Champion!!!

Wow what a feeling! It's pretty surreal, especially after getting back home and realizing that practically everyone I know has heard about it. I can't thank my family and friends enough, especially my loving wife Kaitlyn, who I know would love to come to every one of my tournaments if she could.

In case some of you are reading about this for the first time, I won the national team selection event over the weekend, upsetting the top seed and current canadian champion Mike Green in the final. The entire match was a seesaw battle. I went up big in the first game and he came back to make it tight before I was able to close it out 16-14. I took another lead in the second game, albeit a smaller one, before he went on a tear, scoring 13 unanswered points! I recovered a bit of momentum to begin the tiebreaker though and was able to start that game strong with a lead as well. He would recover and take the lead by a few points, then I took it back. The finish was extremely tight, with both of us having to make great shots to win the rally. I made the final one at 10-8 though and fell to my knees, in utter disbelief of what I had accomplished. I've been trying to beat this guy for years with no success. To finally have that goal realized is an incredible feeling and fantastic testament to my training over the last few years. Here's a press release from my local paper on the tournament and a write-up/interview I did for theracquetballblog.

The next tournament for me is this coming weekend where I'll be competing at the Keystone Classic in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is the longest running racquetball tournament in Canada and one of my favourite events of the last few seasons. This year promises to be a quality draw as well, with several top players from Canada competing including up and coming stars Coby Iwasaa and Kurtis Cullen. Look for updates on this blog as well as the tournament website: http://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=10580.