WPH Press, Tucson, AZ, 8/1/23
We love our favorite Race 4 Eight pros, but they eventually stop hitting aces and kill shots and retire. The WPH is thrilled to bring you the Race 4 Eight Legends – Where Are They Now, as we catch up with what our favorite pros are doing in their Race 4 Eight retirement.
On Edition 3 of the Race 4 Eight Legends – Where Are They Now, we catch up with one of the game’s great serve and shoot artists, former R48 #1 Charly Shanks to discuss what he loved most about playing the tour, what he’s doing now, his favorite R48 tournaments and much more.
Charly Shanks moved to New York with one goal – become the #1 player on the Race 4 Eight tour. Shanks set up shop at the famed New York Athletic Club, hitting serves for hours each day and catching the eye of the NYAC brass and becoming an NYAC sponsored athlete. Shanks’s rise on the tour was steady, having to initially qualify in the tour’s first season in 2022/12 and working his way into the Elite 8 by season’s end. Shanks continued his climb in the tour’s second 2012/13 season, winning his first stop at the 2013 Race 4 Eight Houston and his second stop at the 2013 Race 4 Eight Salt Lake City and clinching the #1 ranking. Shank’s job and family took him back to Ireland after the tour’s second season, but Shanks made his statement in just two years on tour, standing tall amongst the game’s greats.
Charly currently lives in Lurgan, a fairly large town 25 miles west of Belfast with his wife Mary of ten years and 10 years and four children – Rose (9), Arthur (7), Marianne (4) and Darragh (10 months). Charly works for a New York based company called Magnite who has a software development office in Belfast. Magnite provides tech solutions so that advertisers can bid and win ad spots in real-time to consumers of digital media whether that be on your phone, tablet, laptop or tv.
“Lurgan has a vibrant sporting scene from field and court sports to athletics and swimming,” stated Charly. “Family life is very busy but I enjoy coaching kids handball twice a week and helping out with Arthur’s Gaelic football team @ Clann Éireann which is our GAA club. I’m also enjoying promoting handball within our club as an administrator by increasing our playing numbers (60+ presently) and running tournaments.”
Charly looks back fondly on his days on the tour, citing the competitiveness and opportunity to test himself against the game’s best as his highlights of playing the tour. “Competing against the best,” stated the former R48 #1. “I just loved the competition. The challenge to get better. The challenge to become more consistent. I’d say the games I enjoyed best was competing against Naty. There was an extra edge to them. He had the high-profile reputation, so you were always up for it. But he played smarter than the younger guys, he controlled the match pace, he had buckets of experience he’d use against you and he was in fantastic physical condition, he never got tired. He challenged you mentally as well as physically. Looking back, I definitely enjoyed those matches the most.”
(Picture Courtesy of the GAA)
It has been ten years since Charly played a Race stop, a finals appearance at the 2013 R48 Player’s Championship at the Washington Athletic Club in Seattle. “I played Fink, Peixoto and Naty to make the final against Brady. Playing against all those guys was a challenge I relished.”
Charly’s favorite Race 4 Eight stops were the Simple Green U.S. Open and Salt Lake City. “The U.S. Open is my favorite because of the location: plenty of sunshine and so many beaches nearby and the Los Cab facility, it’s a fantastic complex and always hosts a well-run event with the best hospitality in the world,” stated Shanks. “Salt Lake City would be my second because there’s a fantastic vocal fan base there.”
Thank you to Charly Shanks for spending time in the R48 Legends Corner and reliving what made playing the tour so special for him and letting us know what he’s up to now.
Stay tuned for more Race 4 Eight Legends.
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer