How is it that South River High School’s boys tennis players never win beyond the first or second round of the GMC Tournament but become champions when they play together?
The answer may be how Coach Raf Rocha has gone about building the program since he arrived five years ago. The results cannot be disputed. SRHS has been a consistent winner, which includes an unblemished record in the Blue Division the last two years and the CJ Group I title last season .
This spring will be the exception. The Rams have posted a 2-3 record with wins over Dunellen and SouthAmboy and losses to division opponents Metuchen and Wardlaw Hartridge and Red Division foe Edison.
“We can’t expect to be as successful as we have been the last two years because we graduated most of the players who were responsible for our success during that time,” Rocha said. “I think we’ll continue to be competitive in our division but struggle against teams like Highland Park, Metuchen and Wardlaw-Hartridge which return more experienced players.”
The five who graduated, Ryan Geesey, Farhan Iqbal, Chris Gomez, Jatan Patel and Brandon Walsh, were important to South River’s success. Taking their places are five juniors and two sophomores. The two juniors who saw action at either singles or doubles in 2010 are Juan Millan and Adam Gerhartz. The other juniors are Rafael Corticero, Roland Knowlden and Alex Tur and the sophomores are Jose De Carvalho and Edwin Chogollo. Rocha has started each at singles and doubles and continues to use different combinations.
“It has been a challenge developing tennis players at South River,” Rocha admits. “They need to start taking lessons at a young age and that’s an expense many in our borough can’t afford. I discover a lot of my players when they arrive as freshmen and are in my ninth-grade history class. It’s a matter of convincing them to become committed and helping them develop their skills.”
“My approach is to promote tennis as a team sport to appeal to their competitive desire,” he continues. “With that kind of environment, the kids can have fun and play pressure free.”
Rocha admits the success the program has enjoyed in recent years has contributed to drawing more athletes but recognizes that since the high school is small in numbers, he needs to be flexible with the players’ other commitments.
“When my players look back at their high school careers,” he said, “I want them to remember they were able to win matches and be part of a team.”