Nov 29, 2005
By Jessica Borges, Special to The Enterprise
As a child on Cape Verde, Rolando "Rolo" Antonio Lopes grew up with a soccer ball at his feet.
"I was born and the soccer ball was there," Lopes, 34, of Brockton, said.
Today, soccer is still part of Lopes' life - and his livelihood as head woman's soccer coach at Stonehill College in Easton this year.
"My personal goal is to be first. I set my standards high and it's the only way you can be successful," Lopes said.
And for Lopes, that means working hard and playing hard in soccer.
His father, Joao Lopes, played soccer in Cape Verde and encouraged him to follow in his footsteps. He wound up following those steps as the family moved from Cape Verde to Brazil to Portugal, then finally in 1989 to Brockton.
Throughout those years, Lopes said he never let the soccer ball leave his feet.
But now, Lopes said he wants to bring out the best in his players.
"I don't want any pressure, I just want my team to play every game, one game at a time. I try to get the best out of them, whatever it takes," Lopes said.
Lopes replaced Kathy Brophy, who was the coach for the 2002-2004 seasons.
"I was very excited," Lopes said of his appointment as head coach. "I thought of it as a challenging job and I love challenges.
"Stonehill has a good soccer team. I've always liked Stonehill and being there now it feels great. It's exciting, a great opportunity."
His enthusiasm for soccer does not go unnoticed by his players.
"I think he has a tremendous love for the game and knowledge of the game," said Kayla Certuse, a senior and co-captain of the Stonehill women's soccer team.
Meg Veloza, a junior and one of the players, said Lopes is able to bring humor to practices and games.
"He has a dry sense of humor mixed with what he calls his broken English. The way he explains things, he's just funny," Veloza said.
Jose Gomes, Stonehill men's head soccer coach and Stonehill sports club coordinator, has known Lopes for five years and says he respects him as a coach.
"I feel that he brings the best out of his players. I think it goes beyond his knowledge of soccer, he doesn't sugar coat anything ... He is very dedicated," Gomes said.
Lopes' players say that dedication is seen in his coaching style.
"I think him coming in and showing us the passion that he has for the game has brought out the passion within ourselves," said senior Kate McCarthy, Stonehill women's soccer co-captain.
Teammates credit Lopes with helping to bring the women's soccer team to an overall winning record of 8-4-4, and 6-4-4 in the North East-10 Conference, narrowly missing a playoff position by one point.
"Rolo on the field, is very demanding. He doesn't let you slack off by any means. He knows what you can do and that's what he expects in every game," McCarthy said.
While soccer is now his career, Lopes had other plans while in college.
He graduated from Massasoit Community College with an associate's degree in electronics technology and later got a bachelor's degree from UMass-Dartmouth, with plans to enter the engineering field.
He worked as an electronics teacher at Brockton High School from 1998 to 2000, then took a job for four years as a testing engineer at Datel Corp. in Mansfield.
He is currently co-owner of the sports store, Elite Soccer Supplies, in Hingham.
However, Lopes' life always led him back to soccer.
As a high school student, Lopes excelled in soccer. At age 16, he was selected among thousands of players for the U-16 National Training Team in Portugal for one year. The team selected the top 40 players in that age group from Portugal.
Lopes was also a member of the semi-professional soccer league, Luso American Soccer Association.
He also played in the Brockton league, but stopped recently because of chronic knee problems.
During his second year at Massasoit - before knee surgery - he played nearly the whole season with a badly sprained ankle.
"It was the best season of my life," he said.
