Jonathan Rojas is a SCORES coach, working with elementary and middle school students in afterschool SCORES programming and IFC. We talked to him about his growing up in the Tenderloin, his SCORES mentor, and his love of the game.

SCORES program director Roberto Gil has been a mentor to you for nearly two decades. How did you first meet him?

I met Roberto when I was five years old, and he became my coach from that day until I was 16. I didn't attend any SCORES schools, but I've been connected in some way with SCORES ever since then. I met Roberto because my mom and dad were looking for a soccer team, and they heard about this club team that Roberto was coaching. The team was called Chivas, after a professional Mexican soccer team.

Roberto taught me about life through soccer. I was pretty hot-headed and stubborn as a kid, and I would get upset during games when things weren't going well. He would always find a way to calm me down. He would say tranquilo – meaning relax or don’t worry. Then he’d say, peace and love, peace and love. It was a way of him saying everything was going to be okay. Take a deep breath, be respectful, and know everything will go on.

When I was in middle school, Roberto changed our team’s name from Chivas to America SCORES — that was really the beginning of the IFC, though it wasn’t called that back then. Many of the kids on the team came from SCORES schools, but not all.

To this day, Roberto is the same. You can see his passion through his actions, even more than his words. You can tell how much he cares about the kids and the community. He’s still a mentor for me.

You grew up in the Tenderloin, and though you moved away after college, you’ve returned to live with your parents. What was it like to grow up there?

There were good experiences and bad ones. I saw a lot of violence, but there were fun things too and lots of kids around. I used to live in a huge building, and on the second floor, there was a big patio that connected the two buildings. You could walk across it. We'd be on the patio — maybe ten or 12 of us kids — and we'd start yelling, because you could see into all the apartments. Kids would start streaming down, and we would play chase, soccer, or hide-and-seek throughout the whole building. When the manager came out, we'd yell out his name, and all the kids would scatter.

We had a lot of family living in our apartment. It was me, my mom and dad, my brother. Sometimes we had a couple of uncles coming up from Mexico. And then my little sister was born. That's seven people living in a studio. But it was normal for me. I'd go to my aunt's home, and it would be the same thing. Living this way teaches you a lot. If I have a good living situation now or in the future, I'm never going to leave my family behind.

Now, as an adult living here, I see things I wasn't paying attention to as a kid, like the drug problem. I see it every time I walk out of my apartment. There are a lot of people who need a lot of help. It’s tough.

How did you stay on the straight and narrow path growing up?

It wasn't always that straight. Sometimes it was curvy (smiling), but I think soccer saved me. I just loved playing. I remember one season in middle school, my dad sat me out because I wasn't doing well in school. And it was the same storyline in high school — I just didn't want to do the work. My grades were so low I had to write an appeal to play on the soccer team. When I graduated, my grades were too low to apply to four-year colleges. So I went to City College for three years. I played on the soccer team there. After a while, I started getting into my classes and began to feel more motivated. Plus, my Dad was putting some pressure on me.

He said I was going to have to start working full-time or commit myself fully to school. I look back at that time and I don't know where I'd be now if my dad hadn't put that pressure on me to continue my education.

So I applied to Notre Dame de Namur University and got in! But going from community college to a four-year university was another huge transition, and I struggled in my first semester. But then I met some people, and they talked some sense into me, and from there, I was able to do better in school. I ended up graduating with a 3.2.

How did you come back to work with SCORES?

It was 2021. I was 26, and I had just broken up with my girlfriend in Turlock, where I had been working at a group home for teenagers. I was in transition, and I came back to live with my parents in San Francisco. When I got back, I called up Roberto. I hadn't seen him in person since I was 17 or 18. I was going through a tough time, and he has always given me great advice. We talked almost every day, and he encouraged me to volunteer as a coach at IFC.

So I did, but I had to learn first. I always tell people there's a difference between playing and coaching. At that point, I had no coaching experience, but I had played. I would show up at practice, stay quiet, and observe Roberto and Cesar. I wanted to understand how they did things and how they worked with the kids.

Now I’m working as a full-time coach for middle schoolers in San Francisco, elementary and middle schoolers in Hayward, and for IFC.

That’s a big range. How does that work for you?

I love working with kids of all ages. In Hayward, we have some real little ones, super tiny. At that age, it can be hard to dribble a soccer ball, especially on concrete. That ball is going to roll! So we play games with them. Sharks and Minnows is a big favorite. Kids love that game everywhere. It’s a school favorite in all our regions.

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