Staff Spotlight: Rachel Rocha

This is the 23rd in a biweekly series spotlighting the men and women behind the scenes supporting Temple Athletics.

Rachel Rocha joined the Temple Athletics staff as a graduate assistant in the equipment department in July of 2021, before being promoted to Assistant Equipment Manager in June of 2022.

Rocha's parents immigrated from the United States from Portugal and Brazil. Her background fostered a strong love of soccer, which she played at the NCAA Division III level at St. Joseph's University in Brooklyn, New York where she was a team captain. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing and a concentration in Sport Management and a minor in Business Administration.

As a student, Rocha was a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee at St. Joseph's and was a manager for the women's basketball team. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Rocha began interning with the New York Knicks PR department.

1) How was the transition from being a Division III Student-Athlete to a Division I support staff member?

"It's definitely very different. Seeing everything DI student-athletes get compared to DIII or even DII is kind of an eye opener. I think DI schools, particularly Temple, are very supportive of their students. Not to say DIII isn't, obviously budget factors into it, but it's different. To me, DIII is just as competitive as DI in some ways.

I loved being a student-athlete, I love the culture of teamwork, I loved being with my teammates every day, and being organized. I'm very detail oriented, and I think being a student athlete helped reenforce that. Now that I'm a full-time support staffer, I think my skills from being a student athlete kind of transferred over. I think in most situations I find myself being the leader or being outspoken, I know how to work with other people and work in different types of groups. I think the skills I learned from playing sports my entire life has played into my work very much.

2) Why did you choose Temple?

"I started at Temple as a graduate extern, I came to Temple for my graduate degree. I worked as a women's basketball student manager in undergrad because my roommate and best friend both played on the team. So, while I cannot play basketball, I love basketball, it's probably my second favorite sport behind soccer. Anyways, I really enjoyed the experience. I had already decided at this point I was going to Temple for graduate school, and I was looking at externship options to help pay for school and gain experience, so I applied for the one in equipment.

About a week later, I had my interview with (Elizabeth DeFelice) and a few others. I felt like it was an environment where I could be myself and have flexibility with my classes. A couple hours after my interview I was offered the externship and accepted it. After my first year, we had some changes in the equipment department and once a full-time position opened up Liz offered it to me and I was happy to accept. I love hanging out with the student-athletes, watching the stuff come in, making the gear packs for the student-athletes, and wearing Nike (I love Nike!).

3) Walk me through your day-to-day in equipment operations.

"It varies depending on the time of year. Right now (the summer) we are getting our inventory for the upcoming school year, so we need to sort out everything for each sport. For me right now, my main sport is men's soccer, and I also have most of the female Olympic sports, rowing, tennis, gymnastics, fencing, and track & field and cross country. Those are my sports, so I need to make sure all the equipment comes in, send to Kampus Klothes to get in embroidered, get it back, make piles for each athlete, put it in the locker room for when they report, and make sure they get their equipment. So that's what we do basically all summer, just prepping for the athletes to come back and make sure they are ready for competition.

Throughout the regular school year, it's being at every game or meet they need us at. Making sure that if anything goes wrong, we are there to get them an extra jersey, be ready if cleats break, new socks if a sock gets bloody, and also setting up locker room for days of competition or games. Other than that, we are in the equipment office downstairs in McGonigle in case an athlete needs something.

4) What's next for you? Where do you see yourself going in the long term?

"For me, in my graduate studies here, I really found a passion for community work and sport philanthropy. Realistically, I think I will look to transition into that space in the next few years. I really want to use sport to create social change and create opportunities for underserved communities. In the next five years, hopefully I will be working in that space. I'm especially interested in the soccer sphere, with my growing up playing soccer and the connection to my Latin cultural roots, I'm very passionate about the Latin community and creating more representation for them as a Latina. I don't know though, anything can happen. I just try to stay optimistic and appreciate what I have right now.

5) What's your favorite thing about Temple?

"That's tough, I feel like I have a few…I would say the support system here. Both in athletics and my master's degree program. A lot of the staff and the friends I've made here are very supportive of anything I want to do, in my career or personal life. The support staff here is awesome, which ties into the number one reason I came to Philly, because it's the City of Brotherly Love. Everyone here is passionate about sports, passionate about what they do, it's why it was the right place for me to come.

Temple University Athletics

Staff Spotlight: Rachel Rocha

Related News

Related Videos