Vargas finishes off her season with a win, while Laime wins her 4th pro doubles title of the season. Longoria had already clinched the year end title. More in the points section later.
In the 32s, two of the best U21 players in the world (Bolivia’s Camila Rivero and USA’s Naomi Ros) topped LPRT tour vets Rodriguez and Synhorst to move on).
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In the 16s, chalk. All top 8 seeds moved on in the season’s final event. The only round of 16 to even go to a tie-breaker was in the 7/10 match, with @Kelani Lawrence advancing over Christina Amaya.
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In the Quarters, again chalk but with some closer matches.
– With @Alexandra Herrera now dropped to the #8 spot, the 1-8 is tougher than it normally is, and indeed @Paola Longoria had to go to the breaker to move past the lefty Herrera 6,(9),2.
– #3 Vargas crushed Laime 6,2 in a battle of hard hitters.
– #2 @Montse Mejia wasn’t too troubled in advancing past Lawrence 7,6
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In the Semis, the clear-cut top four players on tour have separated themselves at this point, with a massive gap in the points ranking between #4 and #5. Herrera used to be part of this upper group, and Manilla’s hip injury continues to prevent her from even playing, else we’d be closer to a “big 6” rather than our current “big 4.”
And, true to form, when you have a group of closely matched players, week in and week out you just never know who’s gonna win. And this weekend, we got two upsets in the semis.
– Gaby took out Longoria by the surprising scoreline 3,12 to get to her second final of the season. If Martinez hadn’t missed an event this season, she might e pressing for #2 on tour.
– Vargas flipped the script on Mejia in the 2/3 semi final, winning an incredibly streaky match 6,(3),1.
In the Finals, Vargas powered past the Guatemalan 8,5. Gaby entered the event a little under the weather but made it to the final before running out of gas.
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Points Implications of results
With the win, Vargas made up the ground she was trailing Mejia for #2 on the season and now the two players are in a virtual dead heat for the #2 year end spot. It will come down to point fractions and who was able to win a game in an eventual loss; we’ll keep an eye out for hte final season rankings. No other changes in the top 16 came from the season ender, with the exception of the absent Carla Munoz missing points for the second straight event and now dropping all the way to #16. She’ll face an up-hill climb to get back to the quarters next season.
Here’s a link to my LPRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.
Laime and Mendez finish off the title as the #1 seeds, topping Vargas and Centellas in the final. Thus, 3 of the four finalists were Argentine, and all four are Bolivian-born players who have left to represent other South American federations.
Meja and Herrera, who dominated the pro doubles circuit last season (they won 6 of the 7 doubles titles in the 23-24 season) won just once together this year as Laime became the top dog. Laime had 4 titles this year with 3 different players. Vargas switched partners, moving from Mendez to Centellas, and managed to make the final in 6 of the season’s 7 events but could garner just one title. Meanwhile, the reign of Longoria/Salas seems over; they made just two finals this season as both players are facing career choices going forward.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JTRball, and Tj Baumbaugh
Longoria has sewn up the year end title. Photo via Fran Davis Racquetball
Right on the heels of the Northern Virginia Invitational, the traditional season ending event for the LPRT is upon us: the Sweet Caroline Open. Normally held in Greenville, SC, at the club that serves as the home for the LPRT’s official Hall of Fame, this year due to club renovations (thankfully that, and not yet another historic racquetball club closing) being held at the Dowd YMCA in Charlotte, NC. The ladies of the tour drove south down 95, passing through my hometown in Richmond, before heading into North Carolina proper.
Basically the same set of ladies who competed last weekend in DC, with a couple of changes at the tail end of the seedings. However, thanks to some major ranking shakeups, the quarters project to be completely different than last week.
With her finals finish last weekend, Longoria has sewn up the year end title, her 14th. The top 8 finishes are mostly set; only a huge run of upsets would change the final season rankings from where they sit now. There’s a bit of room in the 9-10-11 spots where someone could nab a “top 10” finish for the season, if the players cared about such a thing. So, a bit to play for this weekend.
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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:
There’s just 2 matches in the 32s, and both could be interesting. In the 16/17 MRR takes on reigning US National champ @Naomi Ros in a good test for our young champion. Meanwhile, in the 15/18 matchup, the reigning U21 world junior champ from Bolivia @Camila Rivero is in town, taking on tour vet @Stephanie Synhorst.
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round of 16:
– I’d like to see what Ros can do against Something-time Mexican champ @Paola Longoria (I don’t have any idea how many Mexican national titles Paola has, thanks to shoddy record keeping at the FMR, but I do know she’s won every title save for one since 2014, and likely every title from around 2008-2014, so i’d estimate it at either 16 or 17).
– With Herrera all the way down at #8, she faces #9 Parrilla for a shot at Paola.
– All Argentine grudge match between Mendez and Centellas, in a battle of the long-time representative and the player they’re trying to replace her with.
– Laime got upset early last week; can she hang with hard-hitting Salas to live up to her seed?
– Lotts plays into Vargas, and she can hang with the big hitting Argentine.
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Projected Qtrs:
– Longoria over Herrera: the time where Alexandra could beat Paola seems now past.
– Gaby over Mendez: We never seem to talk about Ana Gabriele Martinez’ draw until suddenly she’s in the semis, taking on Paola.
– Vargas over Laime: Laime seems to either make the final or lose in the first round.
– Mejia over Lawrence. With her win last week Montse moves up to #2 and takes on the American Kelani, who has a couple hour’s drive from her Va Beach home to get to Charlotte for this one.
Semis: I like the top four seeds once again
– Longoria has another close one against Gaby but moves on
– Mejia has the hot hand, Vargas knows she’s out of the title race and loses.
