Fourteen years after graduating, the former baseball player and entrepreneur brings his expertise back to the University of Tampa’s strength and conditioning program.
TAMPA, Fla. – Had the Midwest Sliders made the postseason in 2009, Roberto Mena would not have been available to help the Frontier League team in its pursuit of a championship. The infielder, who hit .285 that season for the Michigan-based club, was pursuing something far more important later that summer, and that was beginning his final year of college so that he could graduate the following spring.
“I told the team that if we make it to the playoffs, ‘I am sorry, I cannot play because I have one year, fall semester and spring semester, before I graduate,’” he recalled. “That’s what I did.”
READ: Tampa Spartans’ 10th National Title Was A Battle Of Endurance
There is something else Mena did, and that was return to the University of Tampa 14 years after graduating with his degree in exercise science. The 40-year-old native of Puerto Rico returned to his alma last August to lead the athletic department’s strength and conditioning department.
Playing a vital role among student-athletes within in the confines of the Bob Martinez Athletics Center is something Mena felt would happen at some point following a baseball career that concluded in 2010 at age 25. His final season was with the Joliet (Ill.) Jackhammers of the Northern League, which like the Frontier League is an independent circuit.
“I always felt, when I was playing baseball here, that I would end up being the strength coach,” said Mena, whose career totaled four seasons, including two in the Mariners’ and Astros’ systems. “I had a great experience here, and really good strength coaches. I always felt that this is where I belonged.”
Post-Playing Career
Mena began building a career as a strength coach in Connecticut, where he moved with his now-wife, Kate, who he met at UT in 2010 following his season in Joliet. Armed with his degree, he visited a baseball facility in North Haven, about 30 miles south of Hartford. That is where he literally started a business from scratch – “the owner and I cleaned out a closet where we put equipment” – that became known as Over the Top Athletes, which has physical and mental performance programs and classes in a 6,000 square foot facility.
READ: Jordan Williams, C.J. Williams Among Transfers Leading UT Spartans Back To College World Series
Mena’s resume expanded to include being the head strength and conditioning coach at the high school and collegiate levels, the latter with Post University in Waterbury, Conn.
“I initially went up there with the mentality that I would be there for the winter and still play baseball in the spring,” he said.
It did not work out that way as the 2010 season in Joliet would be Mena’s last as a professional ballplayer. The other part of the equation worked out very well, though, and ultimately led to a reunion with UT.
“I founded my own weight room and at one point I had two weight rooms,” he said, having opened one in Hartford in addition to the facility in North Haven. “The whole time I remained connected to UT baseball. Once you are a part of UT baseball, you are always a part.”
UT’s Family Atmosphere
Mena spent a year at a JUCO in Texas before arriving at UT in 2006. Though he was still learning English having been in the States for only a year at that point, he quickly understood how head coach Joe Urso, pitching coach Sam Militello and the rest of the staff cared about their players, their program and their university.
“They really do care about you first as a person and then as a player,” he said. “That was something that was very, very clear. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and I had an aunt in Orlando, but they knew I was alone (in Tampa). They were always, always there for me.”
Urso and Militello, both Tampa natives, also had professional baseball backgrounds. The former played and managed in the Angels’ system and the latter pitched for the Yankees before coaching in the then-Devil Rays and Indians systems. They began coaching at UT in fall 2000.
“They played professional baseball, and that was my dream,” said Mena. “They know how that works, how it really is.”
Urso advised Mena on weighing signing a free agent deal after his first season with the Spartans versus continuing to play at UT. The message was simple: you are likely to be drafted anyway, so why not continue with your education.
Sure enough, Mena was drafted by the Mariners in the 19th round following the 2007 season. That was his second and final season with the Spartans, both resulting in national championships. Close to receiving his degree, Mena spent the next couple of years balancing pro baseball and education with emphasis on the latter so that he could graduate in 2010, by which time he was ready to embark on a post-playing career that ultimately brought him back to Tampa last August.
Indeed, Mena’s story offers much to be passed along and learned among aspiring baseball players, and student-athletes in general. He is eager to help in a manner consistent with the counsel he received from Urso and Militello nearly two decades ago.
“They still are like parent figures,” he said. “When I was in Connecticut, I would call and tell them they are still coaching us (former players). With social media, we could see what they were doing as a coach, as a father and as a parent. For me it was huge, because I am now a dad (of eight-year-old Lily and five-year-old Roberto III). The people that coached me in baseball are still coaching me in life. The difference now is that they are down the hall.”
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Connect with us: Follow the Tampa Free Press on Facebook and Twitter for breaking news and updates.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox.
