Rocky Carson, IWGA Athlete of the Month for July 2016
Congratulations to Rocky Carson, IWGA Athlete of the Month for July 2016. The 37-year-old racquetball player just won his fifth consecutive World Championship, which is an astonishing record. This means that he will have held the title of World Champion for 10 consecutive years!
Rocky Carson lives with his family in Ladera Ranch, California, USA. He started playing racquetball as a toddler: “My parents owned health/racquetball clubs when I was a kid. I was on the racquetball court at 18 months with a ball and racquet: my parents used the court as childcare. They knew I loved it because I cried every time I had to get off the court. When I was six years old, we moved to Santa Maria, CA. Santa Maria is a small town and there was no junior program, so I had to play with the adults. I believe having to play adults gave me an advantage when I did start playing juniors. My first juniors tournament was in Dallas, and I was 10 years old. From then on, we were hooked! All of our family vacations revolved around Junior Nationals. At age 19 in 1998, I qualified as an alternate on Team USA. That year, three days before the World Championships started in Bolivia, I got a call from USA Racquetball saying that I needed to grab my passport and get to Bolivia as one of our players had got hurt. That was my first experience of being part of Team USA, and I’ve been a part of it ever since.”
“I have always considered it to not only be an honor but also a blessing to play for the US Team. It is nice to be a part of a team in which we are all trying to win the gold, individually and collectively”, Rocky Carson says.
Rocky Carson has won more World Championship gold medals in Men's Singles than anyone else: in 2016, 2014, 2012, 2010 and 2008. Previously at World Championships, Carson was the silver medallist in 2000, and bronze medallist in 2004 and 1998.
Racquetball will be one of the sports at The World Games 2021 to be held in Rocky Carson’s home country, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Find out more about Racquetball on The World Games Channel.