Jessica Roque enters her fourth year with the Warriors, coming off the most successful season in the history of the women's basketball program. Under Roque's leadership, the Warriors went 17-5 in 2022-23, before making their first OUA semifinal appearance in 37 years. The historic campaign earned Roque the Imprint Coach of the Year award at the annual Warriors athletic banquet, while women's basketball took home Team of the Year honours. A year earlier, Roque and the Warriors earned their first playoff berth in over a decade when they made the OUA postseason in 2022.
Before joining the Warriors in 2020, Roque spent four seasons as the full-time lead assistant coach at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). During her tenure as an assistant, Roque helped propel the Rams to two U SPORTS Final 8 appearances. Roque also led the Rams as the interim head coaching role in the summer of 2018 during an international competition in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
On top of Roque's valuable experience gained at the U SPORTS level, she has coached in various roles at the national level. Most recently, Roque was named as an assistant coach for Team Canada's national U19 team ahead of the 2023 FIBA U19 Women's World Cup, working under former Rams bench boss and mentor Carly Clarke. Roque was also a training camp coach for the Junior National Men's Basketball team in 2017, a program that went on to win the FIBA World Cup gold medal. Recently she served as a performance analyst for the Junior Women’s National team that qualified for Worlds in Buenos Aires, Argentina this past summer.
Provincially, Roque led the U14 Ontario Girls’ team in the Summer of 2019 and was also the assistant of the U17 Ontario Girls’ team at the 2017 Canada Summer Games. Roque has also been a coach at the Ontario Basketball Association Centre for Performance from 2016-2019. Nationally,
In addition, Roque has also a guest assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings in July of 2019 at their California Classic Tournament. In addition, Roque gained more valuable interuniversity experience as an assistant coach in the NCAA for Cleveland State University (CSU) during the 2015-16 season.
Roque also had a very decorated playing career, suiting up for the CSU Vikings for four seasons (2006-2010) and winning the 2008 and 2010 Horizon League Championship as co-captain. In 2010, Roque graduated from CSU with honours and a bachelors of science in health science. She then went on to take two years of Graduate School, graduating with honours and a masters of education in exercise science.
Roque now calls Waterloo home.
