Happy 45th Birthday Mike Green!

You have been the dominant men's racquetball player in Canada for most of this century. You beat Sherman Greenfeld’s record of 10 Men’s Singles Canadian Championships last year with your 11th title. You won singles at Nationals in 2002-04, 2006, 2008, 2010-2013, 2016 and 2017.

But unlike Greenfeld, you played doubles also, and won Men’s Doubles at the Canadian Championships 10 times: first with Mike Ceresia in 2000, then in 2004 with Tom O’Brien, and with Brian Istace from 2005-2007, with Kris Odegard in 2010 and 2011, with Coby Iwaasa in 2013 and 2015, and finally with Trevor Webb in 2017.

Twenty one Canadian titles is more than any other man, and only your pal Jen Saunders has more with 22.

During your most active period on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) you were the 8th ranked player at the end of the 2003-04 IRT season. Your IRT record includes multiple wins over Cliff Swain, Sudsy Monchik, Alvaro Beltran, Rocky Carson, John Ellis and Mike Guidry. Impressive.

Furthermore, you’ve been “capped” for Team Canada more often than any other man: 34 appearances over 21 years beginning with the 1996 Pan American Championships and ending with the 2017 Pan American Championships. You won Men’s Singles at the Pan American Championships twice: in 1999 and 2012, and were a part of three Canadian men’s teams that won gold at the World Championships - in 1996, 2000 & 2002 - as well as the Overall Team gold medal at the 2000 World Championships.

In the individual competitions at Worlds, you were a silver medalist in Men’s Doubles three times: in 2002 with Ceresia, 2010 with Tim Landeryou and 2014 with Vincent Gagnon. You were also a silver medalist in Men's Singles at the 2003 Pan American Games.

You didn’t play at the World Championships earlier this month, which broke a streak of 11 consecutive appearances at Worlds. It was the first you’d missed since 1996.

That happened because this past season, you only participated in one National Team Selection Event, and weren’t at Nationals for the first time in over two decades. That leads us to wonder if retirement is in the offing, although one rumour is that you’ll be back competing next season.

No one would question a decision to either continue or retire. Your record of excellence speaks for itself: few have achieved more.

We wished you happy birthday 10 years ago, but it bears repeating: Happy birthday Mike Green!

Follow the bouncing ball….