Commentary: Rosa helped lift program

 

By: Rico Albarracin / Asst. Sports Director

Although women’s basketball has won conference championships, baseball has made NCAA tournament appearances, football won their first bowl game last season, volleyball has been the catalyst for success for the University.

And the person who practically carried that program on her shoulders had her number three retired.

Former Golden Panther Yarimar Rosa had her jersey retired on Sept 30, following the Golden Panther match against Western Kentucky.

With all due respect to the amazing players that have played or are still playing for FIU, Rosa is arguably the best player to wear the blue and gold in any sport.

Rosa arrived to FIU with the reputation of a great volleyball player who started at an early age. She played in the Olympic qualifying tournament for the Puerto Rican national team in 2003 at the age of 15, the youngest player in the tournament.

Rosa was named captain of the Puerto Rican U-18 team during the NORCECA Continental Championships in July 2004 and had success while playing for the ARSEL Volleyball Club.

Given her track record up to her debut as a Golden Panther, Rosa had a high level of expectation to succeed. Not only did she live up to those expectations, but she also exceeded them to a point that they may never be surpassed.

Although Rosa will be the eighth athlete to have their jersey retired at FIU, she is the first in volleyball, no other player is as accomplished as the Puerto Rico native. To go along with her four-time All-Sun Belt Conference team honors, Rosa has been honored with the SBC Freshman Player of the Year award, consecutive SBC Player of the Year awards as a junior and senior, and four-time honors as an All-American.

No other player who has donned an FIU jersey, in any sport, has been honored as an All-American for every year they played at the University.

No player showed such dominance in his or her respective field of play as Rosa has. The awards are a result of the magnificent play Rosa demonstrated on the hardwood.

When Rosa stepped off the court for the final time as a Golden Panther, she took with her a number of school records with her, 2,038 career kills and a .506 hitting percentage, both ranked first all-time in history. These are quite possibly untouchable records. Three of the top four individual seasons for kills are owned by Rosa.

Rosa holds all the top five individual single match records for kills. As an outside hitter, a position not known for defense, she amassed 1,053 career digs, which ranked first in the rally-scoring era, until setter Natalia Valentin passed her in 2010.

With an incredible skill set that matches some of the top athletes in the country and a work ethic that would make professional athletes blush, Rosa raised the standards for current and future FIU players as to what to expect from a superstar player. She is an influential person through her play and presence.

Junior Sabrina Gonzalez, who has struggled with nagging injuries throughout the years learned to be and play tough from Rosa. Valentin, her best friend, said it was easy for her to choose FIU because Rosa was already here.

Of the many people I have spoken to, I have yet to hear a single bad thing about Rosa. Her dedication, talent and personality made her special, so it was a surprise that a player with such remarkable abilities would choose FIU.

In speaking to Rosa, she mentioned that she did not want to come to FIU in the first place. If her mom had not answered an email on her behalf, she would have never made the trip to Miami to visit the University. Once she arrived here, she fell in love and never looked back.

It did not matter that FIU is considered a small school on the national level when compared to schools from conferences such as Southeastern Conference or Big 10. Rosa brought relevance to an athletic program that was dying to receive attention.

Spearheading the growth of the University’s athletics program was volleyball, and Rosa was the face of the sport. While being the figurehead of the program, Rosa led the Golden Panthers to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA tournament. Although Rosa will be the first to tell you that she was not the only reason that the team had success, attributing most of the wins to the recruiting of Isadora Rangel, Olga Vergun and herself, there is a reason that her number three jersey was retired, and head coach Danijela Tomic has nothing but praise when speaking of Rosa.

“I wish every coach would have the opportunity to coach a player like Yari,” said Tomic. “You can coach skills but you cannot coach the values that Yari brought with her.”

Until the recent success of the football team winning a share of the SBC title, baseball and women’s basketball were the only teams showing signs of great play. While baseball has produced players such as Mike Lowell and the women’s basketball team won conference championships in the past decades, neither could maintain a consistent level of success to warrant them being the team to look up to.

Volleyball was the crown jewel of the University’s athletic department. Although volleyball may be pushed to the back burner nowadays, it gave FIU an identity for a good part of the last two decades, serving as a symbol for what the potential was to the University, a potential that is now being reflected in football, baseball and the other sports.

Rosa has moved on from FIU, but her affect can still be felt on the team. During many interviews, Rosa is still mentioned amongst the players who had the opportunity to call her a teammate. Having started her professional career in Puerto Rico and representing her native land on a national level, everything seems to be pointing up for Rosa. Tomic has even gone on record to say that the sky is the limit for Rosa. I believe it. With the University growing in national attention, the athletics department is going to recruit players with remarkable talent, which is exceptional for FIU.

That being said, it will never compare to the impact that Yarimar Rosa made on the school, and it was a special one at that.