Making this proved to be a bit more complicated than I had originally thought. As I try to allude in the video, I had to cut a ton of content. After filming and talking and finding time to edit, I quickly realized this would end up a super long video by attention standards on social. (As is, the vid still stretches things.) That line of thinking was also heavily peppered with thoughts of "Maybe I shouldn't say this, or that too, and definitely don't say that." So, the edits got super heavy, almost to the point of considering just re-filming. The process left a ton of stuff on the floor and also a feeling of relief in a sense.
For the last few months I've been pulling away from following racquetball, mostly for personal reflection. I've spent a huge amount of my time laser-focused on racquetball the last two years. ("Huge" is not an overstatement.) I was feeling I needed the time to let a bunch of stuff go as I was finding new focus. Objectivity is a commodity one gives to themselves and finding it sometimes requires tossing some things aside. So as I was rethinking some things, I also had to figure on not letting things just go to dust and reshaping a body of work that can be folded into something else.
Hence the US Open video. My last post suggested that it's these types of events that should be the goal for the tours. The ones with the droppable portable court and opportunities for flash. I believe things are ripe, specially now. The pass off of the US Open happens next year and one wonders how that will play out. (Hoping it doesn't follow what happened to USAR Nationals.) Maintaining sponsorships is the hardest part of sustainability and the US Open has been able to keep things going pretty darn well for the most part, as well as having a post-production video played on the Tennis Channel. But these types of events have always been a chicken or egg type deal. Capitalizing on a small door of opportunity now could build on what the tours have leaned on for a long time... at least as long as I have seen the sport. The tours have used images and videos of the US Open for as long as I remember to communicate what professional racquetball looks like. But a comparably few people actually get to see it like that. Experience it like that. (I'm seriously pointing South now.) I look at the time in Minneapolis and I add that to what I see happening on the tours, on what I see happening with Paola as well as a few other players and the possible storylines with Kane and I feel like pointing and saying "look". But like I say in the video, everybody has their own experiences. And that's what's beautiful about it. So I'm using mine.
Maybe. Maybe all those cuts of the takes on individual players at the Open will show up in another addendum video. The ones where the players look like kids transitioning into grown ups. Stories about the event space and the people who make it all happen. More snippets of match video. The growth of the winning streaks and the way it's played out for those players who have been edged out of holding the cup year after year. Who knows.
As far as making more these types of videos, 2020 should prove interesting where that is concerned.
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