Fifi Garcia of Huntington Beach, now 14, continues to blossom in athletics
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Fei Fabiola “Fifi” Garcia has been following the FIFA World Cup, though the 14-year-old from Huntington Beach hasn’t been able to watch every game.
Part of that has to do with her own travel schedule. A standout in multiple sports, Fifi is a frequent flier.
She was in Colorado recently for a softball showcase with the Corona Angels. And, starting this weekend, she’s suiting up as a striker for her Southern California Blues 2012 squad at the Elite Clubs National League championships outside of Seattle.
She’ll stay in the Pacific Northwest awhile to train with the Seattle Reign FC professional soccer team, before rejoining the Angels at the end of the month for the Alliance Fastpitch Softball Nationals in Indiana. Fifi plays shortstop and center field.
So there’s softball and soccer and track to juggle, though the track season is over. Fifi is so busy she missed her eighth-grade graduation from Saints Simon & Jude Catholic School in Huntington Beach in May because she was attending the U.S. Soccer Under-14 National ID Camp in Georgia.
“Fifi will tell you she wanted to be at graduation,” said her father, Hodari Garcia. “It was unfortunate that she wasn’t able to attend, but she wanted to.”
And Fifi?
“No, it’s fine,” she said during a recent interview at her home. “I’d rather be in Georgia. I’d rather go to U.S. camp than graduate eighth grade.”
Her father just shrugged.
“Well, the good thing is, she’s gonna tell you exactly how she feels,” he said.
The way she plays sports makes people feel excitement. A former Sports Illustrated Kids SportsKid of the Year, Fifi signed an NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) deal with Puma two years ago.
Now she’s preparing to attend Santa Margarita Catholic High School in the fall, where she plans to be a three-sport star. That decision wasn’t easy — her father and older brothers went to Edison, and her mother Janice went to Fountain Valley. But Fifi, who is Catholic, understands the opportunities that Santa Margarita presents.
Out of all the sports in which she excels, Soccer is the one she wants to play professionally. She has already been invited to train with a number of professional clubs, a list that includes Angel City FC, Bay FC, San Diego Wave FC and more.
Angel City found Fifi when she was 7 years old, her father said.
“She’s very good but she’s very grounded, and I think that’s important,” said Tony Vigil, head of recruitment for Angel City FC. “I think having a crystal ball and painting an exact picture of what she looks like down the road is probably easier said than done, but I think she’s on the right track.
“She’s doing really well for a kid her age, and I think letting her continue to just develop and play and be herself is the priority. If she has those goals, she will continue to do the work to get there.”
Fifi continues to grind. She’s grown to 5-foot-4 and is known for her work ethic.
It’s one of the things that stands out to her coach at Southern California Blues, David Baillie, who has been coaching her for about a year.
“She’s a special player,” Baillie said. “She has everything. Works hard off the ball, [she’s] incredibly special and gifted with the ball. She scores goals of all different kinds — left foot, right foot, headers, volleys. She can do everything, she’s so naturally gifted. And she’s so humble, which is very rare for players of that sort of ability and talent.”
Her coach for the Corona Angels is Mike Perez, who guides the first-year 14-and-under softball team. He typically bats Fifi at leadoff hitter, though he also will move her down in the order at times to give her more opportunities to drive in runs.
“When she gets a single and she gets on base, it’s a double,” Perez said. “The next pitch, she’s going to steal. Everyone knows she’s going to steal, and they can’t throw her out. That’s how fast she is. She’s a dynamic player.”
Fifi batted about .600 at the showcase in Colorado, said Perez, whose daughter Mandie was a softball standout at Whittier Christian and at the University of Arizona.
A former standout wrestler and a fire captain by profession, Perez calls himself an old-school coach who appreciates Fifi’s drive.
“We’re trying to impose our will and our style of play on other teams, and sometimes it gets tough,” he said. “We’re trying to teach these kids how to persevere. Fifi, I’ve never seen that kid give up. I’ve never heard her say, ‘I can’t,’ and I’ve never heard her say, ‘I won’t.’ She’s just a bulldog.”
Fifi, first featured in this newspaper at the ripe old age of 9, has since continued to refine her soccer game.
“It’s definitely gotten better, for sure,” she said. “I think playing with the pro teams has helped me a lot. You get used to the speed of play being so much faster when you’re playing with the pros. Then, when you go to play with people your age, it’s like completely different.”
She paused, offering to share some Gummy bears — “My mom buys a bunch, and you just put them in the fridge,” Fifi offered.
It is perhaps a reminder that despite all of the fanfare, she’s still a teenager at the end of the day.
“I don’t put too much pressure on myself,” she said. “I mean, honestly, I get really mad when I lose a game. Like, you’ll see tears coming out of my eyes, because I care about the game so much. But as long as I know I did my best and did everything I could, then I’m not gonna be upset that I lost or anything like that.”
