I'm here in Arlington VA carrying my daughters, Mercedes, bags and such. She just won her first WPRO match in 5 games. That's great enough but she went through the entire rookie process in 1 match. Game 1 she had the butterflies so bad that she was pale and cold sweat ... hands were even shaking. Played hard but shooting % was way below 50% and she had about 3-4 fault serves ... most of which were Z's I think. Just trying to find a comfort level and pull out of the nerves... but never gave up on lost 16-14. Game 2 she got too comfortable, must have had an andrenaline depression and just got beat up 11-4. Game 3 it was ... there's nothing left to lose time ... she had settled down and it was tied about halfway through the game when she found "the serve" ... a deep Z which got her the game at 11-9. Game 4 she was again serving great and built a lead of 10-3 or 4 when she laid back a bit and let Tracy come back and tie her at 10-10. TO time... regroup and she got the serve back and served out. Game 5 she was in complete control ... serves were falling in and she was shooting comfortably and smart like I know she can.
What a win for a 17yr old. And not only did she come back but she pulled out the W which is big vs just getting rid of the butterflies.
Lots of fun. She's got Rhonda next :)
The ladies pro final from the 1978 William B Tanner Pro-Am : Shannon Wright vs Peggy Steding ...
enjoy.
Wondering if there is an actual formality/fees of joining the WPRO or playing in the women's pro division (if there is a difference?). Let's say I have a "friend" who wants to play in her first WPRO stop at the US Open ... is it as simple as just signing up through R2 or would this hypothetical friend of mine have to "join the WPRO", as someone would need to join the USAR to play ... and I think there are also separate fees for the IRT (used to be, at least, I think). TIA
So a long time ago, I used to get the idea that the everyday fan could actually do something that would help the sport ... perhaps its not as true as it used to be (esp just as the internet was coming to form) but I suspect still true.
The problem is ... the noise. I've got the best idea next to slice bread, but then someone else does too ... and on and on, and we all have a nice discussion about what the IRT SHOULD DO :) Which is all probably very funny to Jason and the IRT, as it should be as the fans love to talk about "what should be done" but it's the IRT who are actually DOING the work.
So, even in this poor economic climate, Jason and his "staff" (not even sure who this "staff" is comprised of :) have done a phenomenal job. There are prostops galore on the schedule, the IRTNetwork brings all the pros to our homes (I'll sign up soon enough :), there's some kind of IRT scholarship for college kids to play the IRT (not sure what that means .. is it a check? com entry fees to play on tour?), the IRT has called out for a collegiate intern to write about the prostops, etc.
I've looked back through Jman's posts and there's ... promoting the KS stop, commenting that IRT participation is up, explaining the ranking system, little bit on the scholarship program, comments on BenCroft's move to RW, comments on IRT Top 8 turnover ... but in one post, Jason asks for "resources and volunteers" ... is this just money and helping at a prostop?
So instead the fans (us) saying what is important ... I'd like to ask Jason "What is important and how can we help". I know the basics ... we can help by volunteering at prostops and that does help. Don Schop said we should think about running a prostop ourselves and that may be what's happening (with all these new stops ... unfortunately my club sucks or I would've a long time ago), I think Negretz at one point was putting together a proposal of some kind, which he was going to give out in case fans had sponsorship connections.
So I'm wondering and asking Jason/IRT ... the tour is going in a good direction, what can the average and non-average guy do to help ... things we are capable of doing, or things we may even surprise ourselves we could do.
This kinda goes along with the "lack of depth" and "status of the sport" threads ... but have you noticed the appearance of more pro coaches today, than in the past? Are there more and do this represent another indicator f the growth of the sport?
Kane/Rhonda/bunch of upcomings jrs/amateurs - Jim Winterton, Rocky/Paola/upcoming jrs - Fran Davis. others?
And there are more camps: Winterton/Davis camps, Jo Shattuck's RballAcademy, Shane/Mitch have a camp circuit, I believe. Every college team has an rball coach.
With the big success that Jim and Fran have had with coaching and camps, and with greater participation ... I can see more and more good coaches in the mix ... further expanding the sport.
Well, that was a lot of fun, spending almost every extra minute of the last week watching the World Junior Championships.
First, Congratulations to Team Mexico. They fielded a very strong team and were highly competitive at every age group ... can't recall what the numbers were but I believe they were far and away the best team. They really like hitting the ball hard … very hard. It shows in a lot of there swings .. but also with good placement. DelaRosa was very impressive in his composure, intensity, and sportsmanship. No disrespect to the B18S champion, Bolivian Carlos Keller, but DelaRosa seemed a bit flat in the final. Both had 4 matches (2 singles/2doubles) the previous day … of those Keller had 1 relatively hard match vs USA Jose Diaz at 9AM, while DelaRosa had 2 difficult matches vs USA Nick Montelbano at 4PM and 7PM B18D vs USA Montelbano/Hungerford. I watched both those matches and they were sick. I look forward to seeing more of DelaRosa on the IRT. I didn’t get a chance to watch 16yr old Rodrigo Garay, who had a very impressive tourney ending as the World Champ by taking out Adam Manilla from Colorado.
Second Congrats to 2nd Place Team Bolivia. Think they beat 3rd Place Team USA by a comfortable margin. They had a well-rounded team with their only real weakness at the 16yr age group and G14D.
Third, Congrats to 3rd Place Team USA. They were strong in the 18 and 16 yr old age groups but a bit thin at the 14 age group, notably with the absence of Ohioans Spencer Shoemaker and Kyle Ulliman who were the top 2 finishers at Nationals.
Also a big congrats to my daughter, Mercedes. I got to see several of her matches and she played better than I’ve ever seen her play doubles before. She and partner Kelani Bailey took the silver medal in the G16D and only came 2 breaker pts short of beating the champion Mexican team. Can’t wait for the new season to begin and start training for next yrs nationals.
Not sure how this affected the other national teams, but the US Nationals were just a month ago. Thus there was no JrNational Rball Camp this year where the players could get some standardized training and get comfortable. I believe my daughter went to the JrCamp a couple years ago when she was the alternate and it really made a huge impression on her and her game. A lot of our medal match losses were very close, at least 7 of these going to the breaker or a tough 2 games, with only 2 of these types of close matches going our way. But, perhaps all the other countries national teams were in the same situation so could be a moot point.
But ALL the kids from all countries played their hearts out and showed exceptional sportsmanship. My heart goes out to them all … can’t wait to see them continue to come up the ranks in the coming years.
Lastly, I'm glad it’s over cause I can now get on with my life :)
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
Just found a great resource for the pro tour from 1983-85. It is on a site called issuu.com ... you'll have to create an account, but once done look up "dstod" ... this is Drew Stoddard who was an editor of the "International Racquetball" and then "National Racquetball" magazines ... I'm sure some folk here have these issues, but for those who don't ... it makes for some interesting reading from back in the mid-80's. The Hogan-Yellen rivalry, the Catalina tour, the problems with the sport back then, etc ... lots of good stuff.
I've worn down the factory cushy grip the RF came with and am looking replace it with a rubber one ... I like the PK rubber grip on the KM700 ... but just wondering peoples experiences with rubber grips on their RF?
Also thinking about trying a tacki-mac ... what's the IRT style one? Does it play thin or is it humongous like the python grips? TIA
Wow, I was having a pretty good day until a recent stringing thread that reminded me I have a EF Heatseeker on the table waiting to be retrung. Well ... I've done some commands but never this heatseeker yet. How hard can it be :?)
I could use any tips about tension and types of string people have used in these ??
nice pic of the next generation on FB
I just heard from an old friend who has since moved to Denver. He was on my old UWisc rball club and went on to work as a rball instructor when he got his first job in Chicago. So that was ~5yrs ago and now he's in Denver ... so I'm about to tell him about checkin out the GrandSlam IRT stop on 16th St Mall but it's gone from the schedule. Sorry I didn't notice before or if this has been brought up before ... but what gives? I thought that stop was working out pretty well ??
just got my first Head racquet since the graphite express ... HAHAHA ... my stable is COMPLETE.
