Softball’s a family affair to CMSV coaches

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Mark Roldan always hoped someday he would have a daughter or two, having grown up in a family composed mostly of men. Well, Roldan’s dream came true in a big way, far bigger than even he could have imagined.

“It was funny. I used to joke that I always wanted daughters because I grew up with mostly boys and now Val and I laugh about it because I now have 20 kids and they’re all girls,” Roldan said. “It’s a lot to handle at times.”

Roldan, you see, is the head coach of Mount St. Vincent’s women’s softball team and Val, his trusted assistant coach and right hand person, is his wife, as they form what may be the only husband-wife coaching tandem in college softball. The duo has been at the reins of the Dolphins softball program since, 2013 but the way they began their tenure at The Mount was not the usual fashion.

“We started in the middle of the 2013 season,” Mark Roldan said. “There were 12 games to go in the season and the school made a coaching change and I came in to interview for it. Obviously I had to pick an assistant coach and I let them know my wife Valerie helped out with our Little League team over the years with the South Riverdale Little League. When I mentioned it to the [athletic director] at the time, Jay Butler, he decided to hire us and we both started together at the same time.”

Spending as much time together as Mark and Valerie would be in their new positions, you might think Mark might have thought long and hard before choosing Valerie as his assistant coach. Sometimes relationships need a little space. But the decision was an automatic one for Mark.

“I guess because we worked together before it didn’t seem like it was something I needed to think about,” Mark Roldan said. “I felt pretty good about it that it was going to work out.”

Valerie Roldan laughed when recalling her “hiring” by Mark.

“He thought of me immediately so I guess that was a good sign,” Valerie Roldan said. “But we just get along well.”

And since taking over the Dolphins program the Roldans have forged a family-type atmosphere with their team. With a roster of 18 players, 10 of whom come from out of state including five from California, that concept has proven to be a welcomed one.

“We live only a mile away from campus so it’s definitely convenient,” Mark Roldan said. “It’s nice to be close to the campus in case any issues come up with the team. Most of the kids on the team are not from New York and that’s where Val really helps out a lot as not only being the assistant coach but also being the team mom. We have five kids from California on the team and there are times they miss home.

“College softball is a grind,” he continued. “There are a lot of practices and a lot of games and there are other things outside of practices and games they have to do, like their school work and fund raising events and things like that. We have eight nursing students on the team so the school work, the academic part is tough for them. It’s very demanding so there are times I’m sure they miss their families and Val’s definitely able to help out with that. It’s definitely a relief for them.”

It’s a part of the job that Val enjoys immensely.

The fun part

“I love that role,” Valerie Roldan said. “I’ve always had that motherly instinct to take care of people and make sure they’re comfortable. We celebrate the student’s birthdays. I make cupcakes for them so that they feel someone is acknowledging their birthdays, especially the ones far from home and want to be with their families. So I enjoy doing things like that.”

That’s the fun part of the job for the Roldans. The tougher part comes on game days and because the Dolphins do not currently have a home field, every game day is a travel day. Packing everything up and getting everyone out on time can be a chore for the Roldans.

“Sometimes we play at Randall’s Island and sometimes we play at fields of other schools where we will rent their fields when they’re available,” Mark Roldan said. “So we have to hop around a little bit. It’s tough at times but we make the most of it. Every game is a road game. You would like to have that home field advantage with the students and supporters from the school being there. But we make the most of it.”

But Valerie Roldan thinks there is a benefit to being road warriors all the time.

“I think it helps us when we’re on the road because we’re so used to it,” Valerie Roldan said. “We’re not nervous playing road games. We know what we need to do. And beating a team in its own house is really sweet.”

The travel is not bad at all for the Roldans and their 18 players/daughters. The sleek new team bus which was sitting outside the Peter Jay Sharp Center on campus Monday was a testament to that.

“We have a big charter bus so we’re definitely well taken care of by the school,” Mark Roldan said. “There’s a restroom on board, TVs, Wi-Fi and all that stuff. It’s very comfortable so it’s a nice road trip a lot of times. It’s like a team-bonding trip so the girls definitely enjoy it.”

The Roldans are not limited to just coaching the team during the season. There are fundraisers along the way, too, to help defray some team costs. They also put on clinics in the winter for local Little Leagues and there is also a summer camp at The Mount with team members taking part in both the clinics and the camp.

Oh, and the Roldans also have to hit the recruiting trail each year as recruiting is the lifeblood of any program.

“We recruit a lot at out-of-state college showcases in Colorado, California and Las Vegas,” Mark Roldan said. “We certainly recruit the East Coast but we’ve gotten a lot of our West Coast players from going to the showcases.”

Sold on Riverdale

So how exactly does one coax a player from sunny California to travel 3,000 miles to play her college ball in Riverdale? Sell the campus, sell the city.

“A lot of people don’t realize how beautiful the campus is and that it’s 20 minutes from New York City,” Mark Roldan said. “One of the big things that helps is we have a great group of girls who are very welcoming and have a great chemistry. A lot of our recruits fall in love with the campus and the Riverdale area. And certainly the school offers a lot as far as nursing, education and business. This is a great college and you can get a great degree here.”

The family feel to the Dolphins program is another big seller during recruiting season.

“I know a lot of the families are very happy with a husband and wife coaching the team because it gives it that family atmosphere,” Valerie Roldan said. “That’s one of the things parents are relieved about. They’re like, ‘It’s a family.’ So they are comfortable sending their kids here.”

It’s certainly a recruiting pitch no other program can offer a prospective recruit.

So far this season, the Roldans and their 18 player/daughters are off to a 3-1 start in the Skyline Conference and confidence is high that the season could end with a championship trophy residing on The Mount’s campus.

The last couple of years it’s come down to five top teams and we’ve all beaten each other at least once,” Mark Roldan said. “It’s all about who shows up for the playoffs and that’s who’s going to win. Farmingdale has won the last five or six [Skyline Conference] championships in a row so it was nice to beat them our first game of the season. We lost the second game to them but we feel good about splitting two games with them. We feel confident that this is our year and can certainly win the conference championship and that’s definitely our goal for the year.”

But until the Skyline Conference Tournament rolls around at the end of April, the Roldans, whose oldest daughter, Zee, is a senior softball player at Manhattan College while their youngest daughter, Christina, is a freshman at the David A. Stein Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy (M.S./H.S. 141), will continue to hit the road for their games, make cupcakes on players’ birthdays and, hopefully, pile up a bunch of wins in what they call their dream job.

“We definitely love it,” Mark Roldan said. “I say for the most part it’s very rewarding. It’s an exciting job but definitely not an easy job. It’s very tough at times. But we have a great group of girls and just seeing them succeed and how hard they work, with us helping with that it’s very rewarding.”

CMSV, Mark Roldan, Valerie Roldan, softball, Sean Brennan

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