Going into his fifth season as the head coach of the Rockdale Tiger soccer team, RHS Class of 2010 grad Gilberto Rodriguez has made the playoffs three of his first four seasons competing under the umbrella of the UIL and has focused on building interest in a sport that’s still relatively new at his alma mater.
At their first practice last week, Rodriguez had 33 boys make it out to Tiger Stadium after school.
“It’s crazy, now I have enough for a junior varsity team,” Rodriguez said.
He hopes to have about 17 on varsity and the rest on junior varsity. The JV number will be contingent on how many kids continue to play and stay eligible.
“There have been kids in the past that play soccer because they know that they will be on varsity, since that's all we've had,” he said. “But that will be different this year since we have so many kids.”
For Rodriguez, having a junior varsity enables kids that wouldn’t normally get many chances to play in live games to develop comfort on the field before they move up to the varsity level.
He also said that as of now, three other schools in District 19-4A have junior varsity teams.
THIS SEASON— Although the Tigers lost three-year starters like Hagen Land and Fernando Gonzales to graduation, Rodriguez says that the players returning are rich in experience.
“They already know the game,” he said. “If they run a triangle drill, I don’t have to explain to them what to do. They just do it.”
In addition to having players like first team all-district selections Chris Huff, Jose Tenorio and other award winners such as
Jesus Bocanegra and Tyler Thomas, RHS freshm a n T i m o t h y Grice plans to suit up for the Blueand-Gold this season. Grice was a national champion at the Junior Olympic games in August and saw some playing time for the Tiger football team this season.
“Other coaches couldn’t believe that I got (Tim) to play soccer,” he said.
Rockdale has seen success in soccer early, but Rodriguez says that it’s not always about getting the best athletes to come out, but getting kids that like playing together and helping them build on that so they can be the best team they can possibly be. Tiger soccer makes their season debut on Friday in Florence, where they will scrimmage with the Buffaloes. Play starts at 7 p.m. LADY TIGERS—Just on the other side of the 50-yard line, second year coach Shirley Lozano had 25 girls out for their first week of practice.
“The girls are already into it and even my new girls are picking up everything pretty fast,” Lozano said.
Although the Lady Tigers were winless in district play, they surprised teams in district, forcing a playoff-bound Cameron to compete into the final minutes of regulation and taking Smithville to a shootout. RHS also has familiar faces back on the pitch with goalie Grace Avrin returning and years of experience from players like Katia Hernandez, Alize Llanas, Tatiana Olivares and Ana Pacheco.
Lozano was also picked by other District 19-4A coaches as the Coach of the Year.
The Lady Tigers start their season Friday in Florence as well, playing at 5 p.m. before the Tigers.
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