My Prediction for the 2013/14 IRT Racquetball Season

If I had to predict I would say the rankings at the end of the 2013/14 season would be:

1. Kane Waselenchuk (from Alberta, Canada)
2. Jose Rojas
3. Rocky Carson
4. Daniel De La Rosa

All very exciting players, but after that I am not impressed with anyone except Coby Iwaasa from Alberta, Canada. Beltran has lost a kick in his step at 35.

I sure hope Coby Iwaasa does some magic as he is the overachiever of overachievers. Age 17 is when a player's talent really sprouts.

When I watched the Junior Olympics for USA I didn't see anyone who stood out in 14 and under, 16 and under, and 18 and under. Adam Manilla in his playing style reminds me of Jose Diaz and find them both to be limited in their talent though they will be #5 and #6 one day, but they aren't as impressive as Jose, Rocky and Daniel.

So if the great raw talent is still quite young say 10-12 right now it is going to be a long time before a special talent rises unless Coby Iwaasa really is the real deal! We're talking 8 years before the next great raw talent comes on the scene who could potentially be like a Sudsy, Swain, Yellen, Hogan, Brumfield. By then Kane will be nearly 40 years old.

But I think Coby Iwaasa is that great talent, and he is 17 right now, matching Kane's progress to win the Canadian Nationals at 17, 18 and 19 before his first IRT pro stop win just before he turns 20, or when he is 20. The problem is Mike Green who will do everything in his power at the age of 40 to tie Sherman Greenfield for 10 National Titles. Mike has 9 so far. He wants 11 to be 1 ahead of Sherman.

Exciting times to say the least! History is in the making.

How old is Andree Parrilla? I think he is 15 or 16. Coby is 17. He beat Coby 11-9 tiebreaker in the 2013 US Open 2013 Men's Open Final. He is really skinny and kills it lots. His half speed passes are awesome, and he won serving the HBL backhanded along the left wall. Coby had troubles with that. Never seen that before except when Tim Landeryou beat Mike Green with a HFL right wall slider. Andree is now on my watch list.

The only thing I didn't like at the 2013 US Open is they sang the national anthem for USA but not for Canada in the finals. Kane Waselenchuk is Canadian.