It finally happened!

So it finally happened! What you might ask? After 8 years of playing racquetball, trying to keep up with people half my age, I won a match at the Open level. I recognize how fortunate I am to get away with the victory, but this should give my son plenty to think about the next time he pops off about how he thinks he can beat the old man! Seriously, the ironic thing is that this was in a tournament to honor a great man and one of the things that this man did was to ride a bicycle for conditioning. This past spring I took to the bike and have averaged over 100 miles a week all summer long and my conditioning was the difference. Last year in the same tournament, I won my first ever Open game in the first Open match I played, but then lost the match. This year the first game went quick, 11-1. I found myself in a position I would have expected at the B level, not Open. In control and feeling refreshed. The next two games went fast, not as quick as the first one, but when I was up 8-1 in the third game I realized I had to focus to finish the win. At this level if someone gets hot, they can run off a bunch of points fast. I won the 3^rd game and the match 11-1, 11-8, 11-2. That was the great news, the bad news was that I had to play again in an hour and now I had played myself into playing the top seed in the tournament. I won’t waste much time or space on that match, but suffice to say that the scores were very similar to the match I won; only I was on the losing side this time. The thing I did notice is that my footwork in the second match was not as good as in the first. Thus, more time on the bike and better conditioning is needed. Other than that it was a great experience. I am only sorry that the victory had to come at the hands of a good friend. As I told his girlfriend later that evening, I was sorry that I had to beat him, but I owed him a good beating after the one he had put on me 2 weeks prior. It just was my night!

For more information on the results of the Mike Pohlman Memorial Classic or on racquetball in St. Louis, go to http://www.vettasports.com/.