LA JOLLA, Calif. – "It's been cold, so I haven't been spending as much time outside." Jace Roquemore motions towards a window. As of writing, San Diego is amidst a series of rain storms, gray skies, strong winds. Usually, he enjoys outside activities— "Normally, I just really like going outside, sitting by the water, you know." San Diego's a great place for that. 
 
This affinity for the water recalls childhood nostalgia, his reason for attending UC San Diego: "Me and my family would always come to San Diego for vacation, so it was just kind of a place I was super fond of already. The opportunity to attend came up and I just decided it was right." In terms of campus geography— the placement of UC San Diego along marbled cliff-sides and stunning waters— Jace thinks that "the location for everyone is always one of the biggest pieces. One of the biggest pieces." 
 
Jace tells me about living in Vegas, growing up with older siblings, "following in their footsteps, them creating a path for me. In terms of my family, it was always every time and anytime we did anything competitive. It was always 'I'm going to win. I'm going to win.' Going to the beach and playing volleyball and all that." There was constant friendly competition, a dynamic which constitutes some of his closest and most tight-knit bonds. 
 
With the passage of time, these familial relationships shift while maintaining strength. "Both of my siblings are older, so my sister's 25 and my brother's… 30? Is he 30? Yeah, he's 30. Which is crazy. My sister's getting married, starting her own family, so I'm kind of the last one," Jace answers, when asked if his siblings are still playing basketball. "My parents come down to all the games if they can. And my sister's soon-to-be husband, his family, is actually from around here. So they come down a bunch and stay with him and we meet up, and it's a lot of fun." I use the term 'carrying the torch' to describe his relationship with the sport in that regard, but it's very much in the sequence of a natural progression. His family has branched out, but their heart for basketball, for one another, remains rooted. The currents of their love and admiration for one another stay appreciable. 
 
In the advent of this weather, environmental constraints are palpable, cleaving his interests cleanly in half: outdoors and indoors. Indoors: "I watch a lot of anime. I watch a ton of anime." Japanese animation. A door which was opened to many during quarantine, to many more much longer before then. There's a brief digression to "normal TV"— laugh— he's "really into Peaky Blinders. I've seen it already, but I'm re-watching it, and it's so good. That and Rick and Morty. Rick and Morty is one of my favorites." 
 
In terms of anime, he can't pick favorites. Even the list of one's he's currently watching spans beyond what he can name off the top of his head: "My Hero Academia, One Piece, Blue Lock, The Misfit of Demon Academy. Nah, but I'm into, I'm into all of them. I've seen almost every major title, all the old school ones." Evidently, his knowledge of this animation genre is deep. I ask him if it's tedious catching up on One Piece so many episodes in, and he says: "But it's so good. It's really good. I think I'm on episode 1080." He doesn't watch the episodes right as they come out, but he's always there soon enough. A thousand episodes and counting. 
 
"I don't know if you can see that behind me"— he points to a wall— "This right here. It's like a wood panel with characters on it. I made it over quarantine because I was super bored, and I needed something to do." It's artwork on a wooden canvas, depicting the profiles of different anime characters in manifold colorways. Quarantine, being the unprecedented, tumultuous affair it was, still encouraged his mind to explore, to create newness. He moves closer to the artwork: "Killua, from Hunter x Hunter is up here, Meliodas from Seven Deadly Sins. And Ban from Seven Deadly Sins. Todoroki from My Hero, Goku from Dragon Ball, Luffy from One Piece, and then a bunch of Naruto characters. Those are probably my favorite, for sure." These are all characters from series I'm familiar with as well. Many from shounen anime, and across the shows and subgenre the same themes appear: Magic. Companionship. Doubt beyond what seems possible for one to recover from. Perseverance. Transcendence.  
 
He thinks about the thematic elements, storylines which resonate with him, and extracts a pattern: "A lot of them are the same. It's like, an underdog at first, but he comes into some power that's hard to control. I really like when there's a certain responsibility to having your power. There are a lot of people who have the ability to do something but don't, you know? If someone who grew up poor, or"— bringing it closer to the world of anime— "someone with no powers comes into powers, keeps in mind how they felt when they were poor, when they had no powers, then acts on that to help younger kids. That really resonates with me." He places an emphasis on the importance of inheriting power but remembering to wield it for good. The past's positive effect on the future. These are the storylines, the character arcs that most strongly resonate with him. These are the themes which fragment like light, glowing across the ways he carries himself through the world, through his relationships. 
 