Finals; Longoria finishes off her season with a title in the last event.
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Doubles review
Longoria & Salas take the weekend off from doubles, which paves the way for Mejia & Herrera to get a title, even if they’ve been supplanted in the rankings.
Montoya wins the double in Costa Rica
Photo Kevin Savory 2022 Portland IRT event
Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
– Men’s Pro Singles: Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball
– Men’s Open Doubles: Rodrigo Montoya & @Javier Mar
Montoya gets the Costa Rica double gold.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=49239
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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
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In the 32s:
– Hernandez crushed Ecuadorian vet Ugalde 2,4.
– Costa Rica’s Gabriel Garcia took out Guatemalan vet Salvatierra in two. good win.
– Interesting result: a little known Costa Rican named Felipe Segreda defeated regular IRT touring pro Carlos Ramirez 9,14.
– Another interesting international result: Guatemala’s #2 Jose Caceres took out top Ecuadorian Cueva in the 15/18 match.
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In the 16s:
– Hernandez made Acuna bend but he didn’t break, advancing 10,14.
– Gastelum with a great win over Miranda 8,9. There’s a handful of players right in the same age/cohort who seem to be beating each other up whenever they play and it includes Miranda, Gastelum, Trujillo, Hernandez, and to a lesser extent Acha and Barrios from Bolivia.
– Speaking of Trujillo, he took out Bolivian U18 star Flores in an 11-10 thriller. I honestly thought Flores had a shot at winning this tournament.
– Diego Garcia cruised past Alonso 13,2 in a result that should surprise no one at this point.
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In the Quarters
– Acuna destroyed Gastelum 1,1. Matchups matter: If Miranda had moved on i would have made this a lot closer. But Acuna survived one Mexican U21 star to crush another and move on.
– Mar d Trujillo; again, had this been Flores, i think we’d be singing a different tune. Mar’s tactically superior game plan outshines his young countryman’s Every time.
– Montoya d Garcia in a wbf-ns. What?? Garcia infamously had a wbf-ns when he misread the start time announcement for his IRT match in Chicago; is it possible he did it again? How can you have a no-show in a pro event that you’ve literally flown in for? Unless this was mis-entered as an inj-fft … there’s more to this story.
– Parrilla outclassed Carter 1,2.
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In the Semis, after all the possible upsets I predicted … we have the top four seeds advancing, mostly easily.
– #4 Mar outlasted #1 Acuna 11-9 in the third in a win that probably was expected irrespective of the seeding
– #2 Montoya ground out an 8,10 win over long-time SLP rival Parrilla to setup a final against his double partner.
In the Finals, Montoya handled his doubles partner as he normally does 10,10.
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Points Implications of results
I’m not sure because we don’t know the “tier” of this IRT satellite. If its a tier 2 (meaning a prize purse north of $10k but below the Tier 1 standards) then the points go 120 winner, 90 finalist, 60 semis, 40 quarters. If its a 5-10k event, then lower those points by 25%. I don’t think these points are going to make much of a difference in the year end race, but another 120 for Montoya certainly doesn’t hurt.
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Doubles review
Seeds held to the semis with the doubles teams, though a couple of the teams really had to work to get there. In the 4/5 match Hernandez/Trujillo had a barn-burner with Team Argentina (Miranda/Garcia), advancing 11-8 in the third In the 2/7 match, the very solid Ecuadorian team of Ugalde/Cueva really pressed Team San Luis Potosi (Parrilla & Alonso), finally falling 11-9.
In the semis, #1 Montoya/Mar dropped a game to their young Mexican rivals Hernandez/Trujillo but advanced. Meanwhile, Alonso & Parrilla were pushd to the absolute edge, saving match points against to win 11-10 against hte home-town favorites Acuna & Garcia.
In the final, Mar & Montoya beat their rivals 9,10 for the title.
Next weekend is the LPRT season ending Sweet Caroline open in Charlotte, as well as the Mexican Junior Olympics. The last weekend of the month is USA Jr Nationals.
Mejia wins the battle, but Longoria wins the war.
Photo unk.
Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:
– Singles: Montserrate Mejia
– Doubles: Maria Jose Vargas & @Valeria Centellas
Exec Summary: Mejia denies Longoria and wins her 8th career title, now sitting in 12th place alone. Nonetheless, Longoria secures the 2024-25 year end title, her 14th.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48794
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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/11b4f8
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In the 32s, a couple of notable results:
– Sanchez took out MRR to move on.
– Synhorst topped the veteran Acosta in a solid win
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In the 16s, just a couple of notable matches to mention:
– Lexi York took #5 Herrera to a breaker but fell
– The sole upset was #11 Parrilla taking out #6 Laime.
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In the Quarters
– #1 Longoria did what she normally does against #8 Lawrence, grinding out a solid win
– #4 Gaby made fast work of #5 Herrera.
– #3 Mejia took out her long-time rival Parrilla 8,7
– #2 Vargas was pushed by her former doubles partner Mendez but advanced 2,11
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In the Semis
– Longoria came out on top of a close 13,14 match against Gaby, who always seems to play Paola tough.
– In the increasingly tough 2/3 battle, Mejia came out on top over Vargas in a breaker. She advances to her 3rd straight final in as many chances after going months without doing so.
In the Finals, Mejia had it going on this day, winning13,5 to take the title, her 2nd in the last three events.
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Points Implications of results
Despite losing in the final, Longoria has officially sewn up her 14th career pro title. She has an insurmountable 334 point lead in the season-to-date standings, and with just one non-Grand slam event remaining she cannot be caught. Longoria returns to the top after missing out on the last two year end titles, and heads into the new season with a commanding lead, having made the final of all 6 stops thus far this season.
