Alberta's athlete development strategy gets results

All the Gold in Alberta - At just 18 years old, Coby Iwaasa has done what no other junior boy or Men's Open player has done before - win both the National Junior Singles and Doubles title, and within 4 weeks win the National Men's Open Singles and Doubles title.  One national gold medal was going to be tough but 4 gold medals would be unbelievable. 

Alberta Racquetball has had Coby in the radar since he was 10 years old when he won his first junior national title in 2007. Building on the strategy that better coaching would yield better players and thus better results, Alberta Racquetball restructured its program under the direction of Barbara May and has made numerous changes to improving the program.  Since then, Iwaasa has been a beneficiary of those changes and has progressively advanced his ranking to number 2 in Canada.

At the Nationals in Burnaby, BC, Iwaasa would team up with Mike Green to take the top challengers.  The veterans Iwaasa and Green played doubles together in 2013 and won the National Doubles title. Due to Green not playing in the Nationals in 2014, Iwaasa and Green were seeded 4th which would place them in the semi finals against the #1 seed Gagnon and Murray.  The match was tough as Iwaasa/Green took the first game but lost the second game thus forcing a tie breaker.  Iwaasa/Green would eventually prevail in the tiebreaker and move on into the finals against the surprize team of #6 ranked Bousquet/T. Murray.  The finals proved to be too much for the Bousquet/T. Murray team as Iwaasa/Green overpowered the newcomers winning 15-3, 15-11 for the gold medal.

Coby's Singles draw was also be more difficult as there was a recent change in ranking where Samuel Murray moved from #5 spot to #2 because of a win over Vincent Gagnon.  In the semi finals, Coby would go into the draw ranked #4 and would face #1 ranked Mike Green, his mentor and 9x Canadian National Singles Champion. This singles match vs Mike Green was everything people anticipated.  The experience and confidence of Green was evident through his shot selection and positioning in the court. Despite being down in both games, Iwaasa used his energy, powerful serves and agility to win the match: 15-11, 15-12.

The finals was now set for Coby vs Samuel; east vs west showdown. Getting to the finals, Coby defeated Mike Green (2013 Champion) and Samuel defeated Vincent Gagnon (2014 Champion).  The match began with Coby executing precision shots and drive serves with a huge lead of 13-2 and closing out the game 15-10.  The second game saw another early lead by Iwaasa but the tenacious Murray rallyed back and won it 15-12. The tiebreaker was full of dramatic rallys and shots that left the spectators gasping.  Iwaasa nailed his victory with a pinch shot to the right corner of the court clinching his 1st National Championship title.

Through the County of Strathcona Public Engagement Process the racquetball and handball community were very involved in attending meetings and influencing their decision. It goes to show that if we get involved early in the process we do have some input, similar to how we influence LA Fitness to build racquetball courts at their new facility in west Edmonton.