CONGRATULATIONS to Rocky and Paola – 2015 PAN AMERICAN CHAMPIONS

Paola Longoria…3 for 3 GOLD Medals / Rocky Carson 1 Gold / 1 Silver Medal.

My two athletes, Rocky Carson and Paola Longoria, arrived at the 2015 Pan American Championships in Toronto, Canada on July 16-27, 2015 to take care of business. Rocky wanted to defend his 2011 Pan American Title he captured in Guadalajara, Mexico four years ago. Paola also came on a mission to defend her 2011 Pan American Titles in singles, doubles and team that she also won in the Guadalajara, Mexico four years ago.

Rocky did accomplish what he set out to accomplish and defended his title as the Men’s Singles Gold Medalist and provided a repeat performance. After not dropping a single game, Rocky captured the Gold Medal by knocking off the top two players from Mexico in the semifinals (Daniel Del LaRosa) and finals (Alvaro Beltran). Rocky helped lead Team USA to the Silver Medal in the Men’s Team competition.

Paola also set out to accomplish a repeat performance and did just that by winning three Gold Medals. In the Women’s Singles bracket, Paola didn’t drop a game en-route to her second consecutive Pan Am Games championship. Paola also captured the Gold Medal in the Women’s Doubles event and brought home a Gold Medal in the Women’s Team competition. Paola is now the two-time defending champion in all women’s events at the Pan Am Games. For the three-peat, she will have to continue dominating through the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.

The Pan American Games are held every four years, they are the pinnacle event for the world’s top racquetball players to represent their country on the international stage. The Pan Am Games offer competition in 36 sports for more than 5,000 athletes, making it one of the largest global sporting events behind the Olympic Games. The racquetball competition at the 2015 Pan Am Games featured 55 athletes from a dozen countries across the Americas!

I am so PROUD of both of them as they accomplished what they set out to accomplish as they both have been training long and hard to be able to reach their goals. They both wanted to be crowned the 2015 Pan American Games Champion and they did just that. What made it even sweeter was that I was able to be there court-side and coach Paola in some very tough matches and watch Rocky go through the draw not losing a game!

Rocky and Paola will take some time off before the 2015-16 season kicks off on their respective professional tours in late August.

In early August my Junior Championship Team (Jordan Cooperrider, Wayne Antone and Mitchell Turner) heads out to Colorado Springs, CO for the Junior National Team training camp at the United States Olympic Training Center (USOTC). They are getting ready for the Junior World Championships to be held in the Dominican Republic in early November.