Celebrating Black History Month: Jason Rocke

Florida Atlantic University will be featuring stories of African Americans with connections to FAU athletic programs in honor of Black History Month. These stories will feature former FAU athletes of color who share about their experiences playing their sport, reflect back at their time at FAU, as well as talk about the significance of black history and the month of February. This series will feature four stories of former FAU student-athletes. We have already caught up with Gary Durrant and Sherri Pla. Next up: Jason Rocke of men's soccer (1992-95).

Jason Rocke spent most of his upbringing in Trinidad. He left when he was 19 to attend FAU and play on the men's soccer team where he would become the program leader in career goals made and points scored, records he still holds.

Rocke didn't start playing organized soccer until he was 16 but was always playing the sport recreationally or participating in other sports for fun, such as cricket, table tennis and lawn tennis. He was also competing in track & field at quite a high level and had qualified for the junior national championships, so there was no question Rocke had the athleticism to play soccer at the next level. Rocke played three years of organized soccer in the high school league and during his senior year, he was the top scorer in Trinidad.

"I was always more confident in my abilities than the people around me," said Rocke. "I always had a lot of naysayers saying I wasn't that good, but I always knew in my mind I was better than what everyone else thought and I needed to prove my point through my results."

Rocke was able to establish that he was a dominant forward on the field, scoring 50 career goals and 113 career points during his four years at FAU, and he was also named FAU Student Athlete of the Year following his senior season. In 1995, his team qualified for the Trans America Athletic Conference (now known as the Atlantic Sun Conference) Tournament for the first time in program history, which was a goal the team had been working to achieve for quite some time.

All of the boys in Rocke's family played soccer growing up, including his older brother, who also left Trinidad to play soccer in America at West Virginia Wesleyan College. In a sense, Rocke followed his brother to play soccer in the states but decided to play somewhere different where the weather forecast showed a higher chance of sunshine 365 days a year.

"The weather in Florida was a huge factor for me coming from Trinidad," said Rocke. "When I left Trinidad, it was really the first time I had left the country, so being a teenager and going away for the first time, I wanted to have as much similar surroundings and environment as possible to help make me feel at home and I was very welcomed by the coaching staff at FAU."

America was a new experience for Rocke. He lived in America only as he was playing soccer for the Owls, but during his time, he learned a lot about American culture and the history of the country, both good and bad. Although it is always important to look back on how far America has come as a country, Black History Month is especially a significant time to reflect, celebrate and learn from the past.

"The breakthroughs that have happened in sports relates to Black History Month," said Rocke. "Today, sports are open to everybody and it is based on your talent and not based on what you look like or the color of your skin. But if you have the talent, you can have all of the opportunities as an athlete. Back in the day, it was not like that."

Rocke was granted significant opportunities on the field, as one of the top scorers on the team and in the history of FAU men's soccer. He was named to the All-Conference First Team in 1993 and Second Team in 1995 and was an All-Tournament Team selection during his senior year. Playing soccer in America was something different, but an opportunity he was grateful he had.

"You can't really move forward if you don't know what happened in the past," Rocke said. "History is very important to learn from the mistakes that happened in the past."

Other than his brother, who played on the national team, Rocke didn't really have any role models growing up, as he didn't start taking sports seriously until he played on an organized team as a teenager. To stay on track and continuously improve each day, Rocke would make mini-goals, which is something he still practices today as a successful business professional.

Although the preseason with two to three training sessions a day was grueling, Rocke credits that as being one of his favorite moments from his time playing collegiate soccer. The training tests Rocke was used to in Trinidad turned out to be nothing compared to intensity of FAU's offseason. Of course, winning Student-Athlete of the Year and qualifying for the TAAC Tournament were memorable moments for Rocke, but the overall camaraderie with the team is something that has always stayed with him.

"The team was like one happy family," said Rocke. "You are battling each other for positions and wanting to be in the starting 11, rather than sitting on the bench. But even with the competition for places, we were still one happy family, and everyone was very happy to see one another."

There is no question that Rocke was a talented soccer player and may have had the ability to extend his playing after college but tearing his ACL in a pick-up soccer game following his senior season put things into perspective for him. After the injury and going through surgery, his knee was never quite the same and ended any aspiration to play at a higher level.

Rocke graduated from FAU with a business economics degree and has held many different roles with American companies, such as Disney and Paramount Pictures. Today, Rocke lives in Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands, and is working toward the goal of being in charge of all international markets for an electricity and gas company.

"It has been a long road," said Rocke. "I've always been a goal setter and because I have a lot of goals running concurrently, I have never had a problem saying busy and motivated."

Having goals to work toward has always been a big part of how Rocke operates. Rocke meant a lot to the FAU men's soccer program as it was switching to Division I and will always been at the top of the list when thinking about the history of FAU athletics.

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