He placed third at the regional tournament in early April to earn a national slot, going in unseeded among the 64 players in the division. The going wouldn't be easy, but this is what drove Allen. Being unseeded was more of a motivator. I knew that after Chicago, though, I'd need more conditioning. Technically, I felt sound but needed to do more.
Racquetball is a sport requiring both endurance and strength.
So Allen wanted to work on both to succeed at the nationals. Every other morning he'd go to the gym to work on a cross trainer machine, do some light weightlifting and play racquetball in the afternoon. The hard work allowed Allen to form a game plan to outlast his opponents. The plan worked favorably against his first few opponents, and it would pay off even further in the quarterfinals against another unseeded, but tough, competitor who hailed from Texas. Allen squeaked out a 15-13 win in the first match and called on his conditioning to get him through the second match.