Travels and back to Atlanta

Over the last month or so, I have found myself doing a lot of traveling. Moving to another place has helped me get on the road more. Living in Colorado has been an amazing experience so far, and is much different than California. I am really starting to like the area. With multiple trips to California for shootout tournaments and family visits, I have really spent a lot of time in airports and on planes. I am definitely thinking about trying to get TSA approved to speed up the process. Anyways, I am halfway done with the first stretch of tournaments and here is what I have taken from it.

The first set of trips was to California for two shootout style events. The first was a Reaching Your Dream Foundation Fundraiser which turned out to be a great event that helped raise a good chunk of money for the non-profit to continue to help with younger players succeed with their goals in racquetball. I am sure most have heard of the foundation, but if you have not, go to give2rydf.org, check it out, and even donate a couple bucks. It really does help a large number of players each tournament you watch and enjoy. I had the pleasure of playing with Paula Tran and Jason Ede for this event and it is always fun to get on the court and be able to just enjoy being on the court with people who enjoy rball as much as me. (Highlights 1, 2)

After a short trip back to Pueblo to figure out things for my home life, I returned to my hometown of Stockton for one of the shootouts of John Ellis. As always, the event was run well and always a blast to play in. I played with The DOC (Tyrone Snipes) and Kim Randolph. Being in my hometown is always nice because I get to see my immediate family and also my racquetball family from northern California. If you  haven’t played John’s shootouts before, it is definitely one you should try and play once in your life. It is way too much racquetball in one session and I hope Elli reads this so he knows it ;). His events are extremely fun.

After all my fun in California, it was time to get to work and get ready for the first IRT stop of the Season at the Ghosts of Georgetown. I was very excited for this event and feeling prepared. It had been a couple years since I have attended the event, but it is a very enjoyable event with a lot of great racquetball to watch and play. The people of Kansas know how to put an event on. I lost to De La Rosa in four games in the round of 16s. Very disappointed in the result, but I feel like my game is right there with anyone and will keep working on improving and fine tuning my game. Probably the most interesting part of this trip was driving alone from Pueblo, Co to Overland Park. I have never driven on such an empty highway in my life until I took highway 40. It was a lot of fun being able to drive with no worries and fly down the freeway peacefully.

I now have arrived in Atlanta, Georgia. Last year was the first time I have played here for the WRT stop and ever since, I have been finding excuses to return. This place just has a great feel to it. Besides the hot and humid weather of course… This will be our second WRT event here in Atlanta and it looks to be a great draw. Polo is back in the mix along with the regulars that tour year round which should be interesting to watch as a fan and as a participant in the draw. Recreation ATL has a really cool set up and I can’t really put my finger on why I like the layout of the club so much. Jason Chan is the owner of the club and he welcomes every player at the door like it was their home. Along with him, you have all the players of the Atlanta area at the club who all talk with you like they have known you for 10 years. I am pretty sure the family feel of Atlanta is a major reason why I look forward to the events here, and why I even came for the LPRT stop this past August. Watch the quarterfinals and later rounds, live, on GearboxSports.com or in the video box below!

Anyways, I am looking forward to competing this weekend here in ATL, as well as getting ready to go play Vegas and the US Open in a few weeks as well.