Saddleback High School Track & Field 2024 Season Preview(CA)

With the new track and field season at Saddleback High School just around the corner, we sat down with Coach Marco Garcia to get a preview of what to expect from the team this year. As the new head coach, Coach Garcia is excited for the challenges and opportunities that come with leading the team to success. In this article, we'll delve into some of the key points that Coach Garcia shared with us about the team and his vision for the upcoming season. Building a Strong Team Coach Garcia acknowledges that being a successful track and field team requires more than just individual talent. He firmly believes that the key to success is to integrate the skill sets of all the other sports programs at Saddleback in order to magnify the exceptionalism of both the individual athletes and the team as a whole. Coach Garcia is determined to build a strong and cohesive team that supports and learns from each other, and his coaching philosophy centers around this concept. First Year Challenges This being Coach Garcia's first year as head coach at Saddleback, he faces the task of becoming familiar with the team's past results, its athletes, and their individual strengths and weaknesses. He also has the added challenge of building an overall track program in a new stadium with state-of-the-art equipment. However, Coach Garcia is excited for the opportunity to create a strong and successful track program at Saddleback that will set a standard for future teams to follow. The Importance of Team Captains Coach Garcia understands the importance of leadership on and off the field of play, and he places great emphasis on the role of team captains. He believes that they must exemplify traits of hard work, positive attitude, and strong leadership skills in order to motivate their teammates towards success. For the women's team, junior Xochilt Ortiz has been chosen as captain, while senior Francisco Bejar will lead the men's team. Utilizing Multi-Sport Athletes Many of the student athletes at Saddleback participate in multiple sports, and Coach Garcia sees this as a great opportunity to identify their strengths and provide them with events in track and field that will enhance those qualities. He believes that regardless of an athlete's skill set, they are all capable of excelling in track and field and serving as examples for their teammates. Importance of Proper Training One of Coach Garcia's biggest challenges is to integrate sport-specific periodization schedules in order to enhance results and prevent injuries.