Manny: How many times have you made Junior Team USA?
Jose: “I’ve made the team 6 times.”
M: How many national junior singles titles?
J: “I have 11 junior singles championships and 5 doubles championships”.
M: How many World Junior Titles?
J: “I have 9 world titles. 7 singles 2 doubles”.
M: Will you compete yearly to make the Adult Team USA?
J: “I will try to make the National team every year but it will be very difficult with the top pros in the draw.”
M: Do you plan on playing the IRT full time this upcoming season? If not, do you have a goal of how many you will compete in?
J: “This upcoming year I am only going to play as many stops as I can; it depends on school but hopefully I get to more than half.”
M: What do you find to be the biggest difference in your game since you started being coached by John Ellis?
J: “Actually, Ellis is more of a mentor than a coach to me although when he is there he will coach me through matches. But since he and I started playing, he taught me about the little things that can improve my game such as having a good ceiling ball game which I will need in the pros. The biggest difference that made was it taught me to be patient and take my shot when it was necessary and not to force them. I used to be very aggressive and always went for the kill no matter where I was. Hitting a good ceiling ball helped me be patient, force my opponent out of the middle, forced him to take a tough shot or hit a ceiling ball right back, then hit the shot I want to hit.”
M: As a young boy were you coached by Jody Nance then later by John Ellis?
J: “Jody Nance….My coach as a young boy, my coach as a teenager, will always be my coach. Unfortunately she works so much that she can’t always be there for me due to her work. She helps as much as she can on and off the court. Elli on the other hand is like my professional coach. He has so much experience in the professional game and has taught me so many things I never knew about pro racquetball both mentally and physically. I still have so much to learn but he’s really helping me out in that aspect. I definitely cannot leave out my Dad who got me into the sport and pushed so much to practice. I absolutely hated the sport as a kid because I was very young and wanted to do other things, but as I got older I began to realize that all of this happened because of him. I never would have gotten to my skill level without him and that’s why I want to give a special thanks to Miguel Rojas, my Dad.”
M: What do you see the future looking like for California Junior Racquetball? Are there good programs across the state to keep this success going?
J: “California is actually hosting many one day shootouts for fundraising for California Junior racquetball. I see it possibly growing and getting stronger just because we have so many resources we have here such as John, myself, and many other people who are willing to help the Juniors get better at the sport. As of right now, our Junior program is stronger than ever and is just getting stronger with my younger brother Marco, who won the 16’s, coming up Jose Diaz who took second place, my little cousin Antonio Rojas who just won the 6s and 8s, and many more (too many to name). “
M: What would you say has been your biggest accomplishment to date as a racquetballer?
J: “I’ve gotten many accomplishments in my career but if I had to choose one, I wouldn’t be able to.
It would have to be between having a three-peat at the junior nationals in the 18s and making the semi final at a full ranking pro stop at 18. As of what I heard, I’m like the only one who has had a three-peat in the 18s and if not only like one other person has done it, I just don’t know who. Also to make the semi in a tier1 stop is just so difficult to do especially when you start at the bottom of the qualifiers like I did and had to play three quail’s before actually qualifying for the main draw. It’s just too difficult to choose.”
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