Roshay Baez grew up in Washington Heights, a neighborhood where she says tennis was not exactly a sport she saw her friends playing. She first saw the sport on T.V. when she was 8 years old, and was hooked.
“It’s a totally different sport and it doesn’t get a lot of attention. I like that because I don’t love a lot of people watching me. It felt like my own unique thing,” Baez said.
Now tennis has become a very important part of this High School for Environmental Studies Senior’s life. Baez has won most improved twice and most recently was awarded most valuable player on her tennis team.
“Tennis has taught me how to be strong and wise. It’s a game that makes you feel so independent and yet so a part of something. It helped me come out of my shell,” Baez said.
Baez is the captain of the tennis team. Once upon a time, she would have shied away from a position of leadership, but her four years on the team has helped her realize how important it is to step up and encourage others. Baez says she knew the position would give her a greater potential to serve and to reach out to others.
“I know that some of the girls on our team are shy and maybe they don’t know how to play. It makes me just want to reach out to them and make them feel more comfortable because I know what that feels like and I’ve been there,” Baez recalls. “Being a captain, you have to carry yourself a certain way. And that has made me just want to embrace myself more and know I am a leader and I can be all that I need to be.”
Her coach Eugene Downs has witnessed Baez’s growth.
“As a freshman she came in with that determination. She wanted to practice. She wanted to be taught and she just had this really positive chemistry. And it shows up in the way she plays,” Downs said.
Uniting her love for tennis and a love of her community, Baez volunteers as a coach, teaching young people the game in Washington Heights. She says she loves watching the kids develop their skills and stepping out of their comfort zones. Even as they struggle, Baez encourages them to never give up. It takes her back to the time when she first started. She, too, was once a timid player. She says the sport brought out the leader inside her. It was during the long hours of volunteering that Baez realized her dream to become a teacher.
“[The best thing tennis taught me is] Just to never give up. I just want to show the girls on my team and the kids I teach that it’s okay to lose, because we’re not perfect, but it’s not okay to give up. From losing you learn how you’re going to win and you get that [drive] to try harder,” said Baez.
The high school senior says her mom has also been a big influence in her drive to keep pushing forward.
“[My mom] really is a role model. She always reminds me that education is super important and it pushes me to try really hard in my academics because it’s how you get far in life,” said Baez.
Now with Advanced Placement classes, the National Honor Society, tutoring, volunteer coaching and captaining a tennis team, Baez has come a long way from the timid individual she once was becoming more involved then she ever thought. She says she loves how participating in different extracurriculars not only expands her horizons but introduces her to people of all different backgrounds. Baez says it has taught her a lot about seeing people as they truly are. A message which she says is extremely important for people to hear right now.
“It’s important to bring people together to point out there’s no differences, we’re all so important. And [when it comes to school] we’re all here because we want to dedicate our lives to our education and making our school community better,” Baez explained. “I hope that people can look to my example and see all that is possible. I hope that people won’t be scared to follow their dreams and accomplish whatever they put their minds to.”
Baez will continue playing tennis at Ramapo College of New Jersey next year where she will pursue a major in elementary special education.