“Finally Back…Proved that by Beating Rhonda in back to back Tier 1 WPRO Pro Stops in the So. CA “Coast to Coast”, January 5-7, and in Miami, FL “Great Balls of Fire”, February 25-27, events. Both tournaments went tie-breakers, but in Miami Paola was down 5-10 in the tie-breaker and came from behind to win 12-10…a HUGE mental win for her.
Also, March 4-6 Paola competed in the Mexican National Championships and won BOTH the Singles and Doubles divisions which gave her a spot on the Mexican National Team and will represent her country at the Pan American Championships, October 2011, in her home country of Mexico, in the city of Guadalajara….what a HONOR that will be.
After tearing a ligament in her foot in May 2010 at the WPRO Pro Nationals in New Orleans, LA she has never been the same physically or mentally UNTIL the first pro-stop of the 2nd half of the season. When she came back to the courts in July 2010 she took 2nd in the singles at the World Championships in Korea losing to Rhonda, then proceeded to lose to Rhonda in the following WPRO events…TX in August, US Open in October and VA in November.
A true champion that Paola is she decided …NO MORE. She wanted to regain the confidence in her game that she had before she tore her ligament as she had won EVERY Tier 1 WPRO event from November 2009 (when she hired me) -May 2010. I put Paola on an intensive on court drilling regiment, she started working with her original conditioning trainer and used on court footwork drills I gave her and she began working with a sports psychologist. There is NO DOUBT in my mind that the combination of all three working together is helping her get back to where she was before her injury. This hard work and diligent practice sessions is allowing her to regain her confidence level…a KEY to re-building her championship game. What she is doing is living proof that the “Racquetball Success Triangle” works and works well.
Paola juggles ALL this being a FULL-TIME student. Here’s what she has to say about it: ” I’m in 6 semester of Ingeneer in Mechanic and Administration. I study on the school Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon and this school is in Monterrey, Mexico. It’s difficult to combine school and racquetball, but I have the opportunity to have great professors that help me with exams and projects and they allow me to give it to them before or after the tourneys. The last semester I finished with grade of 8.8 and it’s pretty good because I passed all the classes and don’t need to take extra exams.”
Paola why did you choose Fran Davis as your coach? I choose Fran Davis to be my coach because I know she is the person that knows everything about racquetball. I asked her after the final of the Us Open 2009 and we made the commitment to work hard together so right know I really love the way we train together. It’s a little hard because of the distance, but I have sometimes the opportunity to fly to Seattle, WA and train with her. We have many goals in our minds and I know that both of us are going to work and fight hard to achieve those goals. She’s a great coach and friend :)”
Paola is gearing up for a WPRO Pro Stop in Miami, FL the last weekend in February and in March she is heading to the Mexican National Championships in San Luis Potosi, MX (in her home town) to secure a spot on the team for the Pan American Championships in Guadalajara, MX (in her home country) in October, 2011.