In other interesting rankings movement: going by Season-to-date standings, Mejia has not yet sewn up #2 but is close to doing so, but should jump Vargas for that slot in the year end event. Mendez has made a huge jump and projects to finish 5th. After years of being in the top 4, Herrera looks to slip all the way to #8. Munoz’ absence here costs here dearly; she’s projecting to finish #13 now. Lastly, three players are tied with the exact same number of points for 14th place (York, Lotts, and Synhorst), which will make the last event super interesting if they all attend.
Here’s a link to my IRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.
The Ladies are right back at it, driving down I95 from DC to get to Charlotte for the season-ending Sweet Caroline Open, normally held in Greenville SC but moving this year due to club renovations.
Mejia is still in the hunt but needs big results.
Photo Kevin Savory US Open 2019
Welcome to the penultimate LPRT event of the season, the 2025 Northern Virginia Invitational, being held at the Worldgate club in Herndon, VA. Worldgate is right down the road from Dulles Airport in the DC suburbs and was a flagship health club in the DC area for years, with a large indoor racquet sports presence (the club also has or had indoor tennis and had hosted Squash pro tournaments in the past).
It was bought by a large chain in the DC area called Sport & Health, whose owners acquired most of the major racquetball playing clubs in the 1990s and early 2000s and then systematically destroyed the racquetball culture of the area by removing dozens of courts or outright closing racquetball-centric clubs (such as the one where I was the club pro at for a decade). Now they’ve rebranded as a new club name and sold off some assets like Worldgate, who regained their independence and continue on with a handful of courts, some of the few remaining in the DC area.
The LPRT hasn’t been in Northern Virginia for nearly a decade, having last held an event in Arlington in Dec 2015 (the historic Crystal Gateway club, which was gutted to make way for an indoor rock climbing gym). The last time they were in Herndon was in May 2015, which is crazy to think of since long-time LPRT commissioner @TJTj Baumbaugh not only lives down the road from Worldgate but who remains employed by the Sport & Health chain as a master Personal Trainer. You can’t make club executives support the sport, as it turns out, even when you demonstrate programming is healthy and active.
We’re getting down to the tail end of the season. The Ladies haven’t been in action for more than 3 months; last event was in March in Boston. We’ve been waiting since that time to see how the rest of the season would shake out; now we seem to have our answer. We have this tier 1 and then the final event of the season, the Sweet Caroline event that’s being played in Charlotte this year as a regular Tier 1 event as well (not its typical Grand Slam points). That generally means 240 points to the winner as the most points that a player may gain per event.
Heading into this event, #1 Longoria holds a bit more than a 400 point season to date advantage over Vargas at #2, so while she hasn’t sewed up the year end title just yet, the odds are she can put herself out of reach with a sufficiently deep enough run this weekend. Vargas or Mejia would have to make the finals here and in the last event of the season, win one of them, and have Longoria forfeit out of both events to have any shot at the title.
That being said, lets preview the draw. There’s 20 ladies here but the entire top 10 is present and a big chunk of the 11-20. There’s basically zero rookies or first timers here.
In the 32s:
– Sanchez- MRR is a nice test for Annie to see how she’s progressing.
– Acosta-Synhort as well.
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round of 16:
– How far has Sanchez come as a player? She’s gotten some impressive wins lately; now she gets a test against the #1 Longoria
– Herrera-York could be interesting: Lexi continues to improve
– Parrilla-Laime may be the best match of the round
– Mendez-Salas in the 7/10 matchup will be a battle of two players who have seen each other for years.
– Vargas may have to play new National team doubles partner Centellas in the 16s.
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Projected Qtrs:
– Longoria-Lawrence; Kelani continues to run into Paola, and continues to edge closer.
– Martinez-Herrera: two former tier1 winners clash in the quarters. Gaby might be ranked #2 on tour had she made the season opening Grand Slam.
– Mejia-Laime; two bashers bring their power game in a drive serving feast.
– Vargas-Mendez: all the Argentines in one quarter.
Semis:
– Longoria over Gaby
– Mejia over Vargas
Finals; Longoria sews up the title with a win over Mejia.
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Doubles review
The doubles seeding is a little interesting: thanks to some missed events this year long-time #1 Longoria & Salas are now the #4 seeds. Laime & Mendez together are #2 despite very little time together, and Vargas’ new Argentine partner Centellas is the #3 seed. Mejia & Herrera remain #1 but will now have to face their long-time rivals in the semis, not the final. I still see Mejia & Herrera winning.
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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.
Look for Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!
Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.
This weekend’s #1 seed is also the host, playing out of his home club. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory
Hello Racquetball fans. It’s been a while since we saw either pro tour in action, and suddenly we’re in Mid June and we have two pro events on the same weekend! We’ll preview the Costa Rica Open today and the LPRT ‘s Northern Virginia Invitational tomorrow.
The Costa Rica Open has been an IRT satellite event for years now, which means we have been “covering” it but it doesn’t end up in the database. That’s because historically satellite events have limits on the number of top 8 pros who can enter, so It never seemed “fair” to equate a win in a tier 2 or Tier 3 event with that from a full-strength tour event. However, the landscape of pro racquetball is shifting dramatically, as is the landscape for the rest of our sport, and this weekend’s event is a great example. Four of the top 8 players are in CRC this weekend, and then a huge chunk of the players ranked 9-20 are also there, making this a very solid draw. There’s also a huge number of internationals here, as this is one of the few remaining top level events prior to players playing the World Games later this year.
Missing out of the top 8 are Kane, Lalo, Jake, and Natera, leaving the top four seeds as (in order) Acuna, Parrilla, Montoya, and Mar.
here’s a quick preview. Singles play runs from Wednesday 6/11 to Saturday 6/14.
