Rocky Carson uses endurance to win Florida IRT Pro-Am

SARASOTA -- By the final points of the Florida IRT Pro-Am championship match the 22-year-old was worn down. The two-game lead Daniel de la Rosa raced out to during the first hour of the match was long forgotten by the second hour inside the Sarasota Family YMCA-Frank G. Berlin, Jr. Branch. The 36-year-old had beaten that out of him. Rocky Carson altered the complexion of the match with his durability.

Carson, the No. 2 player on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT), gained strength as the final match went on, at least relative to de la Rosa. The final two games, which Carson forced after sliding into an early hole, weren't particularly close and the American won the Florida Pro-Am, 3-2 (5-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-1).

"I think I got a little better as the match went on," Carson said, "and I think maybe the conditioning was a big factor in that."

Carson prides himself on his fitness, particularly at his age. He isn't a total outlier -- top-ranked Kane Waselenchuk is 34 -- but he's still almost always older than his opponent. To stay among the best in the world, he's had to alter his training regimen. Now, a foundation is surfing off the coasts of California, his home state.

A Ladera Ranch native, Carson has played racquetball for as far back as he's able to form memories. Surfing wasn't an activity that came far behind. In Southern California it's just a part of life. He won't even consider going out unless the waves are three or four feet, so he didn't even consider trying to squeeze in any surfing this weekend in the calm Gulf of Mexico.

"If the big stuff comes in," Carson said, "I'm in heaven."

Those rocky days in the Pacific Ocean are his passion away from the sport. When he came to pursue racquetball professionally he needed a hobby to replace what was once just a game. In surfing, he found one that happened to complement his occupation.

De la Rosa charged out to a two-game lead Saturday with precise shots into the corners of the court. Carson tried to play his long rallies as de la Rosa abbreviated them to grab two big wins.

There is only one blueprint to beat Carson and de la Rosa executed it flawlessly.

"It puts pressure on my opponents to be great in the beginning because if I get ahead of them they know, 'Alright, I've got to win still three more,'" Carson said. "It puts that pressure all the way through the match and that's my goal, to keep that pressure on my opponents the whole time."

The third game was the toss-up, and the only one decided by fewer than four points. Carson and de la Rosa traded points before the veteran pulled away. De la Rosa was in trouble.

Carson never felt he was playing particularly poorly, just that de la Rosa was playing him perfectly to start. Carson jumped out to 8-0 leads in both of the final two games and by then his confidence came to fruition. Those days on the ocean came to his rescue.

It's not that surfing necessarily makes Carson more fit than any opponent, it's that it lets him maintain some of his youthful durability. At his age he can't spend every day on the court, so he finds ways to compensate. It just happens that with the same activity he can stay both mentally and physically fresh.

"Our bodies feel it," Carson said about himself and others his age. "It's a different warm-up process.

"It's my getaway."

David Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be contacted at 941-745-7057 or on Twitter@DBWilson2.

This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 11:52 PM with the headline "Rocky Carson uses endurance to win Florida IRT Pro-Am ."