Huntington Beach’s ‘Fifi’ Garcia, 9, is tough to catch

While many children turned to television or video games to pass the time during the novel coronavirus pandemic, Huntington Beach’s Fei Fabiola “Fifi” Garcia turned to a new sport.

The 9-year-old already played club soccer and travel-ball softball at a high level. But last April, the speedy youngster added track to her portfolio.

“[Track] would make me be faster on the field, so I could beat the defenders easier and win the ball,” she said.

The move has paid off for Fifi, who added to her medal collection over the weekend at the AAU 14-and-under Youth National Championships indoor meet in Ypsilanti, Mich.

Fifi earned silver medals in three different events for 9-year-olds. She placed second in the 60-meter dash in 9.58 seconds, and was also runner-up in the 200 meters (31.96) and 400 meters (1:15.24).

She said she thought she did well, considering it was her first indoor track meet. She added that she has worked on being explosive out of the blocks.

“I think she did amazing,” said Fifi’s mother, Janice Garcia. “When she first started she wasn’t a short distance runner, because she didn’t have the speed yet. During training with her coach this past year, she’s really improved. I was so amazed how confident and poised she was, being next to these competitors who have been running track since they were in diapers.”

Fifi, who stands 4-foot-8, is now a six-time AAU All-American in track. She doubled that number after starting off with three top-eight finishes last August at the Junior Olympics in Florida.

Fifi runs club track for the Long Beach Sprinters, where she’s coached by Scoey Peters.

“Some of the girls she competed against this weekend, she also competed against at the Junior Olympics last year,” Janice Garcia said. “This time, she beat most of them. Well, all of them. The two girls who took the gold medal, we hadn’t seen them before ... We’d like to take her to the Junior Olympics this year in Texas and win it all, hopefully.”

Janice Garcia said her daughter, who’s a third-grader at Sts. Simon & Jude Catholic School in Huntington Beach, is also a straight-A student.

Fifi, who has her own Instagram page with more than 3,000 followers, plays striker in soccer for the SoCal Blues and coach Rob Rennie. She often plays up with the older girls.

She was selected to represent California at the Barça Academy World Cup last April in Spain, before the event was postponed due to COVID-19. Her family raised more than $5,000 for the trip.

She also plays travel-ball softball for the Ohana Tigers, based in Long Beach.

Fifi, who was born in Taiwan and has dual citizenship, said she couldn’t pick a favorite sport.

“I like all of them about the same,” she said. “When I grow up, I definitely want to do multiple sports.”
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