I love small companies.

They can (and this is certainly true of Cancha) create products that fill a void for buyers (like me) who are tired of seeing and using the same old products.

It’s hard to believe there’s so little variety when it comes to tennis racket bags. There are the moving billboards offered by the big tennis companies. You know, the kinds your favorite pro drags on and off the court to make sure you know he or she is being well-paid by Wilson, Head, Babolat, Yonex or whomever. I wouldn’t say these bags don’t have their place. My coach uses one but in addition to carrying a whole gaggle of rackets every day he pretty much has to live out of it at times.

If you’ve seen one of these big bags you have pretty much seen them all. And, although many of my fellow club players are happy to bend their backs carrying them, many others prefer something lighter and more thoughtfully made. I think that way and obviously so does Cancha’s head honcho, Jack Oswald. You can read more of Oswald’s story at the Cancha website so I’m not going to rehash his story here.

Finally, I want to let you know that Cancha is giving the ax to the model I am reviewing here. I think that’s a shame since the bag they’re replacing it with with is significantly larger and more expensive. Oh well. I guess all we can do is wait and see what Cancha’s product offerings look like in the near future.

Look, a tennis bag is not a complicated thing. But, even a simple thing can be done well or poorly. As they say, the (tennis) gods are in the details.

I absolutely love the form factor of the Cancha Original Racquet Bag (15L). Absent the use of racquet for racket, I think the original Cancha fits the average player’s game and needs perfectly. It comfortably holds two rackets and three in a pinch. Double shoulder straps are an absolute must and they were one of the reasons for the Cancha being on my short list of bags.

Overall construction looks dandy. The materials appear to be resistant to water (not that it matters much here in SoCal) and the zippers are smooth and rugged feeling. The single zippered pocket on the outside is too shallow to be as useful as it could be. The pocket barely has enough room for my wallet, keys and phone. Forget about my sunglasses. Remember Cancha: phones are getting bigger all the time.

A unique and promising feature of all Cancha tennis bags are the RF Bonded Hypalon Molle Patches. These allow for quick attachment of various Cancha accessories like their Dry Bag. Cancha creates their bags to be truly modular and that flexibility appeals to me. For day to day use I don’t need (or want) a shoe bag piggy-backed on my tennis bag but when I hit the road with my rackets I will definitely want that option.

Even with the single velcro Cancha patch in place the bag is pretty stealthy and I appreciate that. Only my friends at Courierware go further in their effort to avoid obvious promotion of their brand by placing their name and phone number on a tiny tag on the inside of their bags!

I was a little disappointed that by the time I was ready to take the Cancha leap the only available color was red. The red is actually quite nice. The problem, of course, is many of the locals associate any shade of red with USC and that’s an association I usually would not tolerate.

But, for the Cancha bag I will make a rare exception. I hope my Cancha bag lasts me a good long time. So far, it’s been a joy to use. Well Done, Cancha!