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round of 32s: lots of decent matches to follow
– top Mexican Junior @Sebastian Hernandez battles Ecuadorian vet Jose Daniel Ugalde Albornoz
– Bolivian wunderkid Jhonatan Flores Vega takes on long-time IRT touring pro Costa Rican Felipe Camacho
– CRC’s current #2 @Gabriel Garcia battles top Guatemalan @Juan Jose Salvatierra
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Projecting the Round of 16:
– Hernandez plays into top seed @andres Acuna. I don’t think its an upset right off the bat, but Hernandez may make for some trouble.
– 8/9 is Giranda vs Gastelum, two players who both have some major scalps on their resumes. Great match.
– Flores plays into #5 Trujillo; ouch, very tough matchup for the IRT regular.
– #6 @Jordy Alonso projects to play Argentine @Diego Garcia. Another upset watch here, as Garcia has a ton of top-level wins recently.
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My Projected Qtrs:
– Acuna over Miranda, barely.
– Flores over Mar. I think Flores is already a top 8 players globally and will only improve, and he topped Mar in Minnesota earlier this year.
– Montoya over Garcia: Rodrigo overpowers him.
– Parrilla over Carter in a regular IRT quarter final matchup.
Semis and Finals; I think Flores takes out Acuna, who’s had a brutal draw just to get to the semis, while Montoya tops Parrilla in the latest of dozens of career top-level meetings for these two members of the same Mexican Cohort. In the final, Montoya finally tames Flores … though don’t be surprised if Flores makes this an 11-9 thriller.
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Doubles review
There’s some great doubles teams here: including multiple National team representative teams from Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala, Argentina, and Costa Rica. It’ll be hard to beat the top Mexican teams, including Montoya/Mar at #1
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Streaming? We’ll have to see what we get … perhaps Pablo Fajre flew to CR to broadcast, or maybe we have to depend on cell phones of players.
Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.
Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!
Charlie Brumfield, the sports first dominant champion, passed away earlier this week on June 1st. He was a few days shy of his 78th birthday.
Brumfield was Racquetball’s first GOAT. He was a top-level Paddleball player in the late 1960s, won the National Paddleball Association’s Open Singles title in both 1969 and 1970, and partnered with fellow San Diego resident Dr. Bud Muehleisen to take the Open Doubles titles in 1968 and 1969.
(see https://npa.paddleball.org/tournaments-2/national-champions/ for the NPA’s list of champions historically).
Soon, like many of his Paddleball colleagues, he pivoted to Racquetball and was a dominant force in Racquetball’s early days. He brought his dominant paddleball control game to Racquetball, but also incorporated the speed that stringed racquets enabled in the sport. Brumfield made the National Racquetball Singles final in both 1969 and 1970, then won it in both 1972 and 1973 during a time that predated any professional tournaments in the sport. He also claimed three Amateur National Doubles titles in the early 1970s before moving completely to the pro game.
(see https://rball.pro/85i for US Nationals singles titlists, https://rball.pro/a2ef0b for US Nationals Amateur Doubles titles).
Pro racquetball really got its start in 1974, and Brumfield was a force early. By the time the 1974-75 season rolled around, Brumfield was the clear #1 on tour. He won the first two Pro Nationals titles (the equivalent of a “Pro Title” in the early days) held in 1975 by competing pro entities IRA and NRC, then won the 1976 DP/Leach Nationals on home soil in San Diego to get his fifth career “National Title” in singles (three pro, two amateur). He topped Marty Hogan in June 1976 for the title, a significant win because it would mark a changing of the guard in the sport. After dominating Hogan for much of 1975 and 1976, Hogan flipped the table and went on a tear in 1976-77 season. Brumfield would win just one more title after his 76 Nationals win as Hogan took the upper hand in their years-long rivalry.
( see https://www.proracquetballstats.com/irt/year_end_titles.html and https://rball.pro/000f20 for a list of all Finals on tour).
Brumfield continue to tour mostly full time for the rest of the decade, but the introduction of power to the game and Brumfield’s rising age led to him retiring from the pro game after the 1980-81 season at the age of 32. He retired with 16 official career pro wins on the NRC/IRA (still good for 11th of all time) and a W/L record of 185-48, good for a W/L percentage of .794, which sits 4th all time in the history of the sport behind just Kane, Marty, and Sudsy.
(see https://rball.pro/96a384 for his Career Pro Summary page, https://rball.pro/d590ca for a ranking of tourney winners, and https://rball.pro/da9ff5 for Career W/L rankings)
Brumfield was also instrumental to the early days of Outdoor Racquetball, and participated in the first two iterations of Outdoor Nationals, giving the event credence and helping to convince his fellow “indoor” pros to play it as well. He won the first two Pro Outdoor singles titles in 1974 and 1975, winning the Doubles title in the inaugural event with Dr. Bud in 74, and losing in the final of 1975 before “retiring” from outdoor pro. Nonetheless, his importance to outdoor earned him a place in the 2nd ever WOR Hall of Fame class.
(see https://rball.pro/91u for Outdoor Nationals historical singles winners, and here https://rball.pro/9fk for Outdoor Nationals historical doubles winners).
Brumfield’s home in San Diego was also home to a custom-built court that resembles a historical archive of the sport. Dubbed the “Pacific Paddleball Association” the club has hosted both racquetball and paddleball competitions for decades. See https://www.pacificpaddleball.com/ for more.
