CONGRATULATIONS to my “Championship Team” Paola Longoria for winning her 4th US Open title and Rocky Carson for making into the finals!
The 2013 United Healthcare US Open Championships held in Minneapolis, MN was an amazing event. It was held at the Lifetime Fitness Center, inside the Target Center, and there were 700+ participants, 17 countries and $65,000.00 in prize money. The 18th annual event was the biggest and most widely viewed event in racquetball history.
All http://www.irtnetwork.com/ subscribers can see Paola and Rocky’s matches in the archives as well as the semi-finals and finals will be aired on the Tennis Channel Thanksgiving weekend so make sure you check the days and times.
Paola Longoria defended her title from 2008, 2011, and 2012 and is now the 4th time 2013 United Healthcare US Open Champion. She won the event in fashion against her rival Rhonda Rajsich in 3 straight games. She played amazingly well throughout the week with her aggressive style of play and her consistency as she only lost 1 game on the way to being crowned the 2013 US Open Champion.
Paola continues to build her portfolio of being the LPRT’s #1 ranked professional player in the world with winning 100 consecutive pro matches and winning her 25th consecutive pro event.
Rocky Carson made it to the finals again at the 2013 United Healthcare US Open, but fell short to his rival, Kane Waselenchuk. He played extremely well all week beating Tony Carson in the quarter finals in 3 straight games and then went on to beat Alvaro Beltran, #1 in Mexico, in the semi finals after losing the first game. Rocky fought hard and played well in the finals, but unfortunately Kane came back stronger this week after losing to Jose in KS.
ALL their hard work paid big dividends as they used the Racquetball Sports Triangle that I advocate in my book, ‘Championship Racquetball’. ALL year long they never missed a beat working on their racquetball skills, their mental skills and their conditioning/nutritional skills. They knew all three sides of the triangle needed to work together in order for them to reach their championship level game and they did.
Everyone wants to hold a US Open title from the pro division all the way down to the amateur divisions, which is what makes it so competitive and exciting.
I had so many of my students and our campers attend this event ….Steve Kowalski/Richelle Kulju took 2nd in the Mixed B division, Frank Alongi/Tammarrian Rogers took 2nd in the Mixed A division, Tammarian Rogers won another Silver and Gold Medal, Harlan Faircloth, Holly Scott, Linda Scales, Kenny Green Jr., Eddie Vann, Cheryl Jones, Kelly Kirk, and Jackie Paraiso.
I had to wear so many hats such as- coach, run the HEAD/Penn booth, meet for the USAR-IP Certification Program, commentate on the IRT Network, sell our “Championship Products”…book, video and camps, and, and, and!
This is an event you DO NOT want to miss next year so plan for it and you will not be sorry you attended the BEST EVENT of the year.
My “Junior Championship Racquetball Team” lead by Connor Laffey and Jordan Cooperrider are heading to the Jr. World Championships in Bolivia next week October 20-26, 2013. Good Luck and stay focused. Bring home the hardware.
***It will be streamed live on the International Federation Racquetball website.
