Jordan Rossell, tennis, track
Jordan Rossell is a man on a mission, one he has envisioned for himself for quite a long time.
While his mission has nothing to do with sports, if he is able to pull it off successfully, Rossell will have proven to be a teammate nonpareil.
You are reading about Rossell because he is a member of both the tennis and track teams at California High School, where he maintains a 4.0 GPA and hopes to turn a degree in exercise physiology into a medical career.
Rossell is California’s spring sports male selection in the Centennial Chevrolet Scholar/Athlete Spotlight program. The younger son of Stan and Robin Rossell of Coal Center, Jordan’s older brother, Jobie, who ran track in high school, is a junior at California (Pa.) University.
Just as interesting as playing two sports in the same season, Rossell plans to undertake a double major in college. He plans to go to West Virginia University to study exercise physiology and Spanish.
“My goal is to use exercise physiology as a pre-med degree, then hopefully go on to medical school or optometry school and be a doctor and speak Spanish,” Rossell explained. “With speaking Spanish, I’m getting there. I still make some mistakes, so I’m still learning. I have some friends in other countries that speak Spanish as well, so they are helping me. I really have to give a big shout out to (high school Spanish teacher) Senora (Kirsten) Betonte, she really knows her Spanish.”
Mastering Spanish is important to Rossell because of his true passion.
“I would love to volunteer for Doctors Without Borders,” he said. “It is a group where doctors will go to different areas overseas and they will practice medicine no matter where they are. It could be a natural disaster or a war, but they volunteer their time to help where needed.”
Athletically, Rossell is not afraid to try new things, either. That is how he ended up on the tennis team.
“Tennis and track are in the same season, so I go from one to the other,” Rossell said. “I’ve run track longer. This is my first season of playing tennis, but I really, really, really enjoy tennis. “They needed players for the tennis team and a good friend of mine (Austin Sutch) is on the team. They kind of just asked for players. I came with the thought that if they need me to be the seventh player, I’ll stick with it. It turns out they didn’t really need me, we ended up with nine players and only seven play, but I found out that I really liked the sport. Now, I wish I had played it all four years because it’s a lot of fun.”
But he didn’t want to let down his track teammates, either. “I throw the shot put and discus for the track team,” Rossell said. “I’ve been close in the discus (to qualifying for WPIALs), so hopefully this year will be the year.”
His dad, a Cal graduate and former baseball player for the Trojans, and an aunt provide athletic motivation for Jordan. His medical juices got flowing through a family friend.
“My dad was active in sports when he was younger and wants the same for me. He was my baseball coach for years growing up. He played here, graduated in 1984,” Rossell said. “My Aunt Annie Davis is my dad’s sister. She was always physically active, whether she was training for a triathlon or some other event. But now, she is into cross-fit.
“The only influence I’ve had in exercise physiology or optometry is Dr. Carla Mariscotti, an optometrist in Harrisburg,” Rossell said. “She is related to me through marriage and I’ve called her aunt my whole life, but she’s not really my aunt. She has had a big influence on me going into medicine.”
And once Rossell sets his mind to something … well, you get the picture.