Brumfield’s exploits have earned him multiple Hall of Fame inductions:
– Paddleball: 2014 (3rd ever person inducted)
– USA Racquetball: 1988 (6th ever person inducted)
– USA Lifetime Achievement recognition in 2013
– WOR Outdoor Racquetball: 2013 (2nd ever person inducted)
(see these links for Hall of Fame bios: NPA: https://npa.paddleball.org/npa-info/hall-of-fame/, USAR: https://www.usaracquetball.com/programs/hall-of-fame/inductees/1988 , and WOR: https://www.usaracquetball.com/wor-hall-of-fame-inductees/charlie-brumfield )
During the duration of his early playing career, Brumfield was also attending his hometown University of San Diego, where he earned a BS and a Law degree in 1973. He delayed the start of his career for years after his Law School graduation due to the simple fact that he was out-earning lawyers during his time playing for money on the courts (and, as he noted, it was a lot more fun). He eventually had a long career in the law, retiring as an in-house counsel to a Biotech firm.
Brumfield is known for being an absolute fierce opponent on the court, combining his fitness and skill with a level of physicality that would shock today’s tender, avoidable-seeking players. It was not unusual for players of the mid 1970s to give each other elbows mid-rally, or to hip-check a player out of the way. Brumfield and Hogan’s matches were legendary, as were his matches against other colorful contemporaries of the day. By the time yours truly got a chance to meet him, he was retired, gregarious, hilarious, and could spin yarn about the sport for hours on end. I enjoyed a couple of dinners with Brum in the last few years at 3WB in Vegas, and I’m completely grateful to have had the opportunity to meet him and talk to him.
Huge double gold weekend for Iwaasa.
Photo 2015 Portland IRT event by Kevin Savory
This past weekend, Racquetball Canada held its all-encompassing National championships in Burlington, Ontario. National titles and National team spots were handed in in Singles, Doubles, and Juniors. Here’s a quick summary of the winners and a recap of the surprising results in the Adults.
Congrats to your 2025 Canada National Open Singles winners on the weekend:
– Men’s Singles: Coby Iwaasa
– Women’s Singles: Frederique Lambert
Congrats to your 2025 Canada National Open Doubles winners on the weekend:
Congrats to Iwaasa in particular, getting the double Gold at Nationals for the first time ever. Also props to double-gold winner Lambert, who continues her run atop Canada racquetball despite a full time Medical career.
(Reminder: Canada doesn’t separately compete Mixed Doubles as US & Mexico does, instead selecting the international Mixed partners from the qualified pool)
Congrats to your 2025 Canadian Junior National Singles Champions:
– Boys 21U: Nathan Jauvin
– Boys 18U: Leyton Gouldie
– Boys 16U: Kyrylo Tkach
– Boys 14U: Oren Gouldie
– Girls 21U: Ofelia Wilscam
– Girls 18U: Chloe Jauvin
– Girls 16U: Kaitlyn Couckuyt
– Girls 14U: Talia King
We’ll do some commentary for each of the groups down below.
Trackie Sports App home page for event: https://secure.racquetballcanada.ca/entry-list/matches/1014510/4625/0/F/
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Men’s Open Singles
PRS report: https://rball.pro/a74e99
We had a relatively huge upset in the Men’s Open finals, with long-time #2 @Coby Iwaasa topping #1 Samuel Murray in four games for the title. This is the first time Sam has been dethroned as Canada’s national singles champion since 2017, and its Coby’s first title since 2015. These two have met in the finals of the last 18 straight national-level events in Canada (qualifiers and nationals), and this is just the second time Iwaasa has taken a match from Big Sam in that span (Iwaasa topped Murray for his 2015 title).
Webb & Cullen made the semis as #3 and #5 seeds.
See https://rball.pro/879898 for a list of all Men’s Canada National finals.
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Women’s Open Singles
PRS report: https://rball.pro/5deb35
Dr. Frederique Lambert won her 5th straight Canadian National title, and her 7th overall dating back to 2015, by beating 3-time runner up @Juliette Parent in the final. The women’s field was a bit thin this year, missing a couple of perennial competitors in Keay and Richardson who are normally semis/finals competitors.
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Men’s Doubles:
PRS Report: https://rball.pro/7254d9
The Men’s draw was opened up early by an injury to #1 seeds and 2024 champs Trevor Webb & Christian Pocsai, which opened a pathway for the 2023 champs Iwaasa & Cullen to the throne. This is Iwaasa’s 5th National doubles title and Cullen’s 2nd. They topped 3-time champions the Murray brothers Sam & Tommy in the semis to earn their spot in the final, where they defeated the newbies @Leyton Gouldie and @Asher Pocsai.
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Women’s Doubles:
PRS Report: https://rball.pro/d603c8
Lambert and @Michele Morissette combined to take their fourth straight National title together. Each now owns 6 titles overall (Lambert won two others earlier in her career, and Morissette won two in the late 2010s with Keay. They topped a small round robin group for the title.
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Boys Junior Results.
Matrix report of all Canadian Junior boys champs: https://rball.pro/ny4
Nathan Jauvin took the 21U title, his 8th career Junior title in Canada. He wins 21U in his last year of eligibility to compete a sweep of the five main age groups in his career. Leyton Gouldie tacked on a gold in 18U to his silver in Adult doubles, repeating as champ. Kyrylo Tkach got his first 16U title after winning twice at the 14U level. Lastly. a younger member of the Gouldie family Oren Gouldie repeated as 14U champ.
The Boys 14U draw was, by far, the largest draw at this event, with nearly 20 competitors as compared to the handful of juniors in most other draws. I’m not sure if there was a wave of middle schoolers picking up the sport in Canada or not, but it’s great to see and I hope that class continues.
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Girls Junior Results.
