Morgan Hill resident playing in FIL World Lacrosse
Championships.
All Paul Rousseve wanted to do was play lacrosse. His first sport of choice was soccer, the same game almost every kid from Morgan Hill tries at least once, but Rousseve felt a stronger connection to lacrosse the moment he was introduced to it.
“It just fit me,” he recalled. “My friends started playing it, so we all started playing together. Everything sort of snow-balled from there.”
It was not a question of if he would play lacrosse in high school. It was a question of how. In the early 2000s, the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. was scantly offered at the prep level on the West Coast, including at Rousseve’s high school, Bellarmine College Prep. So, Rousseve and his buddies started their own team. It became a varsity program by their senior year in 2004 and continues to grow.
Organizing the first Bellarmine team remained the high point of Rousseve’s lacrosse career until last winter when he was asked to play in the upcoming FIL World Lacrosse Championships in England for Team Mexico, another program he helped build.
How did I get here?
Rousseve, 23, will likely ask himself that question Friday as he suits up for Mexico’s international debut against Sweden at Manchester University.
At 5-foot-7, 165 pounds with light skin and a John Belushi beard, the stocky Rousseve appears as Mexican as apple pie. His Spanish is terrible. His last name is French. His only tie to Latin America is through his grandmother, Hortensia, who was born in Sonora, Mexico. But not of that mattered to Rousseve 10 months ago when he joined a team of Mexican-American players and coaches, some of whom he met through his club in Palo Alto, on a tour of exhibitions to spread lacrosse in Mexico City and continue shaping a possible national team. The group was headed by Team Mexico conceptualizer Iliad Rodriguez, a San Jose resident who has played and coached at the high school, college and club level. They rendezvoused with a team of Mexican players organized by Jose Luis Espinosa, the director of Federación Mexicana de Lacrosse, and were set to scrimmage at several locations in the city. Fans were encouraged to watch.
On one hand, Rousseve can count the number of times he had traveled to Mexico before then. He had been to vacation spots near the coast but never this far south of the border.
“I wasn’t nervous being down there,” Rousseve said. “As far as communication goes, lacrosse is its own language, like any sport. You don’t have to speak the same language to play as a team.
“People that came to watch us knew what we were about. The reception exceeded my expectations. They didn’t know much about lacrosse, but they love sports. It was really encouraging.”
The first game was played before roughly 300 hundred fans at the national university in Mexico City. Rousseve scored three goals and was greeted by autograph seekers afterward.
“I didn’t know what they were saying to me,” he said. “They just came up to me with our team posters and pens. It was a trip.”
The second exhibition was at a smaller private university. It drew a festive crowd of about 50.
“Everyone we met was thrilled about the sport,” said Rodriguez, who will coach Team Mexico in England alongside Archbishop Mitty lacrosse coach Carlos Trujillo. “Soccer is their sport, no question, but they’re looking for something else. Lacrosse brings everything. It’s fast paced, high scoring and hard hitting.
“Mexico does not go small with anything. They want to be competitive in every sport. They want to show they’re very strong and one of the best. They’ve very leery about stepping forward and doing something if they’re not going to show up well.”
Three lacrosse clubs were organized during the tour, and two more have since sprouted up. In late December, Team Mexico earned official standing by the FIL and was invited to the World Championships.
“It’s really amazing how fast the sport grew,” Team Mexico defenseman Roberto Zuniga of San Rafael said. “We were wondering what the future held. First, we wanted to get recognized by FIL then get to the World Championships. We did that in less than a year. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”
Rousseve never pictured wearing his regal red, white and green No. 9 jersey while touring Mexico. He just wanted to “play some more lacrosse and be a part of starting something special,” like he did at Bellarmine.
After high school, Rousseve’s lacrosse career dwindled during stops at five different colleges. He spent his last three semesters at San Jose State University where he met some of his current teammates with the Palo Alto Ducks.
“The club league in the Bay Area is actually one of the more competitive ones in the country,” he said. “Lacrosse on the West Coast is nowhere near what it is on the East Coast, but we still get some of the best players out here. Some of them are former Division I All-Americans and former Team USA players. It’s tough playing against them, but, if you want to be the best, you have to hang with them.”
Rousseve’s rejuvenated passion for lacrosse did not go unnoticed. After Team Mexico was formed and approved to play in England, the squad was granted a small number of roster exemptions for players born or living outside Mexico. Rousseve was asked to join at midfield.
“He was a driving force to bring the sport to Mexico,” said Rodriguez, who first laid the groundwork for Team Mexico in 2008.
“He’s one of those guys that will do anything for the group,” said 44-year-old teammate Juan Marquez de la Platta. “He’s a good, versatile player with a lot of speed, and he’s a young guy – but everyone on the team is young to me.”
Rousseve has never felt more connected to his sport or his culture. Though he would prefer to play for the U.S. if his talent permitted (the Americans are among the favorites to win this year’s 30-team World Cup of lacrosse), he is just as eager to be a part of history for Mexico.
“This is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” said Rousseve, who, today coaches the junior varsity team at Bellarmine and is a substitute teach in Morgan Hill Unified School District. “It’s not only to get in touch with my roots but also to do something special for the people of Mexico. I think my ancestors would be proud. My grandmother is.”
NOTE: Coverage of this year’s tournament can be found by visiting 2010worldlacrosse.com.
