Ryunosuke Roesch has made it three straight Far East tennis singles titles and Stripes' tennis Athlete of the Year honotrts. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – If it wasn’t his left wrist bothering him in his sophomore year, then it was a right bicep hampering his ability to serve and hit hard on the tennis courts during his junior year.
But no matter what has ailed him the past two years, Ryunosuke Roesch has refused to let injury keep him down.
Despite those injuries, the Yokota junior blazed his way through another unbeaten singles season, making it three straight seasons going unbeaten on the DODEA-Pacific tennis courts.
His play makes it look like he’s performing with apparent ease. But what DODEA spectators in Japan have not seen are the battles he’s waged with a body that steps onto the court at least four times a week.
While his bicep screamed at him all season long to stop, his mind, heart and spirit compelled him to keep going, as long as he could.
“It was all mental,” Roesch said. “When you’re in the zone, when you’re playing, you don’t think about the pain. You just keep going.”
At the finals, Roesch bulldozed his foes without losing a set, beating host Perry’s Aira Funinuma 4-1, 4-0 for the Far East Division II singles title.
He then blanked Aaden Otteson of Nile C. Kinnick 6-0 for the Far East overall singles championship. And he teamed with his brother Kotaro to win the Far East D-II and overall doubles.
In doing all that, Roesch also repeated another honor. For the third straight year, Roesch has been named Stars and Stripes Pacific boys tennis Athlete of the Year.
The human body can react in a negative way when one pushes themselves on whatever field or court. In Roesch’s case, he said he put too much strain on the right bicep for too long.
“Overuse,” he said. “I was playing off base a lot before Far East. I play all year long, at least four times a week.”
Things got especially sore, he said, a week before Far East, during an off-base practice while he was serving.
So he emphasized the mental aspect of his game, Roesch said. Placement over power. Resist the urge to smash the ball and just put it where the opponents are not.
“I just tried to place the ball” toward open spots on the opponents side, “and not slam the ball and it worked.”
He also had plenty of assistance from his teammates and coaches. “They helped me get the right mind and energy to keep going,” Roesch said.
Looking ahead, Roesch said he’s not sure where the future might take him, or if he might chase a fourth straight Far East tennis title.
“Up in the air,” he said of whether he’ll stay at Yokota. “I would like to do it here.”
Year: Junior
Age: 17
Place of birth: Naha, Okinawa
Sports played besides tennis: Soccer, volleyball
Favorite school subject: Mathematics
Least favorite school subject: History
Favorite athlete: Nick Kyrgios, Australia, tennis.
Favorite form of entertainment: K-Drama.