When asked if he has an academic mantra, he says, "My parents used to say, you know, 'No matter how good you are at basketball, you won't be able to play if your grades aren't good.' They definitely drilled that into me from when I was super young. So I was prepared coming into college already, and that definitely helped." He knows there's an artful balance to strike as a student athlete, one which is as difficult to manage as it is ubiquitous. "The biggest thing is always just time management. Being a student in and of itself is very hard, and being an athlete is hard as well. So doing those things together, you have to be real time efficient." He points to the timeless nature of this balancing act— "For most of the people who play collegiate sports, school and the sport has been there their entire life. It's not necessarily new. It's just on a bigger scale." 
 
One word of "general wisdom" he gives for the transition to that bigger scale "is find someone who knows what they're doing. I feel like the hardest thing is coming in and being overwhelmed with information and things you have to do. So finding someone, whether it be a coach, or a fellow player, or just a regular student. Having someone that's been where you want to go." Making sure to follow the footsteps of those that have walked the path before yourself. 
 
"In terms of school, me and one of my teammates, Jake Kosakowski, we came in together and kind of figured this thing out"— he tells me more about the development of his relationships with team members, staff, and coaches— "Some trial and error along the way. One of my coaches, Coach Allard, he was super helpful in all of the school aspects, making sure I understood my degree audit, what I needed to graduate. And then just some older guys, some older teammates I knew who were just helping me here and there." In terms of coming into college with a strong support system, and then forming a similarly strong support system at UCSD, he says, "Yes. Definitely. Definitely," to both. 
 

Jace sees the theme of responsibility, of leading, reflected most clearly in his role on the UCSD men's basketball team. He gives me a little insight as to his philosophy on responsibility, moving away from the media he watches and into his everyday practice. "Being responsible, there are just certain people who get it right. They don't have to be told to do the things that they're supposed to do. So once you master something like that, you can be really helpful to other people. Just being able to put someone in the right places, make the right connections, I feel like that's something I'm typically pretty good at." He sees importance in being receptive, acting as the calming, measured presence that people can endear themselves to naturally and without pressure. 
 
I ask him if he sees himself necessarily in that mentor position for newer members of the team, and he says: "I feel like it's hard to take a step back and say for sure while you're currently doing it. So maybe. But I'm just trying to be there for people. I'm not someone who'll actively ask you if you need help, point out that I saw you struggling. But if someone comes up to me and asks me, 'Hey can you help me with this?' Then one hundred percent." He places a continued emphasis on balance and creating a hospitable environment for those next up, for those new to both the geography of college as well as its matrix of human relations. For this, openness is crucial, and through it, his advisory can shine with heightened clarity. 
 
He shares how it was initially, leaving his family and pursuing college: "It was pretty hard. It was pretty hard, actually. My first year of college was pretty rough. Just coming to a new place, and then basketball, and then COVID, it was kind of like everything was just stumbling on top of each other, you know?" He understands the complexity of making the transition to college, which, for many, marks the transition away from what they've always known as home. It often transcends the academic. It bleeds into the personal. It colors everything in the landscape. 
 
On persevering— "It's definitely a balance. I'd like to think I'm a pretty independent person, to begin with. But there was definitely some homesickness. You miss out on a lot of things when your family's all in one place and you're not." There is always a part of oneself that can't help but wander back to home; the longing seems healthy and human. 
 
But he also emphasizes the significance of his college relationships in keeping him grounded: "I met some really cool people out here. I think one of the better things about getting away from your home while going to school is the atmosphere, the different social settings that you'll be put in. There are tons of people here that I want to stay friends with or strengthen my connections with, because you never know. Someone you met in, you know, your cognitive science class could be the next Elon Musk or something, so I try to be open to everyone. What you put in is what you get out of it." He sees friendship as a reciprocal affair, teamwork— a balance of efforts. And through this he approaches the relationships he comes across with understanding, maturity and responsibility. The development of these new bonds help him see the world in a positive color, in its diverse potential for connectivity, wherever he goes. 
 

He imagines himself "just enjoying San Diego" his last quarters before graduation. "My first three years were super affected by COVID. I mean, I've done a decent amount, but mostly just exploring the city, having fun, honestly." That means more beaches, more exploration— more living for oneself, living in the moment. There's no getting lost time back, only living every moment like it's in danger of being lost. He knows he's going for his Master's degree; everything else he'll take in stride. 
 
Whatever the future holds, he envisions basketball as a part of it. "When I go get my Master's degree, I'll still be playing basketball. I still have a couple more years of eligibility, so I'll definitely be playing basketball." Some things stay, some things continue to develop; that's the beauty of the new stage of life he'll be entering. He holds ambivalence and anticipation towards his new path, this uncharted territory. There are some motifs, some arcs, storylines, which follow him for good: it's about taking life as it goes, staying true to what motivates him. Staying true to himself. 
 
I ask him about graduation, and he says, "What is that, June or July? I'm really looking forward to that." 
 
Above all, there's anticipation. 
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.