Andy Garcia awarded Ramona High 2012-13 Male Athlete of the Year
By Bill Tamburrino
It is often an issue of debate among coaches when it comes time to honor the Ramona High School Athlete of the Year: Is it an award based on four years of accomplishments or is it an award for accomplishments of the senior year?
No debate was needed for the 2012-2013 Ramona High School Male Athlete of the Year. Andy Garcia had a great four years and an even greater senior year.
Garcia started on the varsity soccer team as a freshman and was named Honorable Mention All Valley League. As a sophomore, Garcia was selected to the second team All Palomar League Soccer Team and was the Ramona High School Offensive Player of the Year. As a junior, Garcia again made the All Palomar League team and was selected to the All North County Soccer Team’s second team and named the RHS team Most Valuable Player.
Garcia’s senior year eclipsed his previous three years’ accomplishments. Garcia was the Valley League Player of the Year and All Valley League first team. He was first team All CIF, first team All North County, the RHS team captain and MVP, and led his team to its second consecutive 20-win season.
Garcia started playing soccer at the age of 6 and said his parents, Patricia and Luis, had ”taken me to and attended all of my games.”
They will have a chance to attend more games as he will be continuing his career at Cal State University San Marcos where he will be majoring kinesiology.
Garcia says his most memorable moment at RHS was when the soccer team won its first tournament. The most important lesson that he learned was “Don’t slack in your classes. Education comes first.”
Garcia’s advice to incoming freshmen athletes is, ”Do your best at the sport that you are playing and never forget about getting good grades in all of your classes.”
His favorite subject at RHS was math and his favorite teacher was Mr. Fernandez.
Head soccer coach Michael Jordan had this to say about Garcia: “Andy led this team with his tenacity, professionalism, work ethic, situation awareness, offensive and defensive play, attitude, historical awareness of RHS soccer, and many other intangibles. He will be missed but he created such a high standard that will live on for the future players.”