Li hoping to make splash at racquetball nationals

Jialin Li is ready to take another step forward.

The 15-year-old Brandonite, who is one of 12 junior racquetball players set to represent Kurtis Cullen’s Brandon Blasters at the national championships at the Burlington Hall Sporting Club in Burlington, Ont., beginning on Sunday, is itching to right last year’s wrongs.

“I’m pretty excited,” said Li, who will be joined by younger brother Halin, Leyton Gouldie, Oren Gouldie, Kaitlyn Couckuyt, Tony Cao, Gavin Bi, Buster Macpherson, Madison Sopel, Emma Sopel, Gabriel Chiupka and Samuel Chiupka at the tournament. “I got a pretty strong doubles team and it’s looking pretty well training wise, so I’m feeling ready.”

Li is making his third consecutive national appearance and will be competing in four divisions in Burlington, the under-16 singles and doubles, men’s A singles and men’s B doubles categories. He impressively captured gold in men’s C singles last year while playing against a crop of players much older than him, including the top seed, who he ousted on two different occasions thanks to his quick ability to adapt to different play styles.

While he was happy to reach the top of the podium in singles, his biggest takeaway was what he didn’t couldn’t do in doubles alongside partner Oren, younger brother of Leyton.

“We got second and it was a little heartbreaking because he (Oren) got a little injured, so we were seeded first, but we ended up getting second,” Li said with displeasure. “It sucked but now I’m just hoping to get it (gold) this time.”

But this go around he’ll have a different doubles partner, as he’ll be joining in a tandem with Buster Macpherson, a fellow Brandonite who made his national debut last year.

“We’ve been in the same group and stuff, so we know each other’s game fairly well,” said Li. “For the past two or three months we’ve had national training so we can really dial in together for doubles.”

Li begins doubles play on Monday in a meeting with Wheat City teammates Bi and Cao and is hoping to establish his biggest strengths early on, which he said are his serve and heavy shot, which clocks in around 120 km/h. He said he’s also looking to take advantage of some recent mindset routines he recently learned from Leyton.

“He’s really good at just calming himself down before matches and even during matches, if he’s losing I could just see him breathing and talking to himself with positive talk,” he said. “I really picked that up and added that to some of my matches and I’ve seen lots of success with that.

“Coming into this year, I was really looking back at my game and I was thinking maybe too cocky or overthinking sometimes, so this year, I’ve been really focusing on my mind and game and what I practice. Also working on being more patient because just like when I started national training, I just love to rush things and I love to just attack. I personally just love shooting the ball as hard as I can, but sometimes you just have to hit it soft and play it simple and be patient.”

What’s ironic is the play style he’s slowly straying away from is exactly what got him into the sport when he was 11.

Li’s mom signed he and his brother up for beginner sessions at the Sportsplex while they were in their swimming lessons and after one lesson, the two were hooked. Li said he simply likes to play a fast game.

“We really just fell in love with it because of the fast pace and the quick thinking,” said Li, who’s also a competitive swimmer. “You always got to make the right choices and it feels really satisfying when you make the right decision and just it clicks way better if you just think about it.”

He hasn’t been in the game for too long and has already competed on some of Canada’s biggest stages, yet the one aspect that still hasn’t gotten lost through it all are is his roots in Brandon. Li said he’s beyond grateful being able to represent his city, especially with his brother.

“Oh man, it feels amazing,” he said. “Brandon is just such a small town and it feels amazing being on a really strong racquetball team and it feels really proud and fulfilling for my family and team.

“Just the enjoyment in playing every day, it just feels really achieving that both of us can work really hard during practice and then go to nationals and strive and hit the podiums.”

Li and his brother along with the other 10 juniors from Brandon make up almost a quarter of the total junior representatives at the tournament. The program once had just one participant in 2021 — and two in 2022, three in 2023, and 10 last year — but that just speaks to the hard work of Cullen in not only moving the sport forward in the city, but also bringing success.

The Brandon Blasters club has won 11 junior medals and four adult division medals, including seven gold at last year’s championships. They continue to bring in newcomers and pump out talent, just like the Chiupka brothers, who will make their first appearance at nationals this weekend.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said older brother Gabriel. “Playing with my brother (Samuel) at a giant tournament where I’m going to play other people from across Canada, it’s pretty cool.”

The 11-year-old will compete in 14U singles, junior singles B and double B with his nine-year-old brother, who is also participating in the 12U singles and junior singles C groupings.

Gabriel started playing when he was seven and immediately showed off his raw talent, beating players nearly twice his age to medal at the Keystone Classic. While national competition is another level, he believes his past experiences along with his difficult training should prepare him for the moment, specifically in doubles.

“I think that helped me for not being scared of playing bigger kids,” he said. “We’re kind of able to understand each other because we play so much together, practise together after school, and sometimes we would wake up at 6 a.m., and go to the Sportsplex to practise, so it kind of all works together.

“Representing Team Brandon and Manitoba makes me just feel a bit more pressure on myself because I don’t want to embarrass my team or embarrass Manitoba a bit but I also just want to play my best and try to win a couple games.”

The tournament semifinals are on Friday and the finals are on Saturday.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com