Wearing your country’s colours, playing for your teammates on foreign soil … no big deal, right! Wrong!

Watching John McEnroe throw his heart and total self into Davis Cup was as red, white and blue as baseball used to be. USA ... USA! He always wore his heart, and every other part of him, on his sleeve, but even more so when his country’s reputation was at stake. Why?

Wayne Gretzky was left with a crushed Olympic Dream in 1998 when Dominic Hasek did his impression of the front wall of a racquetball court. Gretzky has done, and won, everything imaginable in the game and yet he was so debilitated by the 1998 loss that he launched himself back into the forefront for Canada’s Olympic gold medal hunt for 2002. Why?

In 1999 Justin Leonard and his Ryder Cup teammates went ballistic when Justin pounded home a 40-foot bomb to steal victory from a European Team that appeared to have the Ryder Cup sewn up. We saw tears spring from multi-million dollar athletes, both in victory and defeat, and more emotion than at any other times in their athletic lives … in public. Why?

Racquetball’s bi-annual World Championship is our Olympics, our Ryder Cup, our Davis Cup and our Stanley Cup!

The IRF World Championships are more than two decades old and the World Cup is the storied trophy in our sport. Each national team fields top players and the championships move from country to country. The World Title is the ultimate professional goal and Basketball’s Olympic Dream Team and the NHL players participation in the Olympics have erased the line between amateur and professional.

What are the events like? The huge Opening Ceremonies in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1998 were held in the City Square, followed by racquetball staying in the media forefront throughout the event. Spectators, autograph-seekers and local media mobbed players all week long. It was the first time Bolivia had hosted a World Championship in any sport, so singing, chanting and yelling were only some of the things enthusiastic fans did during matches. They were freaked-out, geeked and over-the-top thrilled to be involved in the event.

Just last summer there was Ruben Gonzalez in San Juan, at age 50, playing tough as always. But somehow this was different. Ruben, showing emotion that he hasn’t shown since finishing No.1 on the Pro Tour in 1988, was intense, physical and verbal. Ruben Gonzalez, verbal? Yes, he was pumped. He wanted to win for his teammates, his good buddy, a re-vitalized Mike Guidry and of course for the red, white and blue.

A player from Brazil, relatively new to racquetball had to wipe tears from his eyes at the opening ceremonies in 1988 in Hamburg, Germany. Tears again ran down his face at the beginning of his matches against the US, Canada and Mexico, the powerhouses of racquetball. When asked why he simply said, ‘It is an honor to represent my country, I am thrilled to be part of this event and it is something I will brag about to my grandchildren.’

Why is there extra emotion, why is there added pressure and intensity?

The weight of the World descends on each athlete at the opening ceremonies when opposing flags are quivering. Feelings that last throughout the competition remain with you for many years. 

Pride in a game the athletes have chosen as theirs. Pride in themselves. Pride in a common team goal that is smothered by individual glory.

A quick note to athletes, of both genders, who have not pulled on your country’s colours: you have missed something very special!