Mike Ceresia

Mike Ceresia hit the ground running at his first international tournament, the 1988 World Championships, winning silver in doubles, gold in the Men’s Team Event and an Overall Team silver.

He went on to represent Canada at seventeen more international events, including eight consecutive World Championships. Over his career he amassing twenty-nine international medals including six gold, twenty silver and three bronze.

It’s remarkable that twenty-two of Ceresia’s medals, including six gold, were won at the World Championships where competition is extremely tough. Ceresia was a major contributor to the team that won gold in the Men’s Team Event on four occasions, with he and his doubles partners winning the deciding matches in three of those four gold medal wins.

Ceresia was a member of Team Canada at the 1995 Pan Am Games when racquetball made it’s debut as a Games sport. He represented Canada proudly, winning a silver medal in the Men’s Team Event.

From 1985 to 2003, Ceresia had twenty-one podium finishes at the Canadian Championships in Open Singles and Open Doubles events. He held the Canadian Open Doubles title eight times and the Canadian Open Singles title twice. in 1997 he won both the singles and doubles title in the same year.

Ceresia was a tireless player and worker. He averaged thirty-five tournaments a year for twelve years straight. Beyond representing Canada internationally, Ceresia played ninety percent of his tournaments in the United States where he pitted himself against tough competitors. He competed in pro-tour events from 1983 to 2004 and over his career he had major victories over top ranked athletes including: Kane Wasenlenchuk, Sudsy Monchik, Ruben Gonzalez, Egan Onoue, John Ellis, Mike Ray, Tim Doyle, Jason Mannino and Brett Harnett.

Ceresia’s success stems from his work ethic focused on sheer determination and self-improvement. He strived for perfection in all aspects of his game, given to meticulously improve both his physical and mental performance. Ceresia represented Canada proudly on the international stage. He was motivated to set higher expectations of Canadian racquetball through medal standings in international competition.

Ceresia’s passion for the game also extends to helping others achieve racquetball success and growing the sport.  At age eighteen, he was already working to ensure the the sport evolved, coaching junior programs to hundreds of players. As a club professional he conducted numerous clinics in Canada and the United States and he coached programs in several major cities in Ontario and Québec. In particular, he provided coaching and mentoring to a number of Canadian athletes who achieved national and international success including Heather Stupp, Christie Van Hees, Kane Waselenchuk, Ryan Smith, Eric Desroches and Sami Harb.

Ceresia retired from high performance competition on 2004 but continues to share his legacy and love of the sport.

Ceresia was inducted into the Sarnia/Lamberton Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.

Click here to read Mike Ceresia’s acceptance remarks from the 2018 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.