Matrix report of all Canadian Junior boys champs: https://rball.pro/5zu
The 21U awarded a champ for the first time in several years, with Ofelia Wilscam moving up from last year’s 18U title to claim the 21U title over Mercy Coughey. Canada definitely had a weird “gap” in their Girls Junior ranks, skipping 18U and 21U for a couple of years, but they seem “back” now. Chloe Jauvin won her 7th Junior title and she’s won in every age group available so far during her career. Kaitlyn Couckuyt repeated as 16U champ and has now won 3 straight Junior national titles. Talia King is a first-time junior national champ in 14U.
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That’s a wrap for Racquetball Canada Nationals for 2025. We’ll be back next fall with their qualifier.
There’s an IRT satellite in New Mexico next weekend, then the LPRT has a spot at an old stoping ground of mine in Herndon, VA. Later this month is Outdoor Nationals, which has teamed up with @3wallball this year.
Exec Summary: Erika Manilla double-qualifies. DLR retains his US National singles title. Michelle Key returns to the team with her doubles win. Horn returns to the time for the first time since 2019, while both Garcia and Ros secure their first ever National team spots.
Lastly, Carson qualifies for what I believe is his 22nd US National team, returning to the team after a three year hiatus. He qualified for his first team in 2000, then was a near annual member for the entirety of the 21st century before semi-retiring from competing two years ago.
The 2025-26 US National team is now set. The winners above along with the singles finalists have first right of refusal for the next set of international events: The World Games in August 2025 in China and the annual PARC tournament next spring in a site TBD (usually Guatemala City).
Former IRT touring pro and now pickleball professional returned to racquetball for the first time since Worlds last August to repeat as US National singles champion. Despite being the defending titlist, he was for some reason seeded third here, but eased his way through Ayan Sharma, Sam Bredenbeck, Bobby Horn, and then beating Jake Bredenbeck in a rematch of the 2024 championship.
It was great to see long-time US National team member Rhonda Rajsich competing; we havn’t seen her since an LPRT stop in Arizona a couple years ago. She fell to Hollie early. A last minute withdrawal of four-time Nationals finalist Lawrence opened up the bottom half of the draw, and Texan Naomi Ros took full advantage, topping her fellow recently-matriculated junior Annie Sanchez in the semis to secure her first spot on the Adult national team. She didn’t stop there, beating defending national champ Scott in the final to give her both the 18U national title and the Adult team national title simultaneously, something that has only been done twice in the history of the sport (Michelle Gould in 1989 and Jack Huczek in 2001).
Grizzled veteran Rocky Carson teamed with Bobby Horn (playing in his home club) to shock the defending US National doubles champions De La Rosa/Fernandez in the semis, then finished off their title-run by beating the Bredenbeck brothers in the final. It’s the fourth time in the last five years Jake & Sam have been losing national finalists. Horn returns to the team for the first time in 6 years, while Carson makes the team just a few days before he turns 46, a level we havn’t seen on the team since the Ruben Gonzalez glory years.
Just three teams entered this year’s Women’s US team qualifying, and 2023 champions Manilla & Key held firm to re-qualify for 2025 by beating their two rivals. They certainly had to work for it, with the “final” going 5 games against Scott & York.
As has become tradition, the Mixed Doubles event was the first to play to completion, and it started off with a huge upset. Defending Mixed National champs De La Rosa & Scott were upended by #5 @Robbie Collins and Annie Sanchez (nee Roberts) in the semis in four games. Perhaps DLR’s time away from the sport showed in his play, but they went one-and done. Collins & Sanchez couldn’t complete the deed, falling in the finals to #3 seeds Erika Manilla & Erik Garcia for the title. Manilla recaptures her Mixed title won in 2023 with her brother, while Garcia qualifies for his first ever National team.
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Other notable draws:
– Men’s Open: @Ty Hedalen repeated as Men’s Open champ, beating the visa-less Veronica Sotomayor in the final.
– Women’s Open: 15-yr old Andrea Perez-Picon, who switched to compete in Mexico for the 2024 season, swept through the Women’s Open RR group, defeating her sister Estefania in the final. In case you’re wondering, non-US citizens can compete in non-US Team qualifying at US Nationals … as well as dual citizens.
– Men’s Open Doubles: Rocky didn’t get enough doubles work winning the National title, so he competed in Open Doubles with Charles George and took that title too.
– Women’s Open Doubles: Hometown favorites Angela Grisar and Erica Williams took the Women’s Open Doubles title.
– Mixed Open Doubles; The Perez-Pincon brother/sister team of Alejandro and Andrea out-pointed Mark Frank & Veronica Sotomayor to take the Mixed Open title.
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Thanks to the Tourney Directors from @USA Racquetball for putting together 2025’s National event. Congrats to the Hall of Fame inductees, the others recognized at the annual awards, and for those 175 or so players traveling to compete.
Thanks to the Tourney Sponsors this year, which included WIS International, Gearbox/Rafael Filipini, KWM gutterman/Keith Minor, FixmyRacquet.com, RacquetX, and AGE Solutions/Andy Gomer.
Here’s the next in the Todd & Sudsy conversations. Random musings about the speed of the ball, which pivots into MPH radar gun readings, streamability, the squash court, World Games 2022 broadcasts, and other related information.
If you’d like to listen to the conversation, here’s a link to Sudsy’s Spotify podcast.
If you’d like to read the lightly edited transcript, read on.
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Sudsy & Todd Conversations – Is the ball too fast?
⏰Fri, 03/21 15:10PM · 16mins
Transcript
Todd Boss
All right, here we go. Well, hello, Mr. Sudsy. It’s been a long time. Do you know what I want to ask you about today?
Sudsy Monchik
I have no idea and I kind of like it because then it’s much more organic I do not know where we’re gonna go with this.
