olympics, and private celebrity functions and few odds and ends. With these odds and end, I have helped several organizations, celebrities and athletes by creating marketing pieces for them..."free"

Finally: My focus is on the organization bringing the WPRO into the main stream of sports and when I do that, I bring the sport and the elite athletes on both sides, men and women. I have an obligation to ALL the athletes of the WPRO.

Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions, wprocommissioner@wprotour.com

Agent is the wrong term, but would it be fair to say that you have promoted and marketed Rhonda as an athlete? Not that there is anything wrong with it; just getting the story straight.

Haha, exactly...do you smell what the "ROCK" is cookin? Dwayne certainly did use my name well don't you think...

What I did for Rhonda was create a marketing piece to promote her, she could use it any way she needed too. She was not my primary focus and when I was out with clients she probably came into the discussion, for many different reasons. My clients would ask for athletes to attend their functions, she was the major female athlete, my clientele was 95% male and the other 5% was not

As the Commissioner I'm very excited because now I have almost 100 elite female athletes to promote.

I hope this helps.

No problem Manny... it's all good!

Commissioner Rock,

Would you mind explaining the rationale behind the WPRO suspending Paola for the Dallas tournament as opposed to New Orleans? Since New Orleans was the next tournament after Stockton, and since the purse for New Orleans was larger than the one for Dallas, wouldn't that have been the more logical tournament for a suspension?

Hello RB Fan

Thank you for the question. Unfortunately as you know, I was not part of the decision making for that event, so I cannot answer your question on the rationale.

I will say moving forward that policy and procedures have changed and been put into place for the new season and tour.

Paola will be missed in Dallas and will not be attending the event. We look forward to having her play on the courts after Dallas.

We are moving forward with an exciting new year, new team, and new enthusiasm.

I hope that everyone joins us as well.

Rock

wprocommissioner

Paola will be missed in Dallas
Rock

And by all her fans who want to watch and follow her.

I will be disappointed she won't be there.

Will IRTNetwork be covering the event?

They sure have nice 3-wall glass all around for viewing.

Thank you for participating!:)

Manny

wprocommissioner

Hello RB Fan

Thank you for the question. Unfortunately as you know, I was not part of the decision making for that event, so I cannot answer your question on the rationale.

I will say moving forward that policy and procedures have changed and been put into place for the new season and tour.

Paola will be missed in Dallas and will not be attending the event. We look forward to having her play on the courts after Dallas.

We are moving forward with an exciting new year, new team, and new enthusiasm.

I hope that everyone joins us as well.

Rock

And it's pretty nice for Rhonda that Paola will be missing another event this year, wouldn't you say? Not to defend Paola's actions in Stockton but it is going to spoil another race for the #1 title with the WPRO ranking system not dropping any tournaments and Paola's suspension carrying over to this season instead.

Given your previous connections with Rhonda you should go out of your way to avoid any possible inference of favoritism. Punishing Paola in a way that allows the race for #1 to proceed on even footing would be nice.

As wprocommissioner stated, Paola's suspension was determined before we were hired by the WPRO. And while I agree that is is very unfortunate for the WPRO, the fans and Paola that she is going to miss the Dallas event, all we can do in this case is carry out the decision that has been made.

The WPRO is going to have a very exciting season with a lot of great play and an exciting race for the top spots.

Backhand Splat - I know you live in the Dallas area. Are you going to be at the event? We would love to introduce ourselves.

WPRO Deputy Commissioner

As wprocommissioner stated, Paola's suspension was determined before we were hired by the WPRO. And while I agree that is is very unfortunate for the WPRO, the fans and Paola that she is going to miss the Dallas event, all we can do in this case is carry out the decision that has been made.

The WPRO is going to have a very exciting season with a lot of great play and an exciting race for the top spots.

Backhand Splat - I know you live in the Dallas area. Are you going to be at the event? We would love to introduce ourselves.

And why is that all you can do? Any decision made by the previous board could certainly be rescinded or amended by the current one, otherwise, how were you able to make policy and procedure changes for the upcoming season? Have you attempted this, since you agree that it is unfortunate for the WPRO if Paola is not there?

WPRO Deputy Commissioner

Backhand Splat - I know you live in the Dallas area. Are you going to be at the event? We would love to introduce ourselves.

Yes I do and yes I will be. My name is Dylan Savage, I'll be around.

Hello: WPRO Commissioner
I've been following some of the chats and news surrounding Paola Longoria and her suspension to the Dallas tournament.
It's unfortunate that Paola will be suspended from the Dallas tournament, I was looking forward to watching her play again. Her talent and character speaks for itself over the years and it seems unfair that the suspension given to her was really justified since her previous performances in the past have been impeccable.
While I understand this was determined by the previous WPRO Commissioner and board, it seems a little harsh. Especially since at the time of the incident, it was an emotional situation.
Why would a fine not suffice, so as to allow the fans and sponsors to still enjoy her participation and the promotion of racquetball?