PK KM170
GB 250
Wilson Turbo
E-Force Command
Ektelon Camo
and the latest edition, Head Royal Flush.
na I need a bag to put them all in so when I meet YOU at a tourney I can put the beatdown with your own brand ... hahaha
I'm looking for a Head racquet to round out my bag (actually need a new bag too :) ... I like a racquet 'round 180-190gms = total weight ... see the Royal Flush is 188 and ProblemChild is 187g ... diff seems to be RF is 4pts heavy and PB is 5.5 ... I tend to like balanced racquets over head heavy so RF may be the way to go.
Any comments on these 2 sticks?
been busy last couple days but a bit surprised no one has posted earlier on the ongoing JrNationals here in Minneapolis. First off, UofMinnesota is a very good facility ...10 glass back court all together in double-row (court on each side) ... lots of viewing and interaction ... plus a couple other spill over courts at the end.
Some of todays great matches are Marco Rojas over Brad Schopieray in 2 close games ... Kelani Bailey over Devon Pimettelli in 16 girls final ... Kelani is very strong. Right now Taylor Knoth and Nick Montelbano are having a war (boys 18) ... don't know the scores but Nick has been playing a very good tourney ... Aubrey OBrien vs Danielle Key on the other side ... Aubrey looking good there (girls 18).
Lots of great matches and the kids are very respectful and doing their best reffing even though there are some parent hecklers :) I'm off to see the Mall of America for a bit then back to see my daughter and Kelani Bailey play the 16 girls dub final vs Devon and Courtney Chisolm.
Not sure if there is other coverage anywhere but there is a daily Michigan Mafia newsletter going around ...
Would like to hear from anyone having had this ... looks like its surgery for me ... whats the prognosis? My doc made it sound like it would be positive.
Cool forum ... thanks, Willie. One of the things I love (besides rball and good lookin women :) is cookin. Back when I was a grad student I used to love making chili and I used a LOT of garlic. I came up with a recipe and called it Dr. Ed's Medicinal Chili with the tag line that, "It'll clean you out so well you'll squeak when you walk" :) Anyway ... I entered a chili cook-off back in Oak Park IL and won the regular class. The judge (Bruce Craig ... written some cook books) only said I should've made it hot and entered in the spicy division. Whatever, it was fun and I make it occassionally, to everyone's delite. Funny thing it, I'm surf the web one day and I find MY recipe on some rocky mountain site ... oh well, what am I gonna do, sue them for having good taste. Whatever the case ... I give it to you at this link.
Main secret is adding alcohol to the garlic at some point, it sweetens up the garlic like you would not believe ... maybe a nice heavy beer or red wine ... heaven. It also comes in what is known as Cincinnati style ... that is its served over a bowl of spaghetti, topped with crackers/cheese and sprinkled with herb-flavored vinegar ... man, my mouth is just waterin' thinking about it. This comes from when I went to college in Milwaukee ... there was (and still is I think) a place called Real Chili by Marquette ... next to the old Gym Bar. They served their chili this way and it was great. Anyway, hope you enjoy it ...
http://www.mountain-breeze.com/kitchen/cookin/7.html
Just wanted to say thanks to racquetballonline for trying their best to make things happen right. As Denny said ... there are many problems associated with, not only internet streaming ... but trying to send a PPV controlled stream. I for one have a good idea what is involved ... it's not easy and it costs money ... lots of money.
Sorry for all the negative posts ... but I was pumped up to see some of the matches ... life goes on. This will teach me that NEXT YEAR ... I won't take any chances and am bringing the A-Team to Memphis ... PROBLEM SOLVED!!!
ALSO ... for whatever reason, I didn't do anything different, but the Men's Final between Kane and Jack streamed without a hitch ... got to see the entire match without a single problem ... thanks. I am in NO WAY interested in getting my money back for all the problems ... tell you the truth, just watching Kane dominate and Sudsy commentating was WELL WORTH the fee ... great to see Sudsy back involved in the game.
THANKS RBOL!!!
