August 2025 – Pelota Press

2025 USNJAC Event Next Week

2025 USNJAC Event Next Week

August 26, 2025: The final USNJAC event to be held at Magic City will be next week. The event will likely be held at another soon to be announced location. The existing court is not transportable and likely will be removed in December.

Based on the email received, it appears 58 “amateurs: and “ex pros” are participating on Friday, September 5^th, with the current pros playing on Saturday and Sunday – September 6-7^th. The winners of Friday’s event will also play on Sunday in the finals. Post time is 10am on Friday and Saturday, and 12 noon start time on Sunday.

Everyone gets to practice on Thursday:

From 11:30am to 3pm – Miami-Dade and Broward Counties

From 3:00pm to 5:30pm – St. Pete. Orlando and Ocala

From 5:30pm to 7:30pm – Connecticut

The World Super Court teams will then practice from 7:30-10:30pm.

FROM MAGIC CITY WEBSITE BELOW:

2025 U.S. NATIONAL JAI-ALAI CHAMPIONSHIP

September 5th and September 7th

Friday – Play Begins at 10am
Sunday – Play Begins at 12pm (Semi-Finals & Finals)

Last Year The Magic City Fronton hosted a thrilling weekend of jai-alai, the world’s fastest ball sport. The World Jai-Alai League (WJAL), the leading professional jai-alai league in the United States, presented the fifth annual United States National Jai-Alai Championship (USNJAC).

U.S. National Jai-Alai Championship featured jai-alai athletes from around the U.S. competing in singles and doubles play. The Tournament featured top American athletes competing for the national title. Fans of all ages were invited to witness the electrifying live matches at the Magic City Fronton with free admission.

2024 WINNERS

Singles Champion

Gravedigger

Norge Alvarez

Doubles Champions

Rastock & Petro

Stephen Rastocky & Joey Petruzziello

Updates to the Pelota Press Website

Jeff ‘Laca’ Conway Blogs

In case you haven’t noticed, there has been a couple of updates to the Pelota Press Website.

Even though the museum was flooded last September and is closed for good, the JLaca Museum section of this website has been totally updated with lots of pictures of the artifacts and visitors to the place. Be sure to check it out.

A new section, Cancha Pics, is a sampling of photos over the past 25 years or so. Be sure to check them out, too!

Freddie Santana Injured in Puryear Park Debut

Jeff ‘Laca’ Conway Blogs

August 22, 2025: Former Pro player Freddie Santana had just recently moved from the Miami area to Seffner Florida, a Tampa suburb. The “high cost of breathing air in Miami” was his clever reply when asked by the Pelota Press on why he moved to the area. He was making his debut last night at Puryear Park in St. Pete – America’s first and only public jai-alai cancha. The last time he had strapped on a cesta was as a player at Calder the two seasons there over 4 years ago.

Thirty-five years ago, he had started playing pro at the Tampa, Ocala, Ft. Pierce, and Miami frontons. Recently he was a referee at Dania Jai-alai.

“Cool Hand” had immediately stepped on to the court and was doing excellent, winning his first game with Rastock and was in his second game when a “pop” went off. He had just severely strained or torn his bicep. I guess he was going at it too hard on his first appearance on the court with 9 other players. It a tough break for a guy who was enjoying the court , the Matt Ball being used and everything else.

Let’s wish him well and we will keep you updated with any updates. Likely timeframe would be around 4-6 months, if serious enough. He just needs to wait to see what the X-rays show. A large icebag was applied immediately after the injury, but you can tell he was in pain. Many will recall that former Pro “Don” experienced the same injury last year on the St. Pete cancha in a big tournament. Many will also recall when “Coya” made his debut out there several years ago. While attempting to catch the first serve of his inaugural game as a backcourter, he pulled a muscle in his leg and went down. He has never returned.

UPDATE: Bicep seems to be healing and may return to action soon.

2025 USNJAC Event Next Week