Above Left, Yanna Salazar , World Junior Champion, Right, Yanna and Angelica Barrios, former world junior champion, Bolivia
Many years ago, yours truly was the head coach of team USA. In pool play, there were many matches that were easy for the USA athletes.
Back on those days qualifying for the USA team was harder than winning the worlds. The draws of the USA national qualifiers were stacked with good players. Internationally we had to fight with only Mexico and Canada for the most part and then it was in later rounds usually.
I remember watching some of these early IRF matches and thinking, “Someday the athletes will be fighting tooth and nail just to get out of the qualifying pools and into the main draw. When that happens we can say racquetball has truly arrived on the world stage.”
That day has arrived! The IRF tournaments display excellent play at every level.
The European players have improved. Thanks to the efforts of the European Racquetball Federation there are more tournaments and more junior development.
Great to see Japan and Korea with teams and improved levels of play.
Countries in the Western hemisphere and fighting at every level to get to the top. Mexico and Bolivia feature great players and the matches are close. Costa Rica and Guatemala are battling too and their junior programs feature many kids on the rise.
Rally scoring, hated by most mainstream players, has added to the upsets as the percentages of winning strategies has changed. Add to that the Gearbox ball, and now you have a different game with different strategies at the top level. You have to be more aggressive to score, yet you also have to be diligent as to when you pick your time to go for it.
International coaching has improved at the top levels.
The IRF expanded the draws to include mixed doubles and 21 and under is now a junior bracket.
There are problems with all of the above for sure and we can dwell on those problems or keep slogging away at ground level to promote and improve upon our great game. The Irony of all of this is that Kane Waselenchuk and Paola Longoria continue to be the bar of excellence. I believe there are many more athletes out there who could produce long winning careers like they have.
The first things we need is more players.
The second things we need are more tournaments.
The third things we need are more facilities.
Then we need local ground level coaching.
Then we need serious attention to those who are coaching. I see the attention paid to the athletes but they would not succeed without the expert coaching.
Thanks IRF for all your work.
Congratulations to the national teams and junior team USA and coaches.
Let’s get after it.