Daily Blog from the 2026 Pan American Racquetball Championships

USA Racquetball

Greetings from Guatemala City, where (most of) the U.S. Team Delegation had arrived as of Thursday afternoon. The team leader (aka me) will arrive on Sunday with our physical therapist arriving in the wee hours of Monday morning.  

U.S. Team athletes will compete over the next week in Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles vs. 14 other countries. They are spending these couple of days getting ready for action as competition begins on Saturday morning.

Introducing the U.S. Team Delegation

Let’s meet the delegation for this event, with competition taking place every day, Saturday, March 28, through Saturday, April 4:

Jake Bredenbeck (Minnesota): Men’s Singles and Men’s Doubles w/Sam

Thomas Carter (Illinois): Men’s Singles

Sam Bredenbeck (Minnesota): Men’s Doubles w/Jake

Erik Garcia (Colorado): Mixed Doubles w/Michelle

Lexi York (Minnesota): Women’s Singles and Women’s Doubles w/Michelle

Annie Sanchez: Women’s Singles

Michelle Andersen (Arizona): Women’s Doubles w/Lexi and Mixed Doubles w/Erik

Supporting our U.S. Team Athletes:

Pablo Fajre (California): Head Coach

Cheryl Kirk (Illinois): Team Leader

Dr. BettyLou DeYoung (California): Physical Therapist

First Things First

1: Arrive. 

2: Get supplies.

3. Practice!

Thursday 

While six of our seven athletes arrived true to their itineraries on Wednesday, Coach Pablo arrived in the early hours of Thursday morning after being compelled to endure a red-eye after missing a connection, not due to TSA issues but because of a delayed flight with mechanical difficulties out of San Francisco. However, Pablo is beyond tough, and after a couple hours’ sleep, he and the athletes made the traditional grocery store run. 

That consists of (a lot of) water, fruit, bread, peanut butter, jelly, maybe a cookie or two, possibly chocolate, perhaps more...you’d have to ask them, I wasn’t there.

A little later, the athletes and Pablo went to practice at the Domo Complejo de Racquetball, Guatemala’s beautiful 10-court facility. The club’s inaugural event was the IRF Adult & Junior World Championships in December 2021 and was then followed a year later by the IRF World Junior Championships. The Pan American Racquetball Championships were held here in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and we’re happy to be back again this year.

So much better (and more succinct, bless her) than the blog account above is this quote from roving athlete reporter Michelle Andersen: “No one had problems with TSA. Travel was easy except for Pablo’s. Shopping was fun and easy. Most of us have been here before, so we knew where to go and what we need. Practice went well! It was great for everyone to have court time. Today was full of lots of laughs and overall joy. We have an awesome team!”  

Well said, Roving Reporter. You’re hired.

Friday’s schedule will be brisk! While our Team USA athletes practice at the club again in the morning and perhaps again in the afternoon before competition begins on Saturday, meetings of an administrative nature will occur as well, including the Coaches and Delegates Meeting taking place at 12 noon local time, which is the same as U.S. Mountain time. This is when draws will be made available for coach review and later for publication. Tomorrow night’s blog installment will provide information on how to view the draws (aka brackets) and also how to access live streaming from the event. 

Friends & Family of USA Racquetball

Friends & Family of USA Racquetball

See you then.

GO TEAM USA!!