US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2012

CONGRATS to Rocky and Paola…FINALISTS at the 2012 United Health Care US Open. Paola Longoria defended her title from 2011 and is the 2012 United Health Care US Open Champion as she won in fashion against her rival Rhonda Rajsich in 3 straight games. Rocky Carson makes it to the finals again at the 2012 United Health Care US Open, but fell short to his rival, Kane Waselenchuk. ALL their hard work paid big dividends as they put into practice the principles of the “Racquetball Sports Triangle," which I advocate in my book, “Championship Racquetball."   ALL year long they

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ROCKY and PAOLA finals of 1st Pro Stop of the Season

Rocky and Paola enter their 1st Pro Stop of the season and they BOTH make it to the finals of their respective IRT and LPRT events. Rocky played in the IRT Pro Stop in KS, September 13-16, and played well. He was moving well, serving  consistently, returned serves brilliantly and was very mentally tough. He played Shane Vanderson in the quarter finals and won 3-0; Jose Rojas in the semi finals and beat him 3-1;  Kane Wasenlunchuk in the finals and lost 3-1. Rocky had Kane on the ropes, 8-4, in the third game after tieing up the match 1 game a

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CONGRATULATIONS to Rocky and Paola – 2012 World Champions!

My two athletes, Rocky Carson and Paola Longoria, arrived at the 16th IRF World Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on August 1st, 2012 to take care of business. Rocky wanted to defend his 2012 World Championship Title he won in South Korea and Paola came on a mission to take the World Championship Title that alluded her in South Korea two years ago. I am so PROUD of both of them as they accomplished what they set out to accomplish as they both have been training hard and long to be able to reach their goals. They both wanted

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HEAD/Penn Dominates World Racquetball Championships

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic– August 8, 2012 – HEAD/Penn’s Paola Longoria and Rocky Carson both have earned the title “World Champion” by winning the Women’s & Men’s Singles Titles, respectively at the International Racquetball Federation’s 2012 World Championships. In addition, Longoria teamed with HEAD Pro Staff Member Samantha Salas Solis to win the women’s doubles “World Title” for her second Gold medal at the event. For Longoria, the world’s No. 1 ranked female racquetball player, the IRF World Championship completes the “Perfect Season” after going undefeated during the 2011-2012 Women’s Professional Racquetball Organization’s (WPRO) tour. Carson’s World Championship comes after

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Junior National Championship Update, June 2012

The country's best junior racquetball players competed at the Meridian Sports Club in Fullerton, CA, June 21-24 in the USAR National Junior Olympic Racquetball Championships presented by Penn. Junior players from all across the U.S. competed for coveted Gold medals in 60 divisions for boy's and girl's in singles and doubles. In addition, this event is a U.S. Junior National Team Qualifier as one-year appointments were earned by the top finishers in 18-Gold Singles, 16-Gold Singles, 14-Gold Singles in boy's and girl's divisions. The USA Junior Team will be competing at the 2012 IRF Junior World Racquetball Championships, November 11-17,

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Dan’s Tips on Conditioning:

CHANGE OF DIRECTION SPEED is an often overlooked element of movement skills, but it is the most important in racquetball. There are four types of change of direction speed that we’ll work on: side to side, forward and backward, turning and running, and jumping. Now that we have addressed moving faster, let’s talk about moving more efficiently. In this sport, if you move quickly, but not efficiently you will often overrun the ball or jam yourself. This is a major problem since you will not be able to develop consistency, accuracy, or power, leading to frustration. The key factor in

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June 2012 Update

The Adult Nationals are behind us... Jr. Nationals are this week, June 21-24, in Fullerton, CA. The WOR Championships are in July 12-15, Huntington Beach, CA. The World Championships are in August 5-12, in the Dominican Republic.   My Championship Team lead by Rocky Carson and Paola Longoria played extremely well at The Adult Nationals. Paola took home the coveted title of the WPRO Pro National Champion and finished year-end as #1 on the WPRO pro ranking. Rocky lost to Alvaro in a tie-breaker in the semi finals, but finished year-end as #2 on the IRT pro ranking. Some of

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Spring 2012 Update

Okay, we are in the tail end of the 2011/2012 season and just finished up the state and regional championships and heading into the finale, the Nationals. This tournament will be held in Fullerton, CA Memorial Day weekend and culminates both the professional and amateur seasons. What an event it will be with the portable glass court show casing the pros outside on top of the Meridian's Club parking garage. If you haven't been there it is an event you do not want to miss with both the men and women pros there and over 500 amateurs playing in singles

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Dan’s Tips on Conditioning

POWER is another one of the key elements in conditioning you want to develop for your "Championship Game". Power is represented by speed over time. In other words, how quickly and with what certain force can you move? Or in sports, we think of “explosion” when we think of power. How quickly can you act, react or move with definite force? An example would be an offensive power ‘drive serve” which would be speed with force equaling POWER. There are specific exercises that develop your power and helps you to become more "explosive" into the ball, thus generating more power

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March Madness 2012

March was a very busy month for my "Championship Team" as they competed in lots of events here in the US as well as Worldwide. Rocky Carson finally was back to his old form at the IRT "Party with the Pros" Pro Stop in St. Louis, MO March 16-18, 2012. After being sick for over a month with a reoccurring sinus infection he convincingly beat Andy Hawthorne in the quarter finals in 3 games and Ben Croft in the semi finals in 3 games. He then lost to the eventual winner Kane. Rocky has 2 more events left this season, a Tier

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