Todd Boss
So the other day, in the midst of doing some commentary about the state of our sport, I had someone pull out for me one of my pet peeves regarding why racquetball is dying. The claim is, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, the claim is that racquetball is dying because the ball goes too fast. Have you heard that one before?
Sudsy Monchik
Sure, I mean, I’m sure we’ve heard most of these the reasons why right? Everybody’s got an answer.
Todd Boss
So when I say that to you as someone who grew up playing in the 90s, I mean, what’s your immediate thought?
Sudsy Monchik
Silly. It’s nonsense. The speed of the ball has nothing to do with it. There’s been so many changes, not just in our sport, in society, in the world, options for kids. In every sport, there’s an evolution in technology or the way it’s played or the athletes. That’s not the reason why.
Todd Boss
Here, I’ll give you some interesting thought points here. When Marty Hogan hit the scene, he was clocked hitting the ball 142 miles an hour in the late 70s, before oversized rackets, before 22 inch rackets, before any of that.
Now I know that you hit the ball 190…
Sudsy Monchik
Well, thank you.
Todd Boss
142 miles an hour for context is about what your run of the mill pros hit the ball at today. I’m not talking about the power players; if I gave you some names of what we would probably call “control players,” that’s about what they hit.
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, I agree. I would agree that a high average speed for sure. As an example, they recently did a women’s speed gun contest, and I think that wasn’t more than 10 miles per hour faster. And I’d say on average today, a lot of top pros outside of some power players are right around there. Yeah, I’d agree with that.
Todd Boss
So in May of 2022, at the Sweet Caroline, they put the players on a radar gun and did three readings each.
– Erika Manilla came in first; her forehands were measured at 125, 127, and 128.
– The next closest was Samantha Salas, 119, 118, 120.
– Vargas and Munoz were right in that same range
– Then there was kind of a gap down to Centellas, Scott, Lawrence, Mendez, who were hitting like the 112, the 113 range.
– Then we also got readings for like Meneses, Longoria, and Parilla. Interestingly, Paola only hit it 107 to 108 at her max speed
Sudsy Monchik
The hardest hitting female is that I’ve ever been on a court with….
Todd Boss
Let me guess, are you married to her?
Sudsy Monchik
I’m not, no. Backhand, yeah, maybe she is. But Maricruz Ortiz [International ladies player from the Costa Rica] hits the ball harder than anyone.
Todd Boss
Oh, yeah, she does put its charge into it.
Okay, so so point is, is that the ball has been going 140, which is harder than any pro female hits today. And it’s harder than probably 20 to 30 miles an hour harder than most, amateurs hit the ball.
Sudsy Monchik
That’s fair
Todd Boss
That’s part of my argument here. You can make the argument that racquetball distinguished itself from paddleball in the late 70s precisely because it had power.
Sudsy Monchik
Sure. Yeah, of course. Yep. It was it was speed. It was faster. It demanded a lot more movement explosive movement. I’ve played them both.
Todd Boss
Yeah, here’s a question. Here’s another trivia question for you.
When, or in what era or what year do you think that USAR membership peaked?
Sudsy Monchik
What year did it peak? Okay. I’m guessing some, am I right to say in the eighties?
Todd Boss
Nope, a little bit later.
Sudsy Monchik
90s?
Todd Boss
90s. early 90s.
Sudsy Monchik
Really? Okay.
Todd Boss
The highest publicized membership figure, and I’m going based on the figures that they put onto their 990 because every year they would say that they have X number of members and X number of people play.
So in 1993, they peaked at 32,000 members. By the way, we have about a tenth of that right now.
Sudsy Monchik
So it peaked at 32,000 members USA Racquetball, and you’re saying today, March 21st, 2025, we have maybe 3,000?
Todd Boss
I think we have 3,000, 3,500 something like that. I don’t have the exact figures and I don’t have access to that information since I left the board,
Next, what year do you think the IRT had its most pro events? What season?
Sudsy Monchik
Ninety-four?
Todd Boss
That’s right. In the 93-94 season you had 19 tier ones in addition to a bunch of satellites You guys were so busy and, I don’t need to tell you this but, you guys were so busy that the rules were in place so that if you missed an event you would get default points commensurate with your average finish in an event.
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, we, that was the first year I won my first pro stop the pro nationals in 94 and yeah I remember it was it was play a final on Sunday, get ready to travel on Tuesday or Wednesday again. I mean it was constant.
Todd Boss
I mentioned all this because it’s all kind of part of the same argument here.
– So the ball was going 140 in the late 70s.
– It’s why the sport exploded and differentiated itself from from from paddle ball.
– In the 80s, it grew, grew, grew.
– We peak in terms of participation and organizationally in the in the early 90s.
By the way, the 22 inch racket was introduced in 95 and codified into the rules in 96.
So basically, the 22 inch racket, the non pressurized balls have been in place since the exact same point when our sport was at its peak.
So here we are in the year 2025. Why do people now claim that the speed of the ball is the reason that we’ve had this inexorable decline in the sport?
[The argument that “speed killed the sport” is essentially claiming that the sport was dying in 1977, before it even got popular]
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, it’s the age of the internet. And I think when you say “people,” you know, who? What people? Just because there’s a few people, and that’s maybe another conversation, but welcome to the internet, right? In Social media, one or two people out of thousands make a claim. And like, all of a sudden, people buy into it that that’s the reason, or this is a potential reason. It’s just a claim. I don’t think there’s a ton of people, but I think there’s definitely some chatter about it.
But in our sport, Todd, sadly, we’re all looking at what are the reasons for the massive decline. The ball being too fast is laughable. But again, I think we’ve seen most of the people out there that think they know the answer. And what we need to do.
