A young Waterloo man recently competed in the national high school tournament of a sport he started playing just a couple of years ago.

Jack Atchley, the son of Bill and Lucy Atchley of Waterloo, is a senior at St. John Vianney High School in St. Louis.

Vianney competes in the Missouri High School Racquetball Association. 

Along with fellow Vianney student Blake Kronsbein, Atchley played in the 2020 USA Racquetball National High School Championships, which took place Feb. 26 through March 1 in Portland, Ore.

Although Atchley didn’t win any of his five matches at nationals, he said it was a good experience and one that made him further appreciate the sport.

“It was a little tough playing against others that have been playing four or five years,” Atchley said. “But yeah, it was fun.”

Atchley and Kronsbein competed in two doubles matches at nationals, and Atchley also played three singles matches, all in the second division.

In singles, Kronsbein advanced to the semifinals in the first division. 

Atchley’s regular racquetball doubles partner at Vianney this season was Logan Gruenke, so he said it was an adjustment to play with a different partner at nationals.

Atchley began playing racquetball during his junior year at Vianney. He had only played baseball as a freshman, but some friends got him to try a new sport.

“I wasn’t playing any sports at the time, and a couple of buddies gave me a racket and taught me some techniques,” he said.

Atchley quickly took an interest to racquetball, which he described as similar to tennis with rules like volleyball.

Once introduced to the sport, Atchley practiced and honed his game at Vetta Sports Concord in South St. Louis County. 

Atchley said he plans to  introduce racquetball at Brescia University in Owensboro, Ky., where he plans to attend college.

Brescia doesn’t currently offer racquetball as a sport, but Atchley is hopeful that can change in the near future.

“I’m going to try and get people interested in it there, and who knows?” Atchley said.