Bolivia is the world’s hotbed of racquetball. At the recent IRT/LPRT Grand Slam in Cochabamba, hundreds and hundreds of fans showed up for matches, many of whom were not players and bought tickets to watch. It was an incredible event. One of the players/coaches who has been at the forefront of making racquetball the sport it is in Bolivia is Felipe Mercado. We asked Felipe to share a little information about himself and his incredible passion for racquetball. In Felipe’s words:
A recent article by Restrung Magazine made some poignant statements about the state of professional racquetball. Specifically, it referenced the emergence of talented Central American, South American, and Mexican male athletes who have enormous potential, yet apparently lack the killer instinct to overcome two now veteran players, Rocky Carson and Kane Waselenchuk. It also generalized that some of the current North American players appear entitled and enjoy their status as professionals without having earned major titles or achieved high rankings. In this article, they were described as being in a “bubble of mediocrity”.
Having started our program late last spring, it has been almost 10 months since we were first mentored by Dave and John Ellis in the re-start of our Junior Racquetball at Prime Time Athletic Club in Burlingame, California. Ranging in the ages of 6-15, our students meet every Tuesday from 5:30pm - 6:45 pm. We have had moderate growth. We began with 5 junior players, and we now average 11-12 players weekly.
On Tuesday February 26th, 5-time World Champion Rocky Carson hosted a Pro-Am Fundraiser for the Reaching Your Dream Foundation at the club where he plays and teaches. Rocky recruited several of the local area pro players (e.g., Luiz Avila, Brandon Davis, Scott Davis, Greg Solis, and Josh Tucker) and club players and was able to raise $10,000 for RYDF! We’d like to thank Rocky, the pros, and the donors who gave their time and money to support the Reaching Your Dream Foundation. We’d especially like to thank the owners and management of ClubSport Aliso Viejo. If any of those who read this want to consider doing the same thing for RYDF, please contact Mike Lippitt at 510.504.2494 and we will help you set it up. Thanks!
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into racquetball. Growing up I played a lot of baseball and soccer. But I got to the point where I got tired of playing the same sport. I was a little bored and wanted a new sport. I came across racquetball through my dad who showed me the basic concepts of the sport. Darrell Warren really was the one who introduced me to the fundamental basics of racquetball. I was about 15 and started getting the hang of it.
RYDF is excited to share Gerardo Franco Gonzalez’s inspirational story. Gerardo is 19 years old and is currently ranked #7 by the World Racquetball Tour (WRT). He was also awarded the WRT Sportsmanship Award in the 2016-2017 season.
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July 2022
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