Tackling The Lack of Sports Facilities at GFHS
Godinez athletes face obstacles to practice and play
From left: Varsity waterpolo captain Anthony Sanchez, water polo players Andrea Muniz, Paulina Calderon and JV waterpolo captain William Feuerborn hope to see the area behind them built into a pool.
October 8, 2017
Principal Jesse Church is working on getting Godinez Fundamental High School the necessary sports facilities.
Church has been meeting with several parent groups and coaches brainstorming about getting a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a football stadium. It was also his concern when he was at GFHS as assistant principal nine years ago.
Church, said, “It’s a process I’m willing and committed to go through. I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get all those things at once.”
Here are the challenges that Godinez faces due to a lack of facilities:
Tennis:
Heriberto Cortez and Regina Parga, boys and girls tennis coaches, struggle to get their athletes to practice. There are problems sending athletes to practice because the courts are a few miles away. The coaches end up giving them a ride in the school sports van, they have to find their own ride to practice or jog there.
Cortez said, “Despite the challenges, our girls and boys show up to practice every day and stay committed to the team even though they know it’s difficult for them to get picked up from somewhere else.”
Once the team shows up to McFadden, they now have to take turns using the courts. For over 30 players, there are only five courts that can be used at any given time.
Parga said, “It’s a safety issue for the student-athletes because instead of them going to Valley who has nine tennis courts that are hardly being used they sometimes have to jog to McFadden which is 1½ miles away.”
Football:
Kevin Pola, a football coach at Godinez Fundamental, says not having the necessary facilities for football is a big struggle for him and his athletes. He says it’s both psychological and practical. Pola says they do not have the necessary space in order to be effective. He adds, “I just feel like our kids see what the rest of the school district has which makes us feel like a stepchild. They feel ignored, and neglected by the school district.”
Pola also adds on that the psychological factor of not having the necessary facilities are the kids not feeling confident of having their own stadium to play. Pola adds, having heard the district has an excess of $106 million, a fraction of that could possibly pay for all the facilities. “If we find the money, we can have the facilities…well, someone just found 106 million dollars,” Pola added humorously.
Water Polo:
Jessica Morris, the swimming coach at Godinez says not having the necessary facilities at Godinez is quite hard because it’s time-consuming. The water polo and swim teams don’t start practice until 5 p.m. at Valley High School and most days end at 8 p.m.
The walk to Valley High School is 20 minutes and GFHS athletes have to wait till Valley athletes finish their practice time in the pool.
Morris says it makes her days and her athlete’s days at least 14 hours long. Her hardest struggles are not having all sports equipment in the same spot. Having polo and swim equipment at Valley and then having things in her classroom at Godinez, means if she ever forgets anything at Valley or at Godinez she won’t have the stuff with her to practice.
Currently, Godinez has close to 2,500 students and that number has held steady year after year while enrollment in other SAUSD high schools has declined. Yet, Godinez goes without sports facilities needed to serve their athletes fully and completely.
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Samantha Torres • Mar 30, 2018 at 9:17 am
As an athlete of 3 sports it is a necessary right to have your sports field, pool, room, or gym. I play volleyball, soccer, and run track and 2 out of 3 environments for the sports are good enough for us to practice in. The gym is easy access, and the long walks to the soccer fields is not as bad as it seems. But our track is in no well enough condition to practice, I’ve seen girls and boys fall and scrape them self really badly, and also it wears out our spikes faster than a rubber track. I can’t imagine how our swim team and boys and girls water polo team have to deal with not even having a pool that is easy access. It is just not fair for them to walk to practice and get home late and still have homework to do. Our district is not adroit on ignoring the fact that our athletes have these struggles.
Cynthia Molina • Nov 20, 2017 at 11:02 am
As a water polo and swim athlete, it is very stressful to be having practice at 5 pm instead of starting practice right when 6th period starts. Our practice ends at 8 pm which gives me and other team players less time to do homework. It is a commitment to get to practice, but it is affecting our studies because I personally sometimes don´t even finish my homework. Not only that, but my parents have some commitments as well and having to take me to practice and then go to where they have to is really hard. I am also in the Police Explorer Program which we meet every Wednesday at 5:30 pm and ends at 8 pm. Having to miss a day at practice for having to go to the program is really hurting because I am not practicing the amount I am supposed to. As many know not practicing later affects us in a game and mostly in water polo because we get tired of ¨egg beating ¨. My argument is YES we need a pool, stadium and tennis courts because we are the only fundamental high school in SAUSD and we don´t have the sport equipment we need.
Zariah McClure • Oct 20, 2017 at 12:23 pm
I feel like Godinez does need improvements when it comes to the sports facilities. It would be great too see those changes because it’s just nice to know that at the end of the day us students and staff can enjoy and value the changes people were willing to dedicate their time for the sports we love. To stipulate I do agree that the football stadium should be the first change made since it is the most popular sport. Then hopefully there is enough money for any other sport that need the appropriate equipment.
