Team Gearbox: New Addition – Ben Croft

We’ve known for some time that Ben Croft had signed with Gearbox, but the company made the official announcement a few days ago with a press release.  Gearbox has been consistently upping their presence in the racquetball community since appearing on the scene just over a year ago, and the addition of another top ranked pro to their player roster continues to solidify their position.  Ben finished the 2007-2008 season with some big wins over top 5 players, and I’m sure Gearbox will see some big things from him in the coming seasons.

Press-release

Gearbox Racquetball Welcomes Ben Croft #7 ranked player on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT)
Bonita, CA
June 18, 2008

Gearbox racquetball is proud to announce the signing of Ben Croft from Lake Bluff, Illinois. At the bright young age of 23, Ben has stormed his way up the rankings where he is currently ranked #7 on the International Racquetball Tour.

Ben is not only the youngest player in the current top 10, he is also known as one of the most exciting and intense players to watch on the court. Ben captures the audience with his fierce approach to the game and super human speed, sometimes diving five times in one rally to chase down any ball.

Ben holds an unprecedented seven intercollegiate titles in Division I, thus forming the solid foundation of a champion. Ben Croft also received the prestigious Rookie of the Year Award in 2007 as well as the 2007 United States National Doubles Champion title. Having had successful victories over Jason Mannino, Shane Vanderson and Jason Thoerner, Ben’s determination to win was further proven in the 2007-2008 season.

Gearbox Racquetball is extremely pleased to add Ben Croft to their roster of professional athletes. Gearbox’s Athlete Manager, Joel Arredondo says, “Ben is a dominant force to be reckoned with and an extraordinarily talented athlete who brings excitement to the game. I could not be any happier to have him be a part of the Gearbox family”.

Gearbox Racquetball:

Gearbox racquetball takes it roots in being a company for the player designed by a racquetball player. Seeing racquetball not only as a great sport but also as a great lifestyle, Gearbox wants to create a proud and enduring identity for the sport. Gearbox is committed to designing products for the racquetball player lifestyle, products that promote racquetball on and off the court.

For more information please visit www.gearboxrb.com.

June 20th, 2008 by Geoff Thomsen

2008 IRT Post-Season Summary

I decided to go back and take a look at the finishes of the IRT players for the 2007-2008 season, and below you will find a summary table for all Tier 1 and Grand Slam Events – 13 in total (**except two quaterfinalists from Allentown, PA where the draws are completely MIA). The rankings you see are from about mid-season, so the actual year-end rankings are not accurate. There is a definite trend for the top 7 or so players, with the 8th spot up for grabs at each of the events. The top two athletes also dominated throughout the season, with Jack and Rocky only giving up a single tournament win to another player.

June 11th, 2008 by Geoff Thomsen

IRT – Pro Racquetball Trading Cards

Through some discussions with Mike Boatman, I learned that the IRT was distributing IRT Pro Player Trading Cards at the 2008 IRT Pro Nationals in Chicago! It looks like the top 10 players were included, but it’s not clear if they are intended to be for the 2007-2008 season or if they are more of a “one time thing”. These cards will apparently be sold through the IRT Store, however they weren’t listed on the site at the time of this post. I’m very curious to see the details (like cost and how many are available), so if anyone has an inside line, please comment below! I was able to get some proofs, and here they are:

May 30th, 2008 by Geoff Thomsen

Update

Lots of racquetball action coming up in the days and weeks ahead. First, the Choice Hotels US OPEN from November 2007 starts airing with Quarterfinal #1 tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb 6) at 9pm Eastern Time on the Tennis Channel. If you get the Tennis Channel, check it out!

Update: The Tennis Channel has revised their scheduling and the Choice Hotels US OPEN will not air tonight as previously reported. The first installment is now scheduled to air on Wed. Feb 20 at 9pm Eastern Time. Check out the following link to better track the schedule on the Tennis Channel.

http://tennischannel.com/schedule/index.aspx

Then the WPRO is in Tempe, AZ for the Ektelon Fireball Rollout this coming weekend Feb 7-10. You can follow the draws at the following link:

http://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=3701

The following weekend will be the USAR National Doubles Championships also in Tempe, AZ. You can follow all the action at the following link:

http://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=2459

Also, Racquetballonline.tv will be there showing all the best matches…check them out at:

http://www.racquetballonline.tv

As a reminder, Jacqueline Paraiso and Aimee Ruiz are the defending champions in the Women’s Qualifying Division and there is plenty of stiff competition as they try to repeat. Current WPRO #1 Rhonda Rajsich will team with Janel Tisinger once again, WPRO #2 Cheryl Gudinas Holmes will team with former Junior Team member, Shannon Inglesby, Kristin Walsh and Kim Russell-Walselenchuk will also be in the hunt.

The Men’s Qualifying Division has some interesting pairings as the defending champions, Ben Croft and Mitch Williams will split up and play with their usual partners, Woody Clouse and Jason Thoerner, respectively. It’ll be interesting to see how the seedings play out as 2006 champions, Rocky Carson and Jack Huczek return looking to regain the crown. Also in the fray will be John Ellis along with Junior Team Member Jose Rojas, fresh off his gold-silver performance at Junior Worlds in the 16s and 18s respectively.

Not playing in the Qualifying division, but still returning to competitive play will be one of the legends of the sport as Cliff Swain has entered the Men’s 40s and the Mixed Open.

Closing out a very busy February, the IRT will be at the Washington Athletic Club for the Seattle Open Feb 21-24, check out their website for further information at:

http://www.irt-tour.com

The USAR Junior Nationals will run June 25-29 at the Big C Athletic Club in Concord, CA. At the current time, I am uncertain of my attendance as I am trying to go to Beijing this coming August for the Summer Olympics.

Team Colorado will be raffling off a framed jersey autographed by one of the following Colorado sports players: Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, or Joe Sakic in order to help pay for the trip out to Junior Nationals. At the current time, I am not sure which jersey will be made for raffle as I won’t be getting those until early March during a dinner at the Pepsi Center. Once details are finalized I will let everyone know how they can obtain tickets.

That’s all for now.

February 5th, 2008 by Adam Katz