1996 World Championships- Arizona

In 1996, with the help of former US coach Gary Mazaroff, the team made history by entering the highly competitive World Championships. With hopes of becoming a top twenty team, a last minute cancellation from the #2 seeded player all but destroyed the original goal. True to their Jamaican heritage, the team surprised even themselves when, despite being one player short, they emerged by barely making the #20 slot in the final standings!

Team coach Jeff Hanno then went on to win the Coach's Division with a surprise win over the top ranked coach from Puerto Rico. Former U.S. coach Gary Mazaroff was also instrumental in facilitating the team's appearance. The team was fortunate to have access to talent such as Hanno and Mazaroff, who himself has been to a number of major international contests.

1998 World Championships- Bolivia

Racquetball is so popular in Bolivia that companies closed early so that employees could attend the opening ceremonies, held in the main square. The Jamaican team received an incredible amount of cheers and applause. In fact, we were ranked right up there as the top five best received teams. Such a warm response surprised even us. Evidently, Jamaica is a popular island among many south of the equator.

Media attention to these games was outstanding! As one of the top three most popular sports in the country, the World Championships were treated as a national showcase opportunity. Articles appeared in the newspapers everyday and TV and radio personalities were on hand throughout the entire games. The local fascination with Jamaica's appearance in these games led to numerous newspaper interviews. Barnes was featured in a TV appearance also.

HOW IT ALL WENT DOWN: MEN'S

Jamaica vs #3 seeded Mexico - lost (no surprise there)

vs Australia (these are the guys that play the US professional circuit- just for the experience) - lost

vs Netherlands (1 more lost & we're out) - won game 1, lost game 2, won decisively in a tie breaker (whew!)

That would put us in the quarterfinals for the third division medal rounds. Basically a win over the next opponent guarantees at least a fourth place medal. Any more losses and we're done.
Quarterfinals vs Nigeria, Edwards with an injury causing severe pain while swinging a backhand. Our Nigerian friend strategically controlled the game and earned a win to play Guam for the third place medal. Despite daily and aggressive therapy during the tournament, Edwards' injury was serious enough to keep him off the court for over six months.

World Championships 2000- Mexico

In 1995, you might have heard some chuckling whenever the topic of a Jamaican racquetball team would arise. He, he --- look who's laughing now - The Jamaica National Racquetball Team made its first appearance as a full team in San Luis Potosi, Mexico - and they came home with 4 medals and re-earned a top twenty overall international team ranking. Doesn't give the skeptic much to laugh at, does it? Yah mon! When it comes to winning - Jamaicans Dem A Serious! The 2000 games were the largest ever with over forty countries sending their best to compete.

On the men's team, Edwards and doubles partner Don Bryan, competed in both singles and doubles divisions. In the singles rounds, Bryan battled but lost to top ranked players from Chile and the Dominican Republic before posting a close loss to Guam's number one player, Rick Meno. Edwards would also have difficulty with a top ranked player from Chile before losing to Bolivia's top player. Edwards listed a win against Pakistan, Australia and Nigeria before meeting Meno from Guam in the finals. Meno proved again to be victorious over the Jamaicans as he took the gold medal and Edwards was awarded a silver.

On the women's team, Marie Birmingham defeated Vietnam, followed by a difficult match with one of the top five ranked women in the world from Canada. She posted a strong win against Belgium, only to be eliminated from the medal rounds in a very close contest against Karen Grunbridge from Ireland. In the lower division, Barnes defeated Vietnam and Guatemala before playing in the finals against Celia Gonzales of Cuba. Gonzales won the gold medal and Barnes the silver. The women's doubles team of Barnes and Birmingham defeated Honduras and the Dominican Republic before taking a loss to Australia in the semifinals. In a playoff for the third place medal, the India team won out with the scores 15-11 and 15-9.

The top three teams in the 2000 Games, based on overall rankings, were Canada, USA and Mexico respectively.

World Championships 2002- Puerto Rico

Members of the Jamaica National team shocked many when they competed at the 2002 World Racquetball Championship Games in Puerto Rico. The Jamaican squad exceeded all expectations by moving themselves into the best ranking of their history.

"They did extremely well this year," said Jeff Hanno, Head Coach of the team. "We had a long term goal to one day be a top fifteen team." Hanno added that once the men's team landed the major upset win over Korea, it became apparent that the team may get its highest ranking ever. Hanno is not only the coach of the team but he is also the winner of the Coaches Division at the 1996 games. John F. Edwards would secure an additional win over the Philippines while teammate Don Bryan would battle against Guatemala in the Gold medal round of their singles division. Bryan would eventually earn the silver medal in the finals of that division.

On the women's team, team member Jackie Gopie would meet internationally ranked Claudine Garcia (Dominican Republic) in the final round of their division. Gopie would walk away with the silver medal in singles after earning the gold in doubles with partner Lurine Barnes.

"We earned four out of eight possible medals," said Hanno. "That in itself is an incredible accomplishment at this elite level." Both the men's and women's team advanced in their individual rankings which are then combined for the coveted Combined Overall ranking in which the Jamaican team is now number 14.

Edwards added that helped the team to have a former professional athlete sitting in the coaches chair at each of the matches. "This better prepares us for the Olympics," Edwards concluded.

The Jamaicans at one point were ranked at 27 with a long term goal of making it into the top fifteen. "Now that we've broken into the top fifteen," said Edwards. "Our goal is to now go after a top ten spot." Edwards added that people are no longer taking the Jamaicans for granted and more and more countries are seeing this team as a real threat. "We are particularly excited," said Edwards, "since some of the other countries in the top fifteen are in our geographical zone." Other countries in the 2002 top fifteen ratings include Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Ecuador and Costa Rica. Edwards concluded, "becoming a top ten team in the world is a real possibility for us."

The World Championships are held every two years in a different country. The 2004 games are scheduled to be held in Korea.

...more on the 2002 games

The men's team would surprise the Koreans by matching them point for point in the first game. Edwards and doubles partner Don Bryan would draw encouragement from the fact that they scored 12 points against this higher ranked team even though they would lose the first game. Game two would see the Koreans continue the momentum but eventually Bryan would frustrate the opponents with his aggressive front court play and the Jamaicans would win the second game by a score of 15-7. This would mean an unexpected tie breaking game to 11 points which would decide the winner.

As word quickly spread, the crowd grew rapidly to see these two teams battle in the third game. The Jamaicans would keep the same strategy and move point by point until they were locked into a 9-9 tie. Korea would lose the serve on a forehand kill shot by Bryan from the back court. Edwards would then serve for the go ahead point. The Koreans had decided to go after Edwards who would then shoot a kill shot to the front right corner to move the Jamaicans within one point of the victory. The Koreans would force the game onto Edwards side again and force him to shoot a pinch rollout shot to win the match.

Also making it into the medal rounds in the singles division was Bryan who would defeat Ecuador and Australia to earn his silver medal.