Soccer players scrimmage in Frank Holt Gymnasium at the UW-Whitewater Rock County campus on Apr. 18, 2024. (UW-Whitewater photo/Craig Schreiner)
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at Rock County continues to expand its offerings to students looking to unleash their potential in competitive athletics.
After fielding the school’s first competitive volleyball team since 2018 this past fall, the Warhawks will add men’s soccer in 2024. Both teams are provisional members of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 4 and will play a full schedule against other two-year institutions from around the state and region starting in August.
Samantha Soddy, women’s volleyball coach and athletic director, and Jorge Tenorio, men’s soccer coach, are currently hosting open gyms for students to compete against each other and get acclimated to the team atmosphere.
“It’s an opportunity for them to showcase what they’re capable of and stay in that mindset,” Tenorio said. “They can keep improving and keep active, and that’s important.”
The open gyms also serve to bring together Rock students in a community setting to promote awareness of the teams and enhance their sense of belonging through engagement.
Recruitment efforts are underway as Soddy and Tenorio work to develop connections with high school coaches, clubs, and other organizations in the area. Current students will provide the foundations of the teams as the coaches build the rosters around them.
“We want to offer students the opportunity to play at the collegiate level,” Soddy said. “They can learn here, go to school for a low cost, live in a residence hall on the Whitewater campus, and go onto wherever they want – when they graduate (with their associate degree), students have a guaranteed transfer to any UW school.”
Soddy started in her position eight months ago. She has put an emphasis on building the campus atmosphere by opening the gym to students during the week and allowing them to have a space to engage in recreation. Student workers have played a pivotal role in building that engagement, staffing the gym Monday through Thursday each week.
Soddy can relate well to students – she graduated from nearby Milton High School, competed in volleyball at the NJCAA level and attended three different two-year colleges, including URock, before graduating from UW-Whitewater with a BSE in physical education.
She had experience as a coach for ROCK VBC and as an assistant coach with the girls volleyball programs at Delavan-Darien High School and Beloit Memorial High School before being alerted to the open position at Rock County. Her father, Dave Soddy, played a key role in helping her discover her love and motivation for coaching. Both of Soddy’s parents are tied to the campus – Dave previously coached volleyball at URock, while Soddy’s mother, Tammy, played volleyball there.
“As soon as I stopped playing and went to the Whitewater campus, I got right into coaching,” Soddy said. “I always had a passion for it. My parents coached – they met through volleyball and coached me.”
Tenorio, also a Milton High School graduate who attended a two-year college, worked as an assistant coach for varsity soccer at his alma mater. He was hired at URock earlier this year and is working to build out the Warhawks’ roster.
“Moving forward, I’m looking forward to getting this team to be a competitive team,” Tenorio said. “I want to make sure the kids are striving to push themselves and make a good name for their school.”
In addition to offering the most affordable education for two-year colleges among Universities of Wisconsin schools, URock can now add the presence of intercollegiate athletics to its co-curricular offerings.
“There are a lot of students locally who didn’t think of us because they want to continue to play sports in college,” Tenorio said. “Now they have that opportunity in volleyball and soccer.”
UW-Whitewater at Rock County will earn full NJCAA membership for the 2025-26 season.
Learn more about intercollegiate athletics at URock »
Written by Chris Lindeke | Photos by Craig Schreiner
Link to original story: https://uww.edu/news/archive/2024-05-rock-county-sports