This time around, Rafael ‘Rafa’ Urbina, the 6-foot-6 setter playing for the Adams 12 District team based at Legacy High School, doesn’t have a prior commitment on his schedule.
The past three years, he’s been part of USA Volleyball’s National Team Development Program during state tournament week, including playing for his country last year at the Under 19 NORCECA Continental Championships.
“I’m looking forward to having my first, and last, ride at state this year,” Urbina said.
Legacy, coached by Rafa’s father, Jorge, is 14-0 and ranked No. 2 in Class 5A in the CHSAA rankings that were released on Monday. The Lightning and the rest of the boys volleyball players in the state are pointing towards the postseason, which begins in early May and culminates with the two-class state tournament May 8 through 10 at Trojan Arena in Fountain.
“We’re looking to hopefully bring home the state championship,” Rafa said. “We’ll see. It’s going to be tough, but I think we could do it.”
Said Jorge: “We have a chance. We have to play well. Anything can happen on any day and in any game.”
Certainly having one of the best players in the country available will help. In case you missed it a few paragraphs earlier, Rafa plays setter at 6-6. And it’s not just his height, it’s his overall skill that impacts matches.
He was named “Best Setter” at the NORCECA (North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands) Tournament last May while leading Team USA to the championship, which qualified the team for the U19 World Championships this summer in Uzbekistan.
Rafa started playing volleyball competitively around age 11 and made the transition to full-time setter at about 14.
“What I told him is that the setter position is the quarterback of the game,” Jorge said. “With a good volleyball IQ and being able to process and make fast decisions, you have a chance of being the best. He’s taken that and evolved with that.”
Before long, Rafa’s skills emerged.
“We started implementing a top-level offense,” Jorge said, referring to the club team that he also coaches. “Anybody can put a ball up, but can you make it faster and locate it? That’s what separates an elite setter from a regular setter. … He’s always been good at it. In 14s, when his hands were getting stronger and he could consistently put the ball in locations with tempo, I started seeing that he had a chance to be a very good setter. … Because he was already setting like a 17-year-old.”
Colorado isn’t known as a hotbed for boys volleyball talent, but Rafa has elevated himself to elite status. In addition to his work for the national team, he has signed to play at UCLA, simply the most dominant men’s collegiate program.
“When they first reached out, I think it was a prank, that one of my buddies was messing with me,” Rafa said. “They knew it was my dream, so there were a lot of thoughts going through my mind. … But they were really interested and so it was really cool.”
Jorge Urbina, originally from El Salvador, played volleyball at City College of New York, and wife Lauren played at Rhode Island. They met in 1995, married in 2004, and moved to Colorado in 2009. Their daughter, Rafa’s sister Alexandra, plays beach volleyball for Division I Santa Clara.
“I started playing soccer, basketball, the more traditional American sports, when I was young, but I grew up watching my sister and her team play,” Rafa said. “We’re super competitive, and I wanted to be better than her. … Going into fifth grade, my mom asked me if I wanted to try out for (club) and I said, ‘Why not?’”
Jorge began coaching the club team the following year, and Rafa’s game continued to improve.
Eventually, a few years ago, an e-mail came inviting Rafa to join the National Team Development Program for a summer camp. Even if you’re in Colorado, if you’re good enough, they’ll find you.
“Some of it is that they want to see kids who are big fish in small ponds,” Rafa said. “Sometimes they’ll take a gamble on kids. … So, yeah, people are surprised (that he’s from Colorado). They’ll ask how I got so good and who was my coach. And I tell them it’s my pops.”
Rafa soon showed that he wasn’t a fish out of water.
“It was the top kids (in the country), and they continued to put me with the best kids, and I was setting the best players,” Rafa said. “That made me feel good.”
The Urbinas are hopeful that yet another annual invitation will come for him to train in early June with the NTDP in Anaheim, Calif., with the potential to make the U19 team that will play in the World Championships.
“You have to show that you can keep growing,” Jorge said. “They give you feedback and they want to see improvement.”
Rafa made the U19 team and earned top setter accolades at 16, in his first-ever Team USA experience – the U19 level is the entry point for USA Volleyball.
“It was crazy,” Rafa said. “A couple days ago I was looking through all the video from the matches and thinking, ‘That really happened.’ It doesn’t seem real. And I want it to keep happening. I have to keep getting better. We have high hopes of medaling this summer – no team from the U.S. has medaled at the U19 World Championships.”
Meanwhile, Rafa’s routine – lifting weights three days a week, practicing every day and with matches typically on Tuesdays and Thursdays – continues.
“When I have down time, I’ll just watch volleyball,” Rafa said. “I’ll watch pro leagues, the national team. … I just watch those guys compete. I always want to get better, and you can’t do that without always learning.”
Down the road, of course, Rafa hopes to play for the U.S. in at least one of the next four Olympics. The U.S. typically has a veteran squad, with players staying in the program well into their 30s.
“I’ve kind of mapped it out in my head,” Rafa said. “By 2040, that’s the benchmark. One of those four Olympics, I want to be there. It’s looking promising. If I keep following the path that I’m on, I would eventually get there.”
Next, though, is the hoped-for entry into the state tournament, this time with Rafa in the lineup.
“Last year we were really good, so it was tough,” Rafa said. “But all these camps are for the main goal, and last year was the biggest thing – representing the National Team to qualify for the World Championships. It’s been tough, but it’s for something much bigger.”
Meanwhile, the sport’s popularity is catching on locally, as CHSAA will support a two-class state tournament for the first time, with 84 programs in place around the state.
“His achievements, his commitment to UCLA volleyball, his representing the United States, our hope is to help grow the sport even more,” Jorge said. “It’s a good sport, a fun sport. You build relationships and it brings positives in life.”
In their neighborhood, there’s a beach volleyball court – Rafa says that’s the best way to develop, because all skills are required – and boys are figuring out what the sport has to offer.
“It’s growing,” Rafa said. “Kids will come up to me and say, ‘Bro, I played volleyball on this beach court and it’s so fun.’ And I say, ‘What have I been saying?’”