RCC soccer player stays busy
Published 7:56 am Monday, October 10, 2011

Riverland soccer player Jose ‘Rome’ Parelta-Bartolo has maintained a 4.0 GPA while working full time and playing for the Blue Devils. ‘Rome’ just began playing soccer last season. -- Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
It goes without saying that Riverland soccer player Jose ‘Rome’ Parelta-Bartolo is a pretty busy guy.
He’s been on the Blue Devils soccer team for the last two seasons despite never playing the sport before, he’s working a full-time job and he’s taking full semesters of classes at RCC in the nursing program.
Oh, and he also has a 4.0 GPA.
“I kind of say goodbye to my social life during the semesters. Maybe I get one day for myself a week,” Rome, who is a Medford grad and commutes to Austin from Medford on a daily basis, said. “When I set a goal for something, I normally do it. It’s really hard for me to give up or say I can’t.”
Rome is putting in the full workload because he knows that nursing can be tough to get into and he wants his grades to be as good as possible. He’s only missed class on one occasion and it was due to his busy schedule.
“It was too much and I got days mixed up one time,” Rome said. “I showed up one hour early for one class and one hour late for another class.”
On the field, Rome has taken on the role of midfielder and although he had no playing experience before last season, he quickly picked up the game and earned the respect of his teammates, according to RCC head coach Soner Dogan.
At last year’s soccer banquet, Dogan asked who should get an award on the team and they all mentioned Rome.
“We love Rome. He’s a very special kid for us. He has a great personality and everyone loves him on the team,” Dogan said. “He never questions what position he plays and he does his best. He’s a very smart kid and he listens to what the coaches say to him. He’s shown tremendous improvement. I show him as an example to new players.”
While Dogan loves Rome’s dedication to the school and soccer, there are days when he feels bad that Rome must take days off of work just to come to practice.
“It puts me in a tough spot, because sometimes he’ll be late to practice or missing practice and he’ll have to work that night and the next morning,” Dogan said. “But he knows how to balance. He knows when to study, when to play soccer and when to work. That’s why his so successful.”
Rome has learned that playing soccer requires running — a lot of running. Before he joined the Blue Devils he ran three miles every day, but he soon found out that wasn’t enough and he had to increase his exercising.
Once he found his place on the team, everything came a little easier for him and Rome is glad that he came to RCC.
“I really appreciate the chance Riverland has given me. Before I came here I was pretty shy, but I really came out of my shell after a couple of semesters,” he said.