SANTIAGO, Chile — Richard Alcaraz is pretty active.
Aside from badminton — the sport which Alcaraz is competing in at the 2023 Parapan American Games — Alcaraz does competitive skiing, sled hockey, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair lacrosse. He also started playing wheelchair tennis recently and competes in triathlons.
He sees commonalities among all of them, especially in the standing sports, when it comes to cardio and hand-eye coordination. And his hand-eye coordination was on display in some of his strong shots during his men’s singles SL4 Group C match against Brazil’s Breno Johann. Alcaraz lost 2-0 (21-10, 21-12), his second defeat in as many days at the Parapan American Games.
“This was my harder match and I hung in there for a while and then made a lot of mental errors,” Alcaraz said. “He’s a good player so take nothing from him. But overall, I think I did okay.”
Alcaraz’s first match at the games was against the Dominican Republic’s Victor Ramirez de la Cruz, where he dropped it 2-1 (23-21, 14-21, 13-21) on Wednesday. Alcaraz said he should’ve won that match, but didn’t make the necessary adjustments. He said he wants to focus on playing more calmly and controlling the pace, rather than playing at the speed of his opponent.
You could sense the frustration at times, notably when Alcaraz slapped his racquet against his hand after Johann developed a 20-10 lead in the first set, securing the set on the next point.
Johann frequently hit the shuttlecock low with pace to the point where Alcaraz couldn’t extend his racquet enough to return it. Alcaraz is coming off an injury in his socket that hindered some mobility, but he said he’s proud to be here competing for the red, white and blue at the Parapan American Games.
“I’m a (veteran),” Alcaraz said. “So I’ve represented the U.S in wartime, so doing it in peacetime is awesome. Being with the people (and) going to the opening ceremony was really cool. It was an eye opener.”
A member of the United States Marine Corps from 1990-96, he served in combat three different times and was deployed to Kuwait in training. He had also been deployed in Saudi Arabia and Somalia. His injury did not come as a result of being in the Marines, but rather a motorcycle accident that resulted in a lost leg. But Alcaraz is grateful for the support from the United States Department of Veteran Affairs.
He discovered badminton through the Lakeshore Foundation, located in Birmingham, Alabama, where he attended one of the foundation’s sporting events. The event was designed for disabled military events and one of the sports they were offering them to try was badminton.
“It just took off from there,” Alcaraz said.
Alcaraz’s time at the Parapan American Games came to end on Thursday as a result of the two defeats in group play, but here are some other Team USA results in badminton on Thursday:
Miles Krajewski beat Argentina’s Jonatan Mattos 2-0 in a men’s singles SH6 Group C match.
In Mixed Doubles SH6 Group A, Team USA duo of Jayci Simon and Krajewski beat Argentina’s Karina Loyola and Mattos 2-0.
Simon beat Loyola in the women’s singles SH6 Group B match.
For more photos from this event, click here
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