Noe Manuel • Oct 20, 2017 at 12:19 pm
Godinez has had lots of difficulties with sport facilitates like a football field, tennis courts and also a pool for water polo. The space for sports practices are very limited some of the teams here like water polo and tennis has to practice else where because of the lack of space provided here. I believe having the football field,tennis courts and a pool will help a lot with there teams so that the water polo and the tennis team don’t have to go other places to practice.This can also help the students have more time with there academic work as well.
Julian Blanco • Oct 20, 2017 at 10:42 am
I loathe that Godinez doesn’t have the the same sports equipment as other schools in the district. Id like to see how Mr. Church handle the situation with trying to get a new football field, tennis courts and also a swimming pool. It would be nice to see our school with new sports equipment. But even though Godinez may not have the best equipment, we are making the best of what we have.
Giovanni Agustin • Oct 20, 2017 at 10:40 am
I feel like we can afford tennis courts and should be first priority over a swimming pool or a football stadium. I think tennis court could be built faster than a swimming pool which would also require maintenance on a weekly basis and a football stadium. The girls and boys can´t always go to Valley all the time so they go to Macfadden which is a nuisance to be picked up somewhere away from school. While I may not be in tennis I feel like we can easily build the courts and it would be a step closer to the sports facilities everyone wants.
Jonathan Rodriguez • Oct 20, 2017 at 10:35 am
Godinez should have many other facilities not just for practice but for packed home games, for example when we play against Segerstrom we not only go to another stadium but it doesn’t feel the same because it’s not the same hype as playing at our own stadium.I don’t only feel condolence for Godinez but I also believe we should’ve had a pool, stadium, and a tennis court years back. The district might repudiate but the parents are the ones that can get those 108 million dollars.
Alberto Morales • Oct 20, 2017 at 9:47 am
It would be great to see a GFHS water polo, tennis and even football game in our own home field of the Grizzlies. Our varsity football home games are always played at Valley and some students may not be able to support. The Frosh games are played at the field that is inside of our track (which also needs to be refurbished) which is just awful. The wild geese at Centennial Park walk, eat, and defecate on the field which makes it not very appealing. Not to mention everyday for 5 periods Physical Education students play on the same field. Water polo is a sport in which not many people seem to care about, i think that if there was a pool at Godinez more students will attend the games and there would be more respect for the game. I give my condolences to students in these sports who have to play in such conditions.
Saray Castro • Oct 20, 2017 at 9:47 am
I am surprised and happy to hear that Mr. Church is working on getting Godinez the necessary sports facilities like a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a football stadium. I’m currently not in any sports but hearing that our school is working on getting all these facilities for sports makes me really happy for the athletes who have to go somewhere else that is not our school to use these facilities. I would be replete with happiness if I got to see all these facilities put to use at our school before I graduated. It really would be a sensation to finally have our own swimming pool, tennis courts, and a football stadium. When these sports have home games they can finally play at their own school.
Brianna Flores • Oct 20, 2017 at 9:46 am
I believe that the situation that these athletes are in because of the lack of sport facilities is very hapless. The fact that many of these athletes work really hard to win and show pride in being Grizzlies but they don’t even get to play at their own school for home games is unfair to them. A big issue at school is that the students lack school spirit when it comes to athletics and going to games. A reason for that may be that most of our home games aren’t even at Godienz. I for one would really like to attend a football game that would take place here. I agree with the coaches that say that not having these facilities interferes with the athletes’ practices. It makes it hard for them to preform their best when they aren’t practicing in the proper areas. The school has now been open for 10 years and the district has done nothing to improve the this situation.
Edgar Cortez • Oct 20, 2017 at 9:44 am
It has been a big infamous fact that Godinez doesn’t have a football stadium. It is sometimes soul-crushing to have to walk and perform at a school that isn’t ours, and I think that can be said for just about every sport that we have that doesn’t have a stadium or court here at Godinez. Being a football fanatic, it is sometimes just flat out embarrassing having the Valley kids always mock us that we don’t have a football stadium. I am barely a sophomore, so I am hoping that I may see the day where we get a football stadium to call our home. There is also the problem of not many students going to sports events like water polo and tennis, simply because they’re in other schools a fair distance away. If we had our own pools and our own tennis courts, I’d bet the 106 million dollars that I don’t have that more students would attend these sports events. I know I would. I would love to feel some more pride in my school by having our own home fields, a place to call our home turf. I hope that these eminent problems involving our sports facilities are solved before I graduate.
