Brady still rules handball

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — Paul Brady said he would like to be teaching elementary school kids in a few years.

Right now, the classroom for Brady’s lectures remains the handball court. The ones with four walls, to be exact.

The Irishman won his fifth consecutive national title Friday at the United States Handball Assn. 4-Wall National Championships, held at Los Caballeros Sports Village. Brady pummeled former eight-time national champion David Chapman of St. Louis, 21-6, 21-3.

Brady, also the two-time defending world champion, had little trouble getting it done against Chapman in the game similar to racquetball. A player’s shot must hit the wall, then may bounce just one time before the other player is required to make his or her shot.

It’s also similar to volleyball because there are sideouts, but Brady didn’t give up too many of those.

“I knew that if I played well, I feel like I’m the best,” said Brady, 29. “I played my own game and thankfully it worked out.”

He finished a dominant run to the championship; in five matches, the closest game-score was 21-8. Brady never came close to having to play a third-game tiebreaker, which is first one to 11 points.

“I was more hungry this time,” said Brady, who took home a $5,000 first prize. “I think that was the difference in the results. The last time I was here [at the U.S. Open of Handball last October], I lost 11-10 in a tiebreaker. I didn’t want anything close, didn’t want any tiebreakers. That was my motivation.

“I wanted to rip through everyone, to be honest.”

Brady is one of just several high-profile handball players from Ireland. He said the sport is more popular there than in the United States. It’s one of their national sports, along with Gaelic football — which Brady also plays — and hurling.

Chapman, 33, used to be in Brady’s spot. In 1995, he was featured in Sports Illustrated as a phenom, the world’s top player at the age of 19.

Now, he’s coming back from retirement and trying to get back into form. The day before the final, Chapman was tested in a tough three-game match, and he said that left him vulnerable against Brady.

Chapman, who earned $2,800 as the runner up, was within 5-3 in the second game before losing 16 straight points. Not even the ball busting during the run could stop Brady’s momentum.

“At this level, if anything’s off a little bit, the other guy just really takes advantage of it,” said Chapman, who did win the men’s open doubles title with partner Emmett Peixoto. “He could tell early that my legs were real weak.

“I came back [from retirement last October] slow, but I felt like I was getting better every week. I just didn’t have the legs for this one.”

The top players now prepare for the U.S. Open, which will be held in Portland in October. Mike Baggetta of Huntington Beach is a local who plans to be there. Baggetta, 75, fell in the semifinals of the men’s doubles 75-plus division Saturday. He and partner Lew Buckingham of Pennsylvania outlasted Ralph Weil and Don Elwood in a quarterfinal match, 21-10, 19-21, 11-5.

“The tiebreaker is only 11 points,” said Baggetta, who calls Los Cab his home courts. “We decided we would play the weak guy, and work him over. It’s all about winning and going to the next level.

“... I love the game. A lot of it has to do with the camaraderie, the friendship, the people we meet.”

Juan Flores of Huntington Beach made it quarterfinals in both the men’s singles seniors (35+) and doubles, as did the team of Fountain Valley’s Paul Sicking and Huntington’s Tom Byer in the men’s doubles “B” draw. Curtis Irwin of Fountain Valley advanced to the semis in men’s doubles 40+ before falling.