KHS racquetball will fly more than 2,000 miles across the country to the Beaver State to compete in the 2014 U.S. Racquetball National High School Championships Feb. 27. The sport’s two largest high school leagues are located in St. Louis and Portland, Oregon.

The championship features more than 40 different high schools across the country in singles and doubles tournaments. All entrants will qualify for the 2014 Junior Olympics in June, and winners of the Gold divisions will be called up to the U.S. Junior National Team.

As a regular attendee of the tournament for the past 18 years, the KHS racquetball team has faced some of the top high schools in the country multiple times, according to varsity racquetball coach Michael Von Gerichten. Other high schools from Missouri that have been invited to the tournament include CBC, Parkway West and St. Joseph’s Academy. Despite the competition, Von Gerichten said he wants the players to enjoy themselves more than anything else.

“It’s pretty competitive,” Von Gerichten said. “Some of the other kids hit balls 100 miles an hour, so it’s hard to see it sometimes. I always tell the players I coach to have fun. I want them to just play hard. If you do that and you lose, then you need to lift your hat to your opponent and move on.”

The team will depart from Lambert Airport Feb. 26 and return to Kirkwood March 3. Before the start of the weekend, each player will have competed in several matches. Von Gerichten says the long commute, in addition to days of competition, takes a toll on the students competing in the tournament.

“It’s an intense five days for them,” Von Gerichten said. “The kids play in a lot of different events, and the more they win, the more they play. It is a lot of fun, but it also is rather tiring.”

Some of the students attending the tournament include Bobby Clodfelter and Connor Anderson-Procter, seniors. The event will take place at the Multnomah Athletic Club, a private, not-for-profit social and athletic facility in downtown Portland. The city hosts a variety of sporting competitions throughout the year, including many international championships.

“I love the atmosphere,” Anderson-Procter said. “I love going to Portland, and I think it’s a lot of fun playing in a different city. The complex itself is also really nice.”

Even though Kirkwood will face some of the top racquetball players in the country at the tournament, Clodfelter believes anything can happen if KHS takes little steps.

“You want to do well, and you to want go as far as you can,” Clodfelter said. “You want to hope for becoming the top in your seed, but since there’s so many kids, it’s a huge goal. It’s just about giving yourself small goals and working your way up.”