Elaine Roque

Professor

“I think I have the best job in the world at SMC. I wear play clothes to work and I run and jump with great people all day.”

“Oh wow, mom! You teach with Elaine Roque?” said the young daughter of another SMC teacher recently. “You have GOT to introduce me to her!” Hers may not be a household name to everyone, but in homes where young women nurture dreams of being world-class athletes, Elaine Roque is bigger than life. And not just because she’s 5 feet 11 and a half.

“I actually grew an inch last year through doing yoga. And I’m still growing,” says the coach of the Lady Corsairs volleyball team and 1990 World Champion of the Women’s Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. But growing an extra inch or two is only a small part of the busy agenda Elaine keeps as a coach, sports personality and full-time PE instructor at SMC. Indeed her schedule gives a whole new meaning to the concept of “commuting.”

“Teaching enables me to still play professionally,” explains Elaine. “I have afternoons free for my own training and weekends I fly all over the U.S. to play in tournaments. I was in Puerto Rico one weekend and right back in school on Monday morning.”

Elaine played for a professional team in Italy for five seasons after going to UCLA on a Fulbright scholarship. And she brings the same enthusiasm that made her world champion to the classes she teaches at SMC. “I want my students to feel the ‘hardly-can-waits’ to get to my classes,” says Elaine. “I want them to learn to take care of themselves and feel good about their bodies forever. I had one gal who quit smoking after 15 years,” she continues. “Everybody has to do their own hard work to stay in shape. But I feel very fortunate to be part of the environment that helps them do that.”

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