LAKE WORTH – There’s a new player at the level in Palm Beach County’s preparations.
Twenty-two college athletic groups were added to the 2023 core curriculum with the opening of Dr. Joaquin Garcia High School, the first new campus in the Palm Beach County school district in just two decades.
“In many sports, we can have groups of freshmen, JVs and schoolchildren because they already had a lot of participation,” said director of activities and athletics Pam Romero.
He opened it on Thursday. Student council members, cheerleaders and the organization welcomed the first Bulldogs into the hallway covered with the fight song.
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“Based on this morning’s response, I would say the network is bringing the Bulldogs together,” Romero said.
Here are 4 things you should know about Garcia’s sports before the official start of this fall’s games:
With the start of the fall semester, Romero officially opened his second athletics department. In 2004, he named the first athletic director of Park Vista, the district’s second-best school.
Romero has been with the Bulldogs since the spring, balancing the responsibilities of creating a new athletic branch as he completes his final season at Park Vista.
“Honestly, it’s been a tough spring,” Romero said. It was very vital for me to make sure I devoted the same time and energy I had to my coaches and student-athletes at Park Vista. Needless to say, The Dream was promoted during those months. “
Notable for their participation in the baseball team’s final four games, a regional runner-up in men’s volleyball and a regional semifinal in softball, in another season the Cobras reigned as the spring’s sporting powerhouse. It was almost saying that Park Vista’s athletic branch was going through a significant change.
“The sporting good fortune over the years I’ve worked at Park Vista is something I’m very proud of. In fact, we were able to build a foundation with our management, coaches, athletes and network focused on creating and maintaining good luck systems. for all of our student-athletes,” Romero said.
“Twenty years ago, the amenities and services at Park Vista were amazing,” Romero said. “In 20 years ahead of schedule, the district has provided Garcia High School with incredible services. “
The finishing touches are still being put on the Bulldogs’ spring venues, but Garcia is in a position to welcome his fall sports athletes.
The gym, which is estimated to accommodate “about 850” fans, is poised to host a historic women’s volleyball season. Many of those players are expected to play on a public school’s only beach volleyball court in the spring.
Making history as the first in the region, Garcia’s bustling blue grass field will be in position for the soccer team’s home opener Sept. 1 against the Hollywood Hills.
Romero said Garcia’s student-athletes, coaches and members “can’t wait” to open the season in Bulldogs territory.
Football coach Brandon Walker has been busy this offseason with the Bulldogs for the debut of his “Carolina blue” sons Aug. 18 in Olympic Heights at the Kickoff Classic.
The college jerseys for next season are great!I also love Carolina’s blue helmets with Garcia G!#GoDogs pic. twitter. com/mGriucNetQ
“When you take a look at our list, it looks like a JV list age-wise and level,” Walker said. He is “very excited” for his youth and praises the few young people he has for “establishing themselves as leaders in the program. “
One of the newcomers is linebacker and Class of 2025 fullback Sergio Mesa de Santaluces.
“He’s just working. It is a shredder. Super physical. He really understands football. My kind of child. It’s a bit underrated due to its length and measurable metrics; but he makes games, he is and we love that about him,” Walker said.
Most of the players came from Santaluces, John I. Leonard and Palm Beach Central, as well as Park Vista, Walker’s last practice stop. Most never played soccer at the top school before coming to Garcia.
“I think they’ll have more opportunities here than at their previous schools, which is exciting for them and for us,” Walker said.
He is “necessarily concerned” about the numbers on the first-year scoreboard. Walker says this season is all about “development” for the team, which will compete independently this fall.
“For the outside, it’s an indicator, but for those who participate in our program, we know we’re going in the right direction. “
From a 23-28 record in five seasons as Cooper City’s head coach, Walker’s stints at Boca Raton and Park Vista have been filled with wins. However, in Garcia you will have the opportunity to do everything you have done anywhere else. Something not even his recently retired father, Byron Walker, a South Florida legend for his good luck at Archbishop McCarthy, American Heritage Plantation and Glades Day, could do.
“When I was presented with the opportunity to move with my circle of family to a new school, it was very exciting. My dad has been coaching at a high school for a long time and never started the program from scratch,” Walker said.
“To get to Ground Zero, there’s nothing on the walls and for us, to be able to create that wasn’t something I could pass up,” Walker said. “Especially the fact that my circle of professional relatives was worried about this “I was able to bring some coaches and smart friends from Park Vista, so this position without delay felt like home, and that’s where I need to be. “
Seven Park Vista coaches have joined Garcia’s department.
“At this point in my career, I don’t think I can work for AD,” laughs women’s and men’s volleyball coach Erica Green, who has coached in Palm Beach County since 1999.
“I’ve been training for 25 years and I’ve never ‘opened’ a school before, which for me is very attractive, while the unknown scares me a lot: me in PV, where I was in cruise control. Now, there is no precedent for Garcia. volleyball. I believe it, which is an incredible feeling. “
In Park Vista last fall, Green’s men’s volleyball team went 23-7 in back-to-back regional finals against King’s Academy. Last season, his team had a 26-4 record, the record in program history.
Green, a sought-after coach after 12 successful seasons at PV, said the women come from 25 other schools to test their Bulldog volleyball ability. Among the players to watch for this fall are Lyla Buser of Palm Beach Central, 6 feet, and PV. Industritry Izzy McNeil leading the offense, as well as a “pretty smart defense” commanded by former Bronco, Dani Garrido.
“I’m so nervous about having so many other schools and backgrounds where the women came from and whether it would work. But they do, so nervousness has turned into general excitement to see how they combine and progress this offseason,” Green said.
Garcia’s preseason nervousness comes from months after the spring, wondering if he would “make the jump” from Vista.
“PV is my network school. Both of my sons graduated there. I also spent 15 years coaching at Woodlands Middle, which is a support school for PV. So I got to know a lot of PV families and students personally. It took me a while expand the volleyball systems there — and they were very successful,” Green said.
When Romero asked Green to move into Garcia, she was “completely shattered. “Green felt loyalty to his returning Cobras, but also loyalty to the woman who gave him the opportunity to develop PV’s women and children programs.
“There’s no other AD in the county that I would need to work for, that I think supports me, that goes beyond their coaches like Pam Romero does. She is one of my turning points in making the change,” Green said.
Cobras bowling coach Krystal Lamb, track and cross country coach Ryan Callahan and Dan Barry, flag coach Carlton Smith and men’s coach Donovan Scott also moved to Garcia, 6 miles northwest of Park Vista.
“We are confident that we have assembled a phenomenal team. Everyone is excited and committed to the success of Bulldog Nation,” said Romero.
See Garcia’s list of early coaches:
Emilee Smarr is the Palm Beach Post’s lead school sports journalist. She can be reached by email at esmarr@gannett. com.