New Kids on the Block is a recurring series featuring student-athletes that are new to UTRGV this year to allow everyone to get to know the next generation of Vaqueros.
 
Name: Rafael J. (RJ) Ochoa
Sport: Baseball
 
1. Where are you from?
Edinburg, TX
 
2. What was it like growing up there?
Although the population of Edinburg is about 100,000, I experienced that small town feeling in which everybody knows each other.
 
3. What is your favorite childhood memory?
Going out of town to play baseball tournaments with my travel ball team.
 
4. What's was your go-to food as a kid? Is it the same now?
Chicken Alfredo, and yes, it is still my go-to.
 
5. What's your favorite color?
White
 
6. What's your favorite book?
The Little Engine That Could 
 
7. What was your favorite TV show as a kid? What about now?
Fresh Prince of Bel Air 
 
8. What's your favorite movie?
Bleed For This & Friday Night Lights 
 
9. What's your favorite song?
Headlines by Drake
 
10. Who is your favorite musical artist/group?
Drake & Travis Scott
 
11. Who is your favorite celebrity (non-sports)?
Megan Fox 
 
12. If you could have dinner with three people from history, living or dead, who would you choose?
Drake, LeBron James, and Inky Johnson
 
13. Other than the sport in which you compete, what is your favorite sport?
Football and basketball
 
14. What are your favorite professional sports teams?
Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Rockets
 
15. How did you become a fan of those teams?
Love their programs and what they believe in.
 
16. Who are your favorite professional athletes?
JT Realmuto, LeBron James, and Woody Williams because they're just different. 
 
17. If you weren't competing in your sport, what would you be doing?
I would probably still be going to school trying to get my bachelor's to start my career.
 
18. Why did you choose your sport?
I have always loved playing the sport, it was my getaway from everything going on around my life. 
 
19. What is the biggest challenge of being a student-athlete?
Sacrificing things a regular person can do but a student-athlete can't do. 
 
20. When you have free time, what do you like to do?
I like to workout, listen to music, and hangout with my friends.
 
21. What brought you to UTRGV?
It's home, and I wanted to make it easier for my parents to get to see me play.
 
22. What are your major/minor/planned areas of study?
My major is kinesiology.
 
23. What do you want to do after you graduate?
I want to open up my own baseball facility to give back my knowledge of the game to others. 
 
24. What's your dream job?
To play in the MLB.
 
25. Who is the biggest inspiration in your life and why?
My parents and grandparents because they have bent over backwards to get me where I am today.
 
26. What is something most people don't know about you?
I like to be different from everybody and I love shoes.
 
27. Which New Kids on the Block song best describes you?
A. Games
B. Hangin' Tough
C. Step by Step
D. You Got It
E. Other __________________
 
28. Now be honest, had you ever previously heard of any of those songs or the band New Kids on the Block before?
I have never listened to any of those songs. 
 
29. Is there anything else you want everyone to know about you?
I'm not a coward.

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