In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place Sept. 15 – Oct. 15, USTA Florida is recognizing members of Florida’s rich Hispanic community whose talents and dedication help to grow the great game of tennis every day — at every level. We applaud them all for making tennis a better and more inclusive sport, and for making the face of our game more accurately reflect the dynamic diversity of our country.
Tennis is a lifelong sport and for Rafael Rosas, who got involved with tennis at such a young age, it has been his everything. Rafael’s father was the one who introduced him and his brother to the sport. “I first picked up a racquet when I was 6 years old and it was a wooden racquet,” he said.
Rafael strides to teach his players both of and off the court lessons.
Rafael grew up in Venezuela, which helped shaped him into the person he is today. “Venezuelans are characterized to always be good people that want to help others,” he said. With the culture of Venezuela and the sport of tennis in his heart, he knew he wanted to be a tennis coach and help develop young players. “A coach had influenced me a lot and now that is what I do, help tennis players get better and also teach them how to be a great person.”
He moved to Florida in 2018 and in 2019 he became one of the original coaches at the Gooding Todero Academy (GTA) in Lake Nona. “Coach Rafa has proven to be the ultimate professional on the coaching staff always looking to grow, improve his skills and make the GTA players better,” GTA staff said.
Tennis is his true passion and helping other grow in it.
Tennis is truly a passion of his and Rafael takes everything he’s learned to better the players that he has the honor to coach. “I love everything about the sport, when I was a player, I really loved competing, not only against your opponent, but also against yourself, as it’s such a mental sport and that’s why I love it.”
His role now is to not only be the best coach he can be but become a great mentor to his students. “I want the kids that I train to remember me as one someone that influenced them to be a good person, not just for helping them with a forehand or backhand.”
Rafael and His Hispanic Roots
There have been some great tennis players from Venezuela, but off the court, being Venezuelan is extremely prideful and Rafael is proud of his roots.
Rafael carries his Venezuelan culture high on his shoulders.
“As Venezuelan people we are recognized by others as very kind and respectful which makes me feel very proud of it,” he said. “Every day I try to do my best to put the name of my country really high.”
During Hispanic Heritage month, Rafael is thrilled that tennis is a very diverse sport and is recognizing that diversity. “Celebrating is a good way to promote the inclusion of different cultures, especially in this country that’s a multicultural society,” he said. “Living in a multicultural country, we need to include all the cultures to be part of the same people, meaning that all the cultures have spaces to promote their heritage.”
Rafael wants to work toward unity and inclusion for all, which he promotes every time he takes the court to teach the future of tennis. With his Venezuelan roots always on his mind, his goal is to lead by example and show respect to everyone, so as a society we can make strides toward peace. “Coming from a country, that right now is not the best example of unity, makes me think that if we can prioritize RESPECT over everything, we will have a better world and country where we can live with union and great environments of peace, trying to make this world a better place.”
