Rocky Carson

Rocky Carson is an American professional racquetball player (born May 21, 1979). Carson is the current racquetball World Champion, a title he also won in 2008. Carson was the #1 player on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) at the end of the 2007-08 season.,^[1] and finished ranked 3rd at the end of the 2009-10 season. A California native, Carson developed his game outdoors, and is known for an unorthodox game style that makes his opponents do the work. In 2008, he became the first man to hold the World Outdoor Championship, International Racquetball Federation (IRF; indoor) World Championship, and US Open titles simultaneously.

Professional career

Carson has won 12 IRT tournaments in his career, with the highlight being his 2007 US Open Racquetball Championships title. He began to play the pro tour seriously in 1998-99, and won his first tournament in the 2002-03 season. Prior to the 2007-08 season Carson had only won 3 tournaments, but that was his breakout season, as he won 7 tournaments including the US Open and finished the season as the #1 IRT player.^[1]

Domestic and international career

Carson won gold at the 2010 and 2008 World Championships, silver in 2000, and bronze in 2004 and 1998. Carson is the current Pan American Games gold medalist, which was his second Pan Am Games medal, as he won bronze in 2003. Carson was part of Team USA that were finalists in the 2011 Pan Am Games team competition. He also won gold at the 2001 Pan American Championships and bronze in the 2002 Pan Am Championships. Carson took silver at the 2009 World Games.

In his only doubles appearance he and Jack Huczek took silver at the 2006 World Championships, losing the final to the Mexican team of Javier Moreno and Alvaro Beltran.^[2]

In all, Carson has been a member of Team USA on 11 occasions: nine times as a singles player and once as a doubles player. He played in six IRF World Championships: 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010, two Pan American Championships in 2001 and 2002, and two Pan American Games in 2003 and 2011.

Carson has won the US Nationals five times, first in 2000, then again in 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010.^[3] He also won the US National doubles title three consecutive years from 2004-2006 with partner Jack Huczek.^[4]

Personal

Carson is married with two children and lives in Orange County, California.

See also

• List of racquetball players

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Todd Boss. "IRT Historical Data Archive". Todd Boss. http://www.bossconsulting.com/irt/. Retrieved 2 December 2011. 
2. ^ "IRF Recordbook". International Racquetball Federation. http://www.internationalracquetball.com/worlds/03worlds.htm. Retrieved 2 December 2011. 
3. ^ "USA Racquetball Singles Records". USA Racquetball. http://usaracquetball.com/RecordBooks/SinglesChampions.aspx. Retrieved 2 December 2011. 
4. ^ "USA Racquetball Doubles Records". USA Racquetball. http://usaracquetball.com/RecordBooks/DoublesChampions.aspx. Retrieved 2 December 2011. 

External links

• Rocky Carson website
• International Racquetball Tour (IRT)