MENDEZ READY FOR HIS NEXT CHALLENGE

New Hilltop JV coach won’t allow disability be a barrier

Rob Mendez has a way of making strangers feel comfortable.

How do you greet a man with tetraamelia syndrome, a birth defect that prevents limb growth in the womb and has left him with no arms or legs? There are as few as seven known cases in the world.

“Give me a fist bump,” he says, nodding to his shoulder.

Ice broken.

Mendez, 34, has never let his physical condition be a barrier.

He also has severe scoliosis, and has neck pain because he uses his neck like a limb.

He gets around in a specially designed chair, but often needs help from players and coaches to navigate Hilltop’s multilevel campus.

He operates his chair and cellphone with his nose and lips.

He writes and draws with his mouth.

And he has a strong, commanding

voice.

“In life, you can roll sevens or you can have pocket aces,” Mendez said. “You do the best with the hand you’re dealt.

“Complaining is the No. 1 poison.”

Mendez’s first love was baseball.

His father and grandfather both played the game, and he’s extremely close to his family.

Football, a game he learned from playing “Madden” and being around the game as a child, is now his passion.

He worked as an assistant coach at Prospect High in the Northern California town of Saratoga, but fell in love

with San Diego on a visit and landed a job at Hilltop High, where he is the head JV coach.

“You can learn an awful lot by getting out of your comfort zone,” Mendez said. “I was comfortable in Northern California, but things worked out here as far as housing, care and finances. The timing was right.”

Mendez lives downtown and loves the vibe, the shops and restaurants. He loves that he’s 20 minutes from the high school and 20 minutes from North County.

“It’s easy to get from Point A to Point B in San Diego,” Mendez said.

But when he decided to make the move, Mendez had no idea where he’d land.

He called Tyler Arciaga at Bonita Vista, but Arciaga had a full staff.

Arciaga told Mendez to try Hilltop, where Bryan Wagner was in his first year and was putting together a staff.

“We met and talked,” said Wagner, who played at Hilltop and spent nine years in the NFL as a punter with the Bears, Patriots, Packers, Browns and Chargers. “The key for me was that the conversation wasn’t all about him. It was about the kids and how he could help.

“I liked the fact that with Rob there are no excuses. He’s an inspiration with what he has overcome. You can’t look at Rob and feel sorry for yourself because you sprained a finger.

“Plus, he knows football.”

Sophomore JV player Ignacio Mondragon agrees.

“Coach Mendez shocked everyone with his knowledge of the game,” Mondragon said. “He brings a lot of energy. And he’s committed.

“He’s very respectful of his players. He’s kind of hyper, but he’s a great motivator. He has created a family atmosphere in a very short time.”

Mendez’s JV team is 1-1 after a 6-0 win Saturday against Bonita Vista. The coronavirus-shortened season ends this week with a game at Montgomery.

Watch Mendez on the sidelines, and he’s involved.

Watch him interact with his players, and it’s obvious he has their respect.

“I’m not going to lie, when I first saw Coach Mendez, I said ‘Oh, my!’ ” said freshman JV player Giovanny Chavez.

“But once I heard him speak, once I saw him coach, I knew we had a good one. I’ve had a lot of coaches — good and bad. Coach Mendez is one of the good ones.”

Like Mondragon, Chavez says Mendez stresses a team must be family.

“Coach Mendez wants us to be good to each other, help each other,” Chavez said. “He wants us to work as a team, not as a bunch of individuals.

“I’ve learned a lot about football from him, but I certainly see what I’ve learned from him helping me in life.”

Mendez has done dozens of radio and TV interviews.

He’s in demand as a motivational

“The biggest thing Rob, any coach, needs to learn is that you can’t coach everything you know,” Wagner said. “He knows a lot about the game, so do I. But kids just can’t absorb everything you know.

“It takes about three years for a new coach to put a program and a staff together. I came to Hilltop from Sweetwater. It took time to build things at Sweetwater. We’re putting in a new offense, a new defense here. So it will take time.

“No question, Rob can be a varsity coach, but he needs to learn the ropes. As the head varsity coach, you oversee the entire program. You hire a staff, varsity, JV and freshmen. You deal with administrators, parents.

“He can do it, and I hope he comes back next season and keeps learning.”