I could tell you this, I don’t know the answer. I don’t have the answer today. We can talk about mistakes, maybe that have happened or lack of vision. Sure, we can talk about that. When we were peaking, what was the plan to sustain that peak and sustain those memberships? I think that’s probably another discussion, right?
But you know, being that this is the ball discussion, you know, could we lend to it potentially turning a few players away? Maybe as much as we would lend to, you know, golf, making a new ball or title is making a new ball and telling somebody, Oh, no, you’re gonna hit it too far?
I’m not buying it. I’m out on that. I’m out on that theory.
Todd Boss
I think the ball going too fast also pivots into another topic, and it’s related to the streamability or the viewability, the “televisibility” if that’s a word.
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, no, that’s BS. I disagree with that. In today’s day and age? No. I’ve spoken to major producers about it. Shawn Royster [former pro player who produced racquetball productions for ESPN and who works in the industry] said it: anything can be filmed today. Come on, we can film it. Plenty of technology, plenty of cameras. It is not that at all.
Todd Boss
I get the sense that the only way that most people consume racquetball right now is via Facebook streaming, frankly. The pro tours streaming their matches.
So if you’ve been onsite when the when they [the IRT’s Pablo Fajre or the LPRT’s Jerry Josey] sets up this equipment, they’re basically getting like a $5,000 camera and they’re hanging it kind of center back of the court. And they’re dependent on the local Wi Fi for bandwidth, and they don’t have multiple angles generally, or if they do, it’s just basically, you know, center mid plus right and left side.
And, it’s really difficult for someone to switch between angles in real-time. We’re not talking like an NFL game with a truck out back, and a dozen people like trying to kind of coordinate the experience. Therefore, the way most of us consume the sport is a grainy ball that you can barely see on a TV on a phone or on a computer screen. So I can I can understand why some people make that claim.
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, it’s an excellent point and it’s one of the things that I’ve been saying. If I was to invest or bring the investors in to try to help it, I would create a controlled environment. If I was trying to bring it to the masses, put it out there because the masses are on devices, on social media, on your computers and laptops and streaming.
I would create an optical spectacle for the world to see racquetball, and to do that I can’t rely on a small little local mom and pop club with spotty Wi-Fi and dirty scratched up glass. I would build a court that is catered to what I am going to be pushing out to the viewer. I would not worry about the people or players on site. It would be what is happening inside that court to show the incredible athleticism, power, strength, everything that we see in racquetball
Then I would introduce it, show it that way, and then I would also explain to every other sport and parent with a child and say, “hey, here’s how racquetball can help you, not only in your other sports, but in life.” And then who knows, maybe we have a chance. But we have to create it so that it’s consistent and it’s just an optical spectacle.
Todd Boss
The last time that we really had really well done video was at the World Games in Birmingham. They brought the brought the portable court, put it into a local gym at the University. Then, they brought in for-real professional, like NFL-quality cameras to broadcast. And you can find that that broadcast out there right now.
[note: to go see broadcasts from the 2022 World Games, go to DailyRacquetball’s page on the event:
Direct link to the Men’s final: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7KEz4U3hCc&list=PLaVzJlpz0Eyaf9kS1rCFiZa3–fFnpCLi&t=10s ]
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, it looks fantastic. But again, and I’ll say this to all of us out there that are putting it out there. I don’t care who you are, where you are, just try to put racquetball out there. Obviously, we all have different abilities, capabilities, time, right? If I just go stream at the club it takes time, it takes money. It’s easy to say, and then some people listen to this, right? And they’re like, “Oh, BS, just turn your phone on.”
Yes, I agree with that. You could do that too. That’s doable as well. Maybe the associations are trying to improve streaming, but I would stop catering to the onsite crowds. Those people will always be there. Instead, figure out how to produce something at a minimum quality of The World Games broadcast that you’re talking about.
Todd Boss
Yeah, no, it’s a good point. I certainly get caught up in the commentary of the people that are in our sport. We don’t have to sell them: they’re already sold. They’re engaged, they’re passionate.
Sudsy Monchik
They’ll always be there. I say it all the time. It’s not about us. We will always be there. We are talking like a living eulogy, right? And, you know, we’re all doing the best we can.
Todd Boss
All right, I’ve got one more question for you. You ever watch squash on the Internet?
Sudsy Monchik
I have come across it, so I wouldn’t say I’ve like stopped to watch it for an extended period of time, but of course I’ve seen it, yes.
Todd Boss
So Professional Squash, and I’m going to caveat this by saying that, in case you didn’t know, they are incredibly well funded, both in the US and internationally, so in a lot of ways, this is an apples and orange comparison.
But you know, squash has this space-age purple court that they take around with a white ball. And when you stream it, people make the argument that it’s a lot easier to see that ball on that court. And then they make the inevitable argument that, hey, that’s what racquetball needs. We need a PSA or professional squash association style purple court with white equipment. And that’s going to solve all of our problems.
Sudsy Monchik
Again, that would be part of my plan to build this court that is specifically made for however I’m going to stream it, produce it, and send it out there. I’ve been to that court, the squash court, I was at Grand Central Station, I know the court you’re talking about. My court would have some LED lights, it would take money, right? But again, if we’re swinging for the fences, yeah, we would need to build a court specific for audio and video, absolutely, and you got to just leave it stationary. It was fun to think about the portable court, but let’s try to get back to a stationary court concept.
At this point, we’re just trying to do everything we can to, quite frankly, stay alive, keep the sport relevant, not be the laughingstock on Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it, you know, and it is what it is.
Todd Boss
Very cool. Well, thanks for talking through my pet peeve topic du jour. I’m sure that everyone will listen to this and either vehemently agree or vehemently disagree and tell us why we’re morons. And I look forward to it.
