{"id":9754,"date":"2017-11-20T15:28:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T15:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=9754"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:32:07","slug":"volleyball-player-headed-to-irvine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/volleyball-player-headed-to-irvine\/","title":{"rendered":"Volleyball player headed to Irvine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

By signing his National Letter of Intent, Madera Coyote boys volleyball player Brian Garcia became the school\u2019s first boys volleyball player to sign with a four-year college.<\/p>

Garcia will spend the next four years at UC Irvine after his signing ceremony Friday in front of family and friends in the Madera High School cafeteria.<\/p>

\u201cIt makes me feel accomplished, especially since I\u2019m going to a Div. I college,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good reward to have achieved. I feel happy with myself.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome for him,\u201d boys volleyball head coach Rhonda Jefferson said. \u201cI\u2019ve only had had one other player play in college.\u201d<\/p>

Garcia said UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii were other schools looking at him. However, he only took a visit to UC Irvine and that was enough.<\/p>

\u201cThe UC Irvine campus is really nice,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a different feel. That whole environment is unbelievable. I felt connected with the program and everything all around.\u201d<\/p>

Garcia first was in contact with UC Irvine in June at a tournament in Anaheim.<\/p>

\u201cAll of the colleges go to that tournament,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the first day, we finished pool play and my coach pulled me aside. He introduced me to the UC Irvine school. They wanted me to visit the campus after the tournament. Just to get recruited from any school is really hard to get noticed. Out of those athletes, I get to play in college. It\u2019s unbelievable to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>

Garcia realized how important of a step it was to sign his letter of intent to play volleyball next season.<\/p>

\u201cI felt like I went up a step in my goals,\u201d he said. \u201cI keep trying to go up to get to the highest level possible. I\u2019ve been watching film of them play and thought I want to play with them. Now, it\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>

Garcia, who played a number of positions for the Coyotes while leading them to a Div. II Valley Championship last year, will set for the four-time NCAA champions.<\/p>

\u201cTheir coach just sees me anywhere on the court,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cHe wants me to be a leader on the court and help make the program succeed. The coach feels I can help lead the team to a championship. If he needs me anywhere, I\u2019ll be able to do that, too.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cHe played a huge role in us winning a Valley Championship,\u201d Jefferson said. \u201cHis versatility was a plus. He can hit, he can set and he can serve. He\u2019s still growing.\u201d<\/p>

Garcia will major in psychology to become a counselor or a psychologist.<\/p>

Next to Garcia, the happiest person when he signed his letter of intent was his mother, who drove him to club volleyball practices with a six-hour round trip.<\/p>

\u201cMy mom is really happy,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cThat was the whole point of getting a scholarship to repay my mom. My mom only worries about is seeing me in a jersey and knows that I\u2019m safe and doing well.\u201d<\/p>

Now that Garcia is signed for next year, he can finally relax and enjoy his senior year and his final high school volleyball season.<\/p>

\u201cI felt really relieved,\u201d he said. \u201cGoing into last summer, I was afraid I wasn\u2019t going to commit to a school. I was hoping to commit in July. I\u2019m just very happy to sign.<\/p>

\u201cI just want to have a good season. It doesn\u2019t matter if we don\u2019t win a valley championship. I just want to have a good season.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By signing his National Letter of Intent, Madera Coyote boys volleyball player Brian Garcia became the school\u2019s first boys volleyball player to sign with a four-year college. Garcia will spend the next four years at UC Irvine after his signing ceremony Friday in front of family and friends in the Madera High School cafeteria. \u201cIt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":26363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-9754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-schools"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}