MISSION – The Roma Gladiators travel a lot, that’s no secret.
Aside from their 30-minute trip to Rio Grande City during the district season, their road matches take at least an hour traveling east; in some cases the commute is 90 minutes one way.
Spending so much time, almost six hours a week, on the bus might seem like a hassle, but the Roma girls soccer team makes use of its time together before and after intense 31-5A matches.
“Many people might think it’s stressful, but it’s not,” sophomore midfielder Elena Cano said. “We work more as a family when we talk together on the bus all the way over here. We talk about what we’re going to do (in the game) we talk about our private life, secrets and all that you know? It makes us more of a family.”
The westernmost school in the RGV might not have the same resources or numbers on each roster as programs in more populous Hidalgo County, but communication from the middle school levels through varsity have created a bond.
“We’re working with our middle school so they’re getting prepared for the high school level,” Roma coach Francisco Jamie said through a translator. “Last year, we only had one freshman, this year we have three. Maybe next year it will be around six or seven freshmen that will be on varsity. It’s the work and results from middle school and JVs”
Roma Middle School is just yards away from Roma High School and with Jamie and assistant Roel Barrera a constant presence at middle school practice, seventh- and eighth-graders have a clear understanding of what’s expected.
“Since middle school, we’ve learned technique, we had to practice speed – we practiced everything,” Cano said. “We didn’t only practice soccer, we practice as a family, we practice being friends. It was always united since middle school.”
Unity is a term used a lot around the team, especially when they watched two seniors go down with season-ending knee injuries. The loss of Melanny Mendoza and Daiyanna Sanchez was hard on senior Mayra Estrada, but thanks to a group of young players ready to step up, Roma hardly missed a beat.
“We kept practicing even though the players that were injured were really important for the team,” Estrada said. “We still have to manage it well and get ready for what was coming.”
The Gladiators were playoff qualifiers the past three seasons but with a five-game winning streak to start the season, including a win over Sharyland High, the rest of the district is on high alert for this group.
Cano had an older sister who played for the Gladiators. She is glad that her team is starting to change the perception of Roma soccer.
“It’s nice to beat some of the teams because we know that in past seasons some teams would laugh at us,” Cano said. “They thought that we were nothing and now we started with a winning streak that was really good for us. It helped us think that we were enough to be in this district.”
The Gladiators are 8-2 in district and tied for second place behind Sharyland Pioneer with Sharyland High. Both teams have 22 points and have won a game against each other.
“It’s special because they underestimated us,” Estrada said. “Now, they don’t see us like that. We see that our good training and everything paid off.”
Roma’s final four games are against PSJA Southwest, La Joya Palmview and a showdown against No. 1 Pioneer at home before finishing the regular season against Mission Veterans.