Just wanted to send congratulations out to Kara Mazur, University of Alabama, and Tony Carson, Colorado State University - Pueblo, for their victories last weekend in the #1 Gold Division at Intercollegiates. Those wins have earned each a 1 year appointment to the US National Team.
Still awaiting word if Kara will now go on to New Orleans and the Chemtech WPRO World Championships presented by Ektelon April 17-20. This one will be a great event as Rhonda Rajsich and Cheryl Gudinas Holmes fight it out for the coveted year end #1 ranking. You can enter online for this one at:
http://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=3645
The IRT is currently in Tijuana, Mexico, and 3 Herrera’s have made the main draw. Last week’s beaten finalist from the Men’s #1 Gold, Anthony Herrrera, has rebounded nicely to qualify into the main draw where he plays Rocky Carson.
There are some great matches slated for this tournament this weekend, so check out the results at:
http://www.irt-tour.com
This all leads up to the Big One…The Motorola IRT Pro Nationals presented by Verizon Wireless. All I can say is, get to Chicago if you can. Rocky Carson and Jack Huczek will be bringing all they have to win the year end #1 ranking. The brand new Lucite Court will make its debut and ESPN360 will be there, as well as ESPN Classic. You can check out the website at:
http://www.irt-pronationals.com
entry forms are available at that site. I didn’t see an online entry there, but you can download the form. If I can find the online entry, I will send that along.
April 4th, 2008
by Geoff Thomsen
Nothing starts off a long day of racquetball photography quite like a donut or two (thanks, Eddie!!):
February 29th, 2008
by Geoff Thomsen
I’ve finally had a little time to take the Gearbox racquets down to the club for a little play / hit testing. I’ll go ahead and end the suspense - Gearbox has a great product that players will like. The Gearbox GB250 was the first racquet I’ve played with in the past few years where I could just pick it up, lace it on, and start hitting my shots.
Gearbox GB250 Racquetball Racquet - www.gearboxrb.com
At first glance, players will notice a few things that are unique to the GB250. The first is the raw graphite finish. The frame is dark gray in color, which is the bare graphite material used to construct the frame - to which the Gearbox decals are then applied. The second feature that jumps out is the design of the racquet frame. While most companies utilize a hollow tube with drilled holes for strings, the Gearbox GB250 has a hollow tube frame near the throat that transitions to a thin solid graphite piece at the top.
The grip of the racquet is similar to E-Force frames - “round” in shape (not “flat” like Ektelon or Pro Kennex), and slightly “longer” than average. The slight increase in length is only slightly noticeable from a visual standpoint, but very apparent when holding the racquet. Coming from a Head / Ektelon background, this was definitely one thing that took a little getting used to on the court. I found that the most comfortable position was to choke up a little, with the butt of the grip extending slightly beyond the palm of my hand.
While inspecting the string pattern, things were refreshingly “simple”. No rings, tubes, cores, ports, internal strings, etc. Just holes with grommets, utilizing a “standard” stringing pattern. There is absolutely ZERO vibration, which is something that is a person MUST if I’m going to be playing with a racquet long term. To achieve this, Gearbox uses a rubber sleave that covers the bottom-most cross string.
The playability of the racquet is excellent. The even balance felt extremely natural, and was well suited to deep court power shots as well as front court “stabs” / touch shots. The light 170g frame weight made for some quick swings, and high power shots were had with far less than 100% effort behind the swing. Compared to racquets I’ve played with in the past, the sweet spot on the GB250 seemed to be a little more centered on the racquet rather than shifted toward the top of the frame. The solid design of the top of the frame seems to lend itself nicely to the durability factor.
Overall, I’d give this racquet two thumbs up. There is no doubt Gearbox will make an impact on the racquetball racquet market based on the quality and playability of their products.
July 28th, 2007
by Geoff Thomsen
