IRT Review & Preview

The Ghost of Georgetown racquetball tournament in Kansas City will kick off the 2011-12 International Racquetball Tour (IRT) season next week. It'll be the 4th season The Racquetball Blog (TRB) has covered the IRT, and we're looking forward to it.

If your memory is like that of most of TRB's office staff, then you'll likely need a bit of a reminder about what happened during the IRT's 2010-2011 season, because it's been a few months. Thus, we've put this review together for you.

Performances During the 2010-2011 International Racquetball Tour Season

IRT Rank - Player - Wins - Seconds - Semis - Quarters

1) Kane Waselenchuk - 12 wins, 1 semi
2) Rocky Carson - 1 win, 11 seconds, 1 qtr
3) Ben Croft - 10 semis, 3 qtrs
4) Jack Huczek - 1 win, 9 semis, 2 qtrs
5) Chris Crowther - 1 second, 1 semi, 9 qtrs
6) Andy Hawthorne - 1 semi, 12 qtrs
7) Jose Rojas - 2 semis, 7 qrts
8) Shane Vanderson - 2 semis, 7 qtrs
9) Charlie Pratt - 5 qrts
10) Anthony Herrera - 1 qtr
11) Alvaro Beltran - 2 seconds, 1 qtr
12) Tony Carson - 3 qrt
13) Mitch Williams - 2 semi, 1 qtr
15) Javier Moreno - 1 qtr
23) Taylor Knoth - 1 qtr
24) Mike Green - 1 qtr
32) Vincent Gagnon - 1 qtr

Event - Final - Semi-Finalists

Kansas City Final: Waselenchuk d. Carson - Semis: Croft, Williams
Cali, Colombia Final: Waselenchuk d. Crowther - Croft, Williams
Racquetball House San Diego Final: Waselenchuk d. Carson - Semis: Huczek, Croft
Choice Hotels US Open Final: Waselenchuk d. Beltran - Semis: Huczek, Croft
Chihuahua Final: Carson d. Beltran - Semis: Huczek, Rojas
California Open Final: Waselenchuk d. Carson - Semis: Huczek, Croft
New York City Pro-Am Final: Huczek d. Carson - Semis: Waselenchuk, Vanderson
Lawler Sports Pro-Am Final: Waselenchuk d. Carson - Semis: Huczek, Croft
San Diego Open Final: Waselenchuk d. Carson - Semis: Huczek, Vanderson
Florida Spring Break Pro-Am Final: Waselenchuk d. Carson - Semis: Huczek, Croft
Salt Lake City Final: Waselenchuk d. Carson - Semis: Huczek, Croft
IRT Network Pro-Am Final: Waselenchuk d. Carson - Semis: Croft, Huczek
Mexico Open Final: Waselenchuk d Carson - Semis: Croft, Rojas
Fullerton Final: Waselenchuk d Carson - Semis: Crowther, Croft

The 2010-11 IRT Statistical Abstract
(Note: not all match points were recorded, so this abstract is based on incomplete data.)

Percentage of 3 game matches: 58.9 (291 of 494)
Percentage of 4 game matches: 26.1 (129)
Percentage of 5 game matches: 15.0 (74)

Most points for in a victory: 57 - Marco Mijares d. Jeremy McGlothin, 12-10, 11-5, 14-16, 9-11, 11-9 in the US Open
2nd most points for in a victory: 56 - Polo Gutierrez d. Jeff Bell, 15-17, 11-9, 8-11, 11-4, 11-2 in the US Open

Most points scored in a loss: 53 - Ben Croft in loss to Javier Moreno, 15-13, 11-9, 10-12, 3-11, 11-8, in the San Diego Open
2nd most points scored in a loss: 51 - Richard Berich in loss to Lee Connell, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, in IRT Network Pro-Am, and Jeremy McGlothin in loss to Marco Mijares, 12-10, 11-5, 14-16, 9-11, 11-9, in the US Open

Most points in a 5 game match: 108 - Marco Mijares d. Jeremy McGlothin, 12-10, 11-5, 14-16, 9-11, 11-9 in the US Open
Most points in a 4 game match: 87 - Charles Pratt d. Richard Berich, 10-12, 12-10, 11-8, 13-11 in the Lawler Sports Pro-Am
Most points in a 3 game match: 74 - Daniel De La Rosa d. Jason Conway, 20-18, 11-7, 11-7, in the San Diego Open

