Dave Ellis's original article was one thousand times better than that edited out heartless piece of crap.... Heres the unedited version, and in case you couldn't tell from that horrible last edited paragraph in the magazine that made you think "who the heck won", Willie and Woody did!
Pan American Championships – Guatemala City, Guatemala – April 7 – 15, 2006
This year’s Pan American Championships posed a special problem for
Team USA. Two situations confronted the formation of a team. The dates
produced a direct conflict with an important IRT pro stop. Secondly,
players were asked to foot the bill for their expenses. The women’s
team fell into place easily as Kristen Walsh, Tammy Brown, and Aimee
Ruiz immediately declared themselves ready to participate. As Laura
Fenton was recovering from back surgery, Jackie Rice completed the
doubles team. The men were another story. Obviously, front liners Jack
Huczek, Rocky Carson, Jason Thoerner and Andy Hawthorne could not
afford to miss the pro stop as they battled for end-of-the-season
ranking points. Both Mitch Williams and Ben Croft were tied up with
college classes. Dave Negrete, IRT Commissioner, was contacted and
agreed to help out by looking at the IRT rankings. Going down the list,
finally three players were found who were ranked somewhere in the
twenties. Assistant Coach John Ellis, Willie Tilton, and Woody Clouse
were asked to play. Woody agreed to play two events, singles, and
doubles with Willie.
When our team arrived at the first practice with internationally
unknowns Aimee, Woody, and Willie, many participants from other
countries asked me, “Who are these guys?” Where are Cheryl, Jack,
Rhonda, and Rocky? I could only explain to them that we were engaged in
a recycling program for racquetball players. Everyone just laughed,
thinking that Team USA was certainly doomed. After watching our players
in practice for a couple of days, confident smiles began to change a
bit. A protest of eligibility was even filed that questioned Woody’s
position on the team. Eyes lit up when future opponents saw Aimee and
Jackie working together, Woody’s excellent game and superb physical
condition, John actually playing well, in spite of all his wraps, and
defending champion Kristen, along with former champion Tammy. They also
saw Willie and their were a lot of question marks in their eyes.
Willie Tilton, best known for the “Meet and Play” website, arrived
earlier than anyone. He immediately ventured out on his own to Antigua,
a former capital of Guatemala and spent the day there while his
teammates were still traveling. Willie is a big guy who resembles more
of a computer geek than a racquetball player. His sense of humor is
even bigger than he is and he had everyone in stitches throughout the
trip. Jackie and Aimee were immediately nicknamed as “Rice and
Beans.” Trainer Tona Palmer Hetzler was called “Fixer,” while Tammy
earned the name of “Upper.” Willie also loved to flaunt his bad Spanish
and you could hear him in restaurants making orders like “a
buriiiiiitoeee pa flavor.” Who knows, perhaps the bad Spanish led
Willie to eat something that didn’t agree with him. Let’s just say,
that he did spend quite a bit of time catching up on his reading.
Everything about the tournament was first rate. The hotel was very
nice and located in a very nice area. The courts were clean and
new. There was a 30 minute shuttle between the hotel and club, but this
gave everyone a chance to relax and make new international friends.
Opening ceremonies were held in the central plaza in a beautiful
government building, and the pageantry and folkloric dances were
inspiring.
The Pan American Championships consist of two phases, the
preliminary seeding rounds and then the elimination round. We managed
to win all our matches in the seeding rounds. In the elimination draw
there were some key quarter final victories. John took out Javier
Moreno and Woody defeated Abram Pena of Mexico. Tammy Brown defeated
Jennifer Saunders of Canada. We were set as all of our players had made
the semis. In the semis, fortunes turned a bit as John lost to Kris
Odegard of Canada while Tammy was beaten by phenom Paula Langorio of
Mexico. Woody beat Ricardo Monroy of Bolivia who had upset Vincent
Gagnon of Canada. Defending singles champion, Kristen defeated top pro
Angela Grisar of Chile. Aimee and Jackie defeated the Canadian team
with ease. Willie and Woody had struggled throughout their draw and had
barely got by a tough Guatemala team in the quarters, 15 – 12, 15 –
13. They started off the semis by dropping the first game to Chile’s
Sebastian and Pablo and then took the second game, 15 – 11. Our guys
somehow managed to win the tiebreaker, 11 – 10. Ok, we were really set
now with representatives in each of the four finals. It was a good
feeling to have clinched the Overall Championship before the finals had
even begun.