Bianca • Oct 20, 2017 at 9:44 am
This is a hapless subject to refer to, not having the right amount of sports facilities in our school GFHS. As an athlete myself, I know how it feels to not have the right amount of space or not having time to use facilities. Even though I’m not in any of these sports mentioned, I know the struggles I’m not saying basketball might have a facility problem just that I know the feeling of not having the right space. As a basketball player, not being able to use the gym, leads to having practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 am is a commitment and challenge to take. Our coaches only can coach us in the mornings due to football not being able to be on campus. Now think about these student-athletes that don’t have the right practice facilities. Space and the proper facilities have a huge impact even though some people might think and believe this is just nonsense that it doesn’t matter. I know how having a bundle of discomfort feels, due to when my brother came here he played football it was a struggle pick him up and go to his games they weren’t here, they were in different spots.
Kimberly Angeles • Oct 20, 2017 at 9:30 am
Its nice to know that there is talk of getting new additions to the campus, sports wise. I believe there are more sports that need to be worked on too, for example wrestling. The wrestlers need bigger space to practice in. The current wrestling room is very small and gets too crowded when practicing. The wrestlers are constantly running into each other causing there to be more injuries and making it easier to get ringworm. I agree that football should get a stadium because the football games would benefit the school. Also, water polo and swim need their space to practice without having to wait on another school to finish their practice.
Natalie • Oct 20, 2017 at 8:43 am
Not being able to provide all sports with the resources they need to be successful throughout their season has been a major issue, I agree. I’m very pleased that Principal Church is determined to get these sports what they need in order to be successful. I have friends in some of these sports that always complain about the difficulties they face with not being able to get to practice or getting home late and having done no homework. I believe that they should not have to face this for wanting to get involved with school activities and I always give them my condolences because in some ways I’m able to understand their schedule with staying up late after having a long practice. I think this is an issue we should fight for in order to give these athletes what they need in order to be successful on and off the field.
Kenna Flores • Oct 20, 2017 at 8:43 am
The athletes here at Godinez are very committed to the sports they play. Having to jog to other schools because they don’t have transportation, and staying up late to finish work because practices start later isn’t what our athletes deserve. Mr. Churchs efforts to get these sports facilities, like a pool or tennis courts, are great and I’m glad he wants to make our athletes better. Despite these obstacles, Godinez athletes remain diligent and arrive at their practices with great attitudes.
Fernanda Perez • Oct 20, 2017 at 8:41 am
As an athlete myself, I could agree on the fact that our school is in need for new sports facilities. As I see during my sports period many of the sports are bunched up and struggling to practice because of lack of space. Not being able to practice at a given time can not only affect them as an athlete but can also be increasingly difficult when it comes to school work either staying up late or waking up really early in order to finish the work that couldn’t be finished. I know I speak for almost every athlete who loathes either staying up late or waking up early because all we want to do is be able to rest due to the fact that we already come home tired from practice but on top we have a lot of school work left. I do believe that Godinez needs these new facilities in order to be beneficial towards the sport but also for the student.
Ivan Ortiz • Oct 20, 2017 at 8:40 am
Hearing that Godinez Fundamental is really lacking in sports facilities and equipment is really saddening as is dents the chances of our sports getting better and better. This is particularly upsetting as most other schools have plenty of sports facilities and stadiums. I offer my condolences to all Godinez athletes who have to jog miles just to practice at somewhere other than at our school.
Samantha Valdivia • Oct 20, 2017 at 8:26 am
From my outlook, I believe Mr.Church should stipulate sports facilities in an agreement with the Santa Ana Unified School DIstrict. Every team and sport should have an environment where they feel safe and feel like they belong there. The district wrests the possibility for these kids to get better at the sport they love and play.
Luis Ruvalcaba • Oct 14, 2017 at 1:41 pm
It is terrible to see the sports in Godinez struggle with the lack of space and proper equipment to practice with. One thing that is currently a struggle is the wrestling room. Every time we practice, the room is packed with us trying to practice. There are days where we have half of the team run outside and the other half of us stay in the room to practice. On the days we all practice together the room is filled and it makes people vulnerable to getting hit by someone else while we are wrestling. The amount of room is just a problem, especially right now since there have been a few breakouts of ringworm already, causing everyone in that tiny room to be exposed to it. I believe the room should have an expansion for the safety of the student’s hygiene and overall efficiency to practice the proper way.
Jasmine Solano • Oct 9, 2017 at 8:20 am
I think you guys forgetting about the wrestling team. I have been a wrestler at Godinez since my freshman year and during my first year It was fine there wasn’t a lot of people so it was ok. Since then the wrestling team has grown a lot. It has been getting to a point were there is students getting hurt a lot because there is just no room for us at it that tiny room. This has also caused a lot of ringworm cases. I know wrestling may not be really heard of in this school but we should at least get a bigger room for the safety of the students.