Nov. 1, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - Francisco Velazquez graduated from Saint Joseph's University in May of 2005; however, you can still find him on the tennis court when it's time for the team to practice. But he is not the only Velazquez preparing for drills. His younger sister, Stephania Velazquez, a junior at SJU, also is ready for practice and to lead her team to win another victory. It is not uncommon for siblings to attend SJU, but rarely is a brother coaching a sister. And, seldom do students have such an interesting background as Francisco and Stephania.

While most of the students from SJU are filling up their gas tanks to ride home or boarding a train, Francisco and Stephania fly to the southwest region of the Caribbean Sea and land in Aruba, the island they call home. Both grew up on the island and decided to come to the United States for a better education in the medical field. However, many years before college applications passed their way; summer camp information grasped their attention. Mr. and Mrs. Velazquez placed Franc in a tennis summer camp and Stephania and their brother, Ricardo, were able to watch him practice and play in matches. Within time, all three Velazquez siblings were swinging rackets and running around on the court, falling in love with the sport. "We always had hitting partners," jokes Franc.

Franc decided to leave his tropical paradise in pursuit of a good education, which brought him to SJU. He majored in Interdisciplinary Health Services and minored in Psychology while he played on the men's tennis team during his college career. He played both Singles and Doubles and helped aid the team to the A-10 conference, the highest achievement of the men's tennis team at SJU. Coach Al Laveson, his former coach and now the man he assistant coaches with, says "It was a plus we had him...he'd be a good coach," when talking about Franc's personality. Now with the two Velazquez' he says "It was a plus we had one, now we have two. They are both class acts; good personalities, good sportsmanship, and good communicators." Stephania started her tennis career on the island of Aruba as well, and followed in her older brother's footsteps by leaving Aruba for the United States. She attended the University of Louisville in Kentucky for two years, where she played tennis and studied pre-med. After two years in Kentucky she transferred to SJU in search of a more renowned medical program and to have more playing time on the court. She has been an asset to the team this season, helping the team with their nine wins so far. Her father was able to watch her match on Sept. 13th when the Hawks soared over the Villanova Wildcats with a 4-3 win, the first in 29 years!

Franc loves assistant coaching and watching his athletes do well against competitive teams like Villanova and LaSalle. He doesn't think of coaching his sister as something too special, "It's not weird; she's just a player on the team," he says. He is currently studying to get his Master's degree in health education and administration and can coach during the afternoons. His father is a medical analyst and has his own practice, and his mother used to analyze blood samples, perhaps this explains why both Franc and Stephania are ironically studying in the genre of medicine as well as playing tennis together. He's enjoying their time together on the court and thinks "for some reason it all came together. She was looking for a good school, we needed tennis players, and Laveson was happy to have her...the opportunity just arose." Laveson is surely glad to have both players working for him, "they are a class act and a wonderful family."