Iwaasa motivated for national stage in home province

By Lethbridge Herald on May 17, 2024.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Local racquetball player, Coby Iwaasa, will be joining 139 other athletes of all skill levels at Racquetball Canada National Championships  next week in Calgary.

“There’s always a lot of motivation,” said Iwaasa.

“I’m very competitive and I want to do better.”

Iwaasa’s motivation may come from losing to international playing partner, Sam Murray, at last year’s championships in the singles open event.

“He’s one of the toughest players  I could every play and I usually have him in my mind when I’m practicing because he is the goal when I am at a Canadian tournament,” said Iwaasa.

Iwaasa has his weapons when trying to find success at these events on the court.

“If they’re working well that day, I will give anybody one of the hardest games that they’ll have,” he said.

“If they’re not working, then I know that I have the physical capacity to grind and just really bring … the  grit and make every point as difficult as possible. So I really have some Plan A,B and C situations in my head.”

Iwaasa feels there will be a target on his back being a higher ranked player.

“ With a higher rank comes the pressure on my opponent because if I’m able to demoralize them a little bit and break their confidence, [and] put in the seed of doubt in their brain as we play that … maybe he’s unbeatable today, then it becomes a lot smoother,” said Iwaasa.

Iwaasa is looking forward to seeing all his past friends.

“A lot  of people who support me will be there and I know that  they’ll be watching my matches and cheering for me” said Iwaasa.

“I think it’ll be a little bit more of an exhilarating, loud atmosphere in my favour.”

Him and open doubles playing partner Kurtis Cullen will look to defeat Murray and his playing partner after they were defeated by them last year.

The National Championship is from May 20-25 at the University of Calgary Racquetball Centre.

Iwaasa could be considered for the national team for the world championship, depending on his results.

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