Supporting Sunnyside HS alum Bravo-Young at Olympics 'means the world' for Tucson trainer 'Jet' Rodriguez

Behind every Olympic-caliber athlete is a trainer and coach helping out with day-to-day preparation.

For Tucson native Roman Bravo-Young, his right-hand man and coach for the Olympics in Paris is fellow southsider Bobby Rodriguez, the founder of JET Sports Training in Tucson.

Bravo-Young is wrestling for Mexico in the 57-kilogram weight class (between 125 and 126 pounds). The former Sunnyside High School star’s grandparents were born in Mexico, and he has dual citizenship. The Olympics are the next chapter in Bravo-Young’s illustrious wrestling career, which includes an unblemished 182-0 record and four state championships at Sunnyside and two national championships at Penn State. Olympic wrestling officially begins Monday afternoon in Paris.

Rodriguez, a former Sunnyside football player and Arizona Wildcat, has been working with Bravo-Young for several years and takes pride in mentoring athletes from an often overlooked community in sports.

“I had the luxury of getting coached up by great coaches,” Rodriguez said. “As a youth, I did wrestling and there was a feeder program in middle school at Sunnyside with (former Sunnyside High School wrestling coach Bobby DeBerry), and he was really hands-on with me as a youth. Then I stopped wrestling once I got to Sunnyside to focus on football. Coach DeBerry never stopped being my mentor and coach. To this day, we have a great relationship and coach.

“Then (former Sunnyside football coach Richard Sanchez) came into the picture and had a huge impact on my life. The values those coaches put on me, I put on with our athletes and staff.”

When Rodriguez started JET Sports Training, he “wanted to be an impact for people, because I also work with the general population.”

“I wanted to teach values. Fitness, training, whatever you want to call it, it changed my life. It’s a part of my life. I almost get grumpy if I don’t do something physical every day. ... It’s almost like a religion. I just wanted to spread the word and say, ‘Hey, this stuff is good for you and it could change your life, and if you want to go to the Olympics, let’s do it. But if you want to feel better at work or as a parent, let’s do that, too.’ That’s how it came about.”

Rodriguez, who’s currently in Paris, said Bravo-Young “is in good spirits” leading up to his Olympic debut.

“Roman is in a good state of mind and we’re just ready to get the show rolling,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez joined ESPN Tucson’s “Spears and Ali” leading up to the Olympics. Here’s a portion of that conversation (which has been lightly edited):

What does it mean for you and Bravo-Young to compete at the Olympics?

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A: “It’s cliché, but it means the world. At the end of the day, no one sees the day-to-day work he puts into himself and his craft. The discipline that he has on the daily is almost unmatched.

“He did what he did in high school and won his four (state) titles, undefeated and goes on to Penn State, wins multiple team titles and two individual national titles, then went, ‘OK, what’s next?’ Obviously the world stage is next.

“His work ethic is unmatched.”

At this stage of his life, it’s clear Bravo-Young is one of the best in the world and knows what he’s doing, so are you more of a mental coach than a trainer?

A: “We have more of a brother-to-brother relationship more than a coach-to-athlete relationship.

“People always ask me, when it comes to wrestling, ‘What does he think about this? Or what about that?’ To be frank, we hardly talk wrestling. We may have a conversation or two about wrestling, but we usually just talk about life and not worrying about what’s ahead.

“Obviously everyone wants to win. That’s natural. Everyone wants to win the gold medal, silver, bronze or whatever that looks like. Roman does a good job of focusing on controlling what he can control. He knows he wants to win.

“But going back to his work ethic, he just stays in control of what he can control, which is the daily work he puts in. When it comes to him and I, working together, we’ll get our work in when it comes to the physical part, but other than that, we can detach. We really like watching and talking about UFC and things like that. He’s really good at detaching. I think that’s good for athletes.”

What’s your role working with Bravo-Young in Paris?

A: “Even though it’s an individual sport, every coach has to play their role. If it’s, ‘Hey, we gotta cut three pounds in the sauna, I’m jumping in with him. We gotta get on the bike? Let’s do it. If I gotta be a take-down dummy for an hour, I’m going to do it.’

“At this point, I’m just playing my role as part of the team and help in any aspect that I can. He doesn’t need any rah-rah quotes or speeches, he knows what to get done. If he needs me, I’m there. Sometimes if we just need to sit in a room quietly, then that’s what I gotta do.”

As a trainer, how much pride do you take in witnessing the success of the athletes you’re working with?

A: “I take a lot of pride in that, because it’s a village. To say I’m a part of this athlete’s village, it’s an honor. In a way, it’s good pressure because you have to make sure you’re taking care of them. You can’t do bogus stuff as far as training techniques and methods with them. They’re almost like a supercar. You have to really, really take care of them or else they’ll get ran into the ground. Being really selective with how you program and different methods in training is very important at the end of the day.”