Vince D’Adamo: What did you enjoy most about competing in athletics throughout your life?
Brandon LaRocco: I think the thing I enjoyed the most about athletics was the relationships you build with the guys you play. Many of my closest friends are still guys that I really got to know through athletics. Competition helps create bonds that last long after the season or your career is over.
D’Adamo: What have you been doing since graduating from high school?
LaRocco: I spent a few years at Solano Community College playing football before I transferred to U.C. Davis. Right around the time I graduated from Davis I got my first experience coaching which eventually led me to wanting to become a teacher. In 2012, I got married to my beautiful and supportive wife, Miranda, and in 2013 my daughter Payton was born.
D’Adamo: What was your favorite class at Justin-Siena High?
LaRocco: Mr. (Robert) Morrish's English class both my junior and senior year. Mrs. (Daphne) Birkmeyer's Human Physiology class is a close second.
D’Adamo: What was your favorite athletic moment "as an athlete" at Justin-Siena High?
LaRocco: When I played football at Justin we didn’t have the same kind of program that we do now, so I never got to play in a playoff game or for a league championship. On the other hand our Track team was very good, we were SCAL champions in 1996 and 1998. Beating Vanden in the league championship meet both of those years ranks pretty high for me since they were the only championships I won in high school.
D’Adamo: You have served a variety of different roles with Justin athletics since graduating, how much do you enjoy staying connected?
LaRocco: I love it. Justin-Siena athletics has been such a major part of my life for so long and I appreciate all that I have gotten out of it. One of the things I enjoy the most is connections you build with your athletes. Whether it was football or track I have built some really good friendships with kids that have remained strong long after many of them go off to college. I also love watching them compete and succeed at the next level. I have been fortunate enough to have a lot of the guys I coach be successful in college and there is a real satisfactions knowing you had some part, even if it's a small one, in their success playing college sports.
D’Adamo: How much do you feel you have grown personally since graduating from high school and how much of that do you trace to athletics?
LaRocco: I feel I have grown a lot since graduating high school, but in a lot of ways I am the same guy. I think most parents would agree that having a kid is the single most life changing experience you will have. Getting married has also helped me grow tremendously. My wife and I have opposite personalities so being together has really helped bring balance to both of our lives. Outside of family, my continued involvement in athletics has affected a lot of growth and change in my life. To be a successful coach you have to hard-working, organized, intelligent, and compassionate. My growth in all these areas can be directly attributed to all the time I have spent working with young athletes over the last 12 years.
D’Adamo: Within your family, who have been the most influential people?
LaRocco: My mom with regard to me teaching and coaching career, she just retired after 25 years as a teacher in the FSUSD (Fairfield Suisun Unified School District). I spent many hours working in her classroom as teenager (filling those Justin-Siena service hours) and she always encouraged me to become a teacher. Since teaching and coaching are really the same thing she is the person most responsible for me being where I am today.
D’Adamo: Name a historical figure, dead or alive, in or out of sports you would most like to meet.
LaRocco: Hard to choose one so I will give you two. I am originally from Chicago so I grew up a Bears fan, so to me there is no greater football player in history than Walter Payton. I admire the way the man approached the game and life. For a non-athlete I would have to pick President Theodore Roosevelt. Another man I admire for the way the he never backed down from a challenge and stood up for what he believed was right.
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