Mike Ceresia
Mike Ceresia (Racquetball)
Mike Ceresia is a former Canadian professional racquetball player from Sarnia, Ontario. He has won the most Gold Medals at the International Racquetball Federation World Championships by a Canadian (5). In addition, he won 10 Canadian National Titles - 2 singles and 8 doubles titles and was a member of the Canadian National Racquetball Team for 16 years.
Professional
Ceresia has a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. He acted as a Player Agent, managed Sales for Harrow Sports and has helped train and/or manage 5 World Championship Winning Players. He has had a successful sales career that started in 1993. He was a Professional Sales Person with an NHL Publication, Canadian Golf Magazine and Corus Radio Properties in Toronto and Hamilton. He has excelled in collaborative media sales with Corus Radio since 2004 and now works for Corus Radio Toronto.
International Competition
Ceresia won IRF Gold Medals in Hamburg, Germany; Phoenix, Arizona; San Luis Potosi, Mexico; and Puerto Rico. The victory in Mexico was the only time the Canadian Team won the Men’s Gold Medal and the Overall Team Combined Gold Medal. They defeated the United States in the Final. He combined with 3 different doubles partners to win the Gold Medal Clinching Match for Canada. The last shot he hit in International Competition clinched the Men’s Team Gold Medal World Championship for Canada in 2002 over Ruben Gonzales and Mike Guidry of the USA.
Ceresia competed in 8 - IRF World Championships and never finished lower than 4th place. His best results were posted in the IRF World Championship Team Competition and he is one of only 5 players to make the Finals in both IRF World Championship Singles and Doubles Competitions.
Ceresia also won a Silver Medal in World Championship Singles and 3 Silver Medals in World Championship Doubles. He is the only player to win an IRF World Championship Gold Medal in 3 different decades. He also won a Team Silver Medal at the Pan Am Games in Argentina. Worldwide Competition
He had career victories over World Number 1 Players Kane Waselenchuk, Ruben Gonzalez, Jason Mannino, Sudsy Monchik, Egan Inoue, John Ellis and Rocky Carson. Ceresia played part time on the International Racquetball Tour for 20 years.
Canadian Records
Ceresia won Canadian National Singles Title 2 times and appeared in the finals 3 more times. He won Canadian National Doubles Title 8 times and was in the finals another 5 times. Ceresia won Doubles Titles with Simon Roy, Gary Waite (the Legendary Canadian Squash Player), Paul Shanks, Jacques Demers, Roger Harripersad and Mike Green.
Sarnia Sports Hall of Fame
He was inducted into the Sarnia Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
Racquetball Industry
Ceresia negotiated one of the largest Professional Racquetball Contracts with a Racquetball Manufacturer for current World Number 1 Kane Waselenchuk. Waselenchuk was 18 at the time.
Personal
Ceresia was born in Sarnia Ontario and excelled in a number of sports growing up. He was working as an Assistant Golf Pro in Montreal when he met his wife Claudine. They have two children and reside in Burlington, Ontario.
References
1.http://www.racquetball.ca/articles.asp?articleID=1835&zoneID=299
3.http://www.usaracquetballevents.com/profile-player.asp?UID=5704
4.http://www.sarniasports.com/Halloffame/2008Inductees/MikeCeresia.html
5.http://www.theobserver.ca/2008/10/12/fourteen-athletes-inducted-into-sports-hall-of-fame
6.http://www.penfieldfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2015_proam_reg.pdf
7.http://slam.canoe.com/CanadianSportAwards/Racquetball.html