In the Women’s singles final, Kristen lost to Paola who played out
of her mind with great drive serves throughout the match. You’re going
to be seeing more of this 16 year old next year. Commissioner Shannon
and WPRO players – Get set!!! In the men’s singles, Woody lost a
heartbreaker to Kris Odegard. The match was tough all the way with
Woody having a couple of match points in the second game. He didn’t get
any of them and went down in the tiebreaker 11 – 9. In the Women’s
Doubles final, Faviola and Angela of Chile, were no match for Aimee and
Jackie who played one of the strongest finals in the history of the
tournament. Throughout the tournament our Woman’s Doubles team were
overwhelmingly dominant. On to the Men’s final that pitted Woody and
Willie against David Ortega and Ruben Estrada. The two Mexican juniors
had taken out veterans Mike Green and Brian Istace in the semis and now
had their eyes on the gold. Despite their young ages, everyone
considered them to be the favorites.
During practice, before the tournament started, Willie came to me
and said, “Dave, I can’t play the right side in doubles. I’m just so
use to the left side. Can we see what happens if both of us play
backhands.” Then southpaw Woody chimed in with “Dave, I love to play
the right side.” With a reluctant “ok, let’s try it, but be mentally
ready to change to the forehand side,” the two players had worked their
way through the draw, granted with a few close scrapes.
During the first game against David and Ruben, Willie and Woody were
quickly down 11 – 4. A time out was called and discussion produced the
idea returning to playing forehands, at least for the rest of the first
game, just to see what would happen. Wow! The guys played fantastic and
even had a game point before losing 15 – 14. Lightning quick Ruben
Estrada was obviously bothered by Willie’s size. All of a sudden,
Ortega was facing Woody’s strong forehand on the left. Willie and Woody
stayed strong in the second and won by a score of 15 – 10. By now
virtually everyone in the tournament had moved into the stands to see
the last match. The crowd was predominantly for Ortega and Estrada and
there was much vocal support. There was a little of the “us against the
world” feeling among the members of Team USA. However, the USA Women’s
Team started making a lot of noise as well and they even produced some
organized cheers. Our guys felt their support. The tie breaker went
down to the wire with everyone screaming deliriously. Willie and Woody
finally scored after both teams had had several match points and then
proceeded to almost faint from exhaustion. It was an unforgettable
moment in the history of USA Racquetball. Needless to say, the entire
team was very proud to accept the three trophies, the Men’s Team, the
Women’s Team, and the Combined Team. In the final team meeting, Woody
said that they should always be remembered as “the little team that
could.” I don’t want to count them out for future events, but Woody and
Willie knew that they had made the best of what might be their only
shot to play for Team USA.
The Team wishes to thank several important sponsors:
Gary Rasmussen, who produces the “Underglove,” also a great product
that will help your game and greatly lengthen the life of your gloves. www.underglove.com
- Mike Neeser and the Reno Court Sports
Project. The facility that is proposed is certain to stage many
important racquetball events in the future. http://www.allcourtsports.com/
- Sal Perconti, New Mexico Racquetball, and Bill George who just wanted to help our National Team.
- Also thanks go the Guatemala Organizing Committee who did a superb job throughout with the tournament.
In August, Team USA will compete in the World Championships, to be
held in Santo Domingo. Our National Team represents our Olympic Dream
and the Team needs support for the most basic things: flights, room,
and board. Our Coaches work for nothing and our medical trainer donates
her time. Our players are dedicated to our sport and are presently
being asked to contribute significantly to cover their own
expenses. Our two closest rivals, Mexico and Canada, are well financed
and very formidable. We need help. Please consider a contribution of
any amount by sending a check to USA Racquetball, specifying that it is
to support Team USA at the World Championships (1685 West Uintah, Colorado Springs, CO 80904-2906).
Thank You.
Dave Ellis, Coach