Forged by FAU - Rhonda Jones
Wajih AlBaroudi
8/16/2020
My scholarship at FAU taught me that with hard work and perseverance, anything in life is achievable. FAU led me to the opportunity to both study and play soccer and balance both those loves, that was something I was finding very difficult in my life in Scotland at the time. I believe it made me a more grateful, positive and goal-driven individual because of the opportunities that I was allowed.
Rhonda Jones describes herself as a goal-oriented and determined individual. That’s partly how, after excelling for Scotland’s Ayr United soccer club and the Scottish National Team by age 18, she got to Florida Atlantic University.
“I achieved everything I thought I could achieve in Scotland at that time, with my club,” Jones said. “And I felt like I wanted more of a challenge.”
The challenge Jones sought was U.S. college soccer. A friend who made that transition a year prior connected Jones with FAU coach Brian Dooley, and the two soon coordinated a recruiting visit.
Jones, who then earned a scholarship offer from FAU, immediately “fell in love” with the Boca Raton campus and its surrounding area.
What also intrigued Jones about FAU was it allowed her to pursue her passions for graphic design and soccer simultaneously. In Scotland, Jones couldn’t get an athletic scholarship, so she had to work while playing soccer full-time to pay for classes at the University of Glasgow.
“To be able to marry both of my loves, which was graphic design and soccer, I decided it was really a no-brainer,” said Jones, who debuted for the Owls in 2000. “I loved the sunshine, I loved Florida, and it was always my dream to go to America.”
Jones’ arrival was a dream scenario for FAU as well. Since the program’s 1991 inception, the Owls had notched only one winning season and none since joining the Atlantic Sun Conference in ’93. The team needed a culture change and Jones, who came from a country where “we eat, sleep and drink” soccer, provided it.
“I probably brought something a little bit different to the league,” Jones said. “That determination to win, that’s kind of just in my nature as a player and as a person.”
In her freshman season, Jones led FAU to a 14-6 record and the 2000 ASUN Conference Championship. Those 14 wins were more than FAU’s previous three seasons combined. The Owls reached or surpassed the 14-win mark each of the next three seasons, winning ASUN Conference Championships in 2002 and ’03.
Jones earned ASUN Conference Player of the Year, First Team All-Conference and FAU Student-Athlete of the Year honors, among many others, over her illustrious college career. She is still sixth in assists (14), seventh in points (58) and eighth in goals (22) among FAU players all-time.
“I had a fantastic career,” said Jones, a 2009 FAU Hall of Fame inductee, “and if I could have done it all over again…I would say to the coach at the time, ‘Can we just change my name? I’ll dye my hair. Can I just play another four years?’ I really loved it. I really did. I had the greatest time there.”
Though Jones couldn’t maneuver her way into an additional four years at FAU, the time she did spend proved invaluable for years to come. Jones graduated in 2003 and returned to international play with an FAU-taught edge: fitness. Jones says the U.S. places a “much higher” emphasis on fitness than Scotland, and over her four years in Boca Raton she learned to incorporate that into her game.
The combination of Jones’ innate soccer knowledge from Scotland and fitness habits from FAU helped her play professionally in the U.S., England and Scotland for over a decade.
“When I came over to America, I learned about their lifestyle, I learned about eating healthier, I learned about fitness,” said Jones, the 2012 Scottish Women’s Football League International Team Player of the Year. “So, for me to be able to take that back to the national team, it really put me in good stead to then go on with my career and go on to play professionally with the Champions League, and 117 times I played for [the Scottish National Team], so, I’m very grateful for my four years at FAU for teaching me that.”
Soccer wasn’t the extent of Jones’ professional career. Nor was it the most meaningful.
After retiring from the game, Jones became a firefighter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. It was the culmination of a goal she set at FAU: After watching firefighters respond to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York, she knew helping people like them would be a part of her future.
“I thought there could be no better job than being in there to actually save someone’s life or being in there in their darkest moment and trying to make that better,” Jones said. “And that always stuck with me.”
In 2018, Jones found another way to save lives. She opened the You Are My Sunshine (YAMS) mental-health hub in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It’s a drop-in spot offering services such as counseling, one-on-one support, relaxation therapy, personalized support and guidance. As an FAU graphic design graduate, Jones handles such duties for the charity.
Jones was inspired to start the charity after both a “really good friend” and her sister, Gemma Jones, died by suicide.
In accepting an athletic scholarship to FAU, Jones married her passions for soccer and graphic design. And while her passions are different now, she’s determined to align them again and resultingly help the people around her.
“I’m hoping, again, to marry both my loves of mental health and the fire service,” Jones said. “In the future, if a position becomes available, I’ll hopefully apply for a position in mental health and well-being within the Fire Service. And I’m looking to further develop my charity as well into a really strong mental health service for the whole country.”