Racquetball players make a racket, get to hold court

Here’s the rare underdog story where both David and Goliath win.

If you go to 24 Hour Fitness on Kapiolani Boulevard when it reopens Monday after renovations, you will see a racquetball court.

A few weeks ago, Gally Carreira and other players began to hear rumblings that when the club was refurbished there would no longer be one. The rumblings rose to beyond rumor and speculation.

This was of particular concern to Carreira. As a busy athletic trainer at Roosevelt High School and husband and father of three, the only time he has to get his exercise by playing his favorite sport is late at night. There are few places left on Oahu with racquetball courts, and 24 Hour Fitness has the only one available when he can play.

“I’m religious about it, four or five times a week,” said Carreira.

The 32-year-old credits the game with saving his life. It helped him lose 80 pounds he had put on after his football playing days.

Carreira isn’t a political activist. “But I was ready to do my own ‘Occupy The Court’,” he said with a laugh.

What he did do was gather signatures of 24 Hour Fitness members on a petition — most racquetball players, some not. More than 300. He also used social media, posting on the company’s Facebook page to voice his displeasure.

Last week Tuesday, the racquetball players were officially told there would be no court.

Carreira immediately made calls and sent emails to management of the company, which is pretty much the Walmart or McDonald’s of fitness clubs. It claims 300,000 members and more than 400 outlets.

He even called the office of company president Carl Liebert III in San Ramon, Calif. “I didn’t get to talk to him, but I did leave a voicemail,” Carreira said.

It was not ignored.

“Gally’s voice and the voice of his comrades got the attention of the company, including the CEO, and Dan Benning, the divisional president,” said 24 Hour Fitness district manager Barnaby Smith.

On Thursday, one day after his call to Liebert, Carreira was asked to meet with local management. He was told that, yes, the old racquetball court would be torn down in the renovations — but, now, a new one would take its place.

Carreira said everyone from racquetball equipment sales managers to guys who play once a week helped him.

“The racquetball community in Hawaii is small but tight,” longtime player Ed Kalama said. “You try to smoke each other on the court, but you hug it out after. And you have each other’s backs.”

24 Hour Fitness could have ended up looking like the big bad corporation, but gets big public relations points for its responsiveness to customers’ wishes.

“One of our mottos is that we want our members to think of 24 Hour as their club,” Smith said. “I think (racquetball) is dying, but there are many players who are very loyal to it.”

“I was kind of surprised we made enough noise to change things,” Carreira said. “They cared enough to listen.”

And they acted, too.