Ricardo Rojas – Women’s Tennis Head Coach

Ricardo Rojas has been ETSU women’s tennis head coach since the 2016-17 season. Before that, he was an assistant coach for men’s tennis for nine years. 

He started playing tennis when he was about seven years old in Caracas, Venezuela, growing up playing with his older brother.  

“I grew up in a place where it’s kinda like Florida, tropical weather year round, you’re going to be outside a lot. I played a lot of sports growing up like baseball, tennis and soccer. I just stuck with tennis,” said Rojas. “I grew up in a very family-oriented environment, and that’s what led me today to have those kind of values in my team as well.” 

Rojas has been a Buc through and through, graduating with his bachelor’s and three master’s degrees from ETSU. He played for the Buccaneers and upon graduation started his assistant coaching with the men’s team. 

“This place has given me a lot of opportunities; this is also home. I’ve been in Johnson City for a long time, so I consider Johnson City home as well. It’s been very good to me. I’ve met a lot of great people and a lot of friends,” Rojas said.

Martin Stiegwardt – Men’s Tennis Head Coach

Martin Stiegwardt became the men’s tennis head coach and the director of tennis at ETSU in the summer of 2017. Prior to ETSU, he spent years assistant coaching at Virginia Commonwealth University, Auburn University and Louisiana State University. 

From Quito, Ecuador, he has played tennis since he was around six or seven years old, getting into the sport after first playing many other sports.  

“Some of the biggest differences are time with friends and family,” Stiegwardt explained. “We definitely weigh that more heavily. We spend a lot of time around friends every day, family gatherings, eating lunch or dinner takes hours.”   

His father’s family is from Austria, and he attended a German school in Ecuador for 12 years. 

“German used to be my second language; but like everything else when you don’t use it on a daily basis, you kind of lose it a little bit,” said Stiegwardt, who speaks four languages. “I can definitely understand it, but speaking; I’m proficient, but my whole family speaks German as well.”

Some good memories he had growing up traveling for tennis include getting the chance to play in Japan at the World Championships when he was 13 as well as playing in the Junior Wimbledon at 18 and having his locker next to Rafael Nadal who, at the time, was 15 or 16. 

Getting the chance to coach for college after playing for a college has brought Stiegwardt great opportunities. 

“Definitely having the experience of playing in a collegiate level; I have a personal feeling that without that it’s really hard to coach at the collegiate level because it’s really hard to understand what a student-athlete goes through,” said Stiegwardt. “It’s just balancing everyone out, making sure that everyone is in a good mental place, that everyone is enjoying their career, that everyone is getting better.” 

“It’s a lot, but I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Stiegwardt said.