Largest margin of victory 5 game match: 22 by Alvaro Beltran d. Roland Keller, 11-0, 9-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-1 at the US Open
Largest margin of victory 4 game match: 27 by Alvaro Beltran d. Erik Leetch, 7-11, 11-0, 11-4, 11-2 in the Ektelon National Singles Championships
Largest margin of victory 3 game match: 34 by Kane Waselenchuk d. Arthur Schmeiser, 11-0, 11-0, 11-1 in Salt Lake City

Smallest margin of victory 5 game match: -6 by Juan Garson in win over Geoff Goldblatt, 1-11, 2-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 in the Lawler Sports Pro-Am
2nd smallest margin of victory 5 game match: -5 by Andy Hawthorne in win over Anthony Herrera, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6, in the San Diego Racquet House Pro/Am
Smallest margin of victory 4 game match: -4 by Charlie Pratt d. Jose Rojas, 11-8, 0-11, 12-10, 13-11, in IRT Network Pro-Am
Smallest margin of victory 3 game match: 6 by Mattew Majxner d. Dave Rocchi, 14-12, 13-11, 13-11, in the Ektelon National Singles Championships

More Waselenchuk domination

Kane Waselenchuk continued to dominate men's pro racquetball last season, winning all but one of his matches. And that loss was due to illness rather than an opponent. Rocky Carson emerged as Waselenchuk's closest rival, as they met in 10 finals last year. But Waselenchuk won 30 of the 35 games in those matches giving up an average of 6.63 points per game.

In mid-season, it seemed that Carson was closing the gap, as they played two five game finals in late January and February. But then Waselenchuk seemed to step up his level of play and won each of their next five meetings in three straight games yielding only 4.33 points a game on average.

As we mentioned in last season's preview, Waselenchuk's only concern may be his health. He'll turn 30 in November, but still seems to have a lot of high quality racquetball in him.

Who are the challengers?

With Waselenchuk #1 and Carson a solid #2, the next question is who are the other challengers? We know it won't be Jack Huczek or Mitch Williams as both retired during last season, despite having success on tour. Ben Croft finished last year at #3, a career high. However, he has taken a job with Racquetball Warehouse, and it's uncertain how this development will effect his training and playing schedule.

Alvaro Beltran, who we here at The Racquetball Blog have long thought has the best game style to battle Waselenchuk, was injured again at the end of last season, but did play in the Racquetball Warehouse San Diego Pro/Am last month, losing a 5 game semi-final to Carson. If he's healthy, Beltran could be the most significant threat to Waselenchuk.

Looking past those players, and you'd have to have some very rose colored glasses to imagine someone else challenging for a tournament win. Veterans like Shane Vanderson, Chris Crowther, and Andy Hawthorne would need to have significant improvements from the high level that they have been playing at to win a Tier 1 or Grand Slam, as they have, collectively, been in only 3 finals (2 for Vanderson and 1 for Crowther).

Perhaps the next serious challenger will come from one of the younger players. Jose Rojas was everyone's darling a year ago, but we didn't see the progression that it seemed was coming. That may still happen, of course, but in looking more closely at his game style, we think there's much to change if he's going to achieve the consistency needed to win on tour.

There are other young players who could do well this season, such as Tony Carson, Charlie Pratt, Daniel De La Rosa, and perhaps former Junior World Champion Taylor Knoth. But any of them made an IRT semi-final, let alone winning an event, it would be a shock.

Other issues

Last season was Jason Mannino's first full season as the IRT Commissioner, and things seem to be running well. Mannino's put together a schedule of 22 Tier 1 or Grand Slam (T1/GS) level events for this season, which is a significant increase from the 14 held last season. However, there were 20 events listed on the IRT schedule at the start of last season and only 13 happened, so whether all 22 of the listed T1/GS events happens is questionable.

Nonetheless, the IRT seems to be doing well. They are keeping their website updated regularly and have more content on it now than in the past.

The biggest change last year was in changing back to having two serves rather than one serve. That seems to have gone over well enough with the fans and players alike, although it's not clear whether it changed any actual outcomes in general.

Time in

Those are our thoughts on what you can expect this season. We're sure there will be some surprises, and we hope that you'll follow along with The Racquetball Blog to see just what those are.

Serve it up, boys!

Follow the bouncing ball....