Garcia Returns to Heat for 2010 Season
Written by admin, Apr 30, 2010, 0 Comments
Courtesy Vanessa Guajardo,
A familiar face will be returning to the pitch at the Texas A&M International Soccer Complex for the Laredo Heat Soccer Club as former LBJ High School standout and United States Under 20 Men’s National Team member Felix Garcia has been granted permission to play in the Premier Development League (PDL) for the upcoming 2010 season.
Garcia first played for the Heat in 2006 but his playing time was limited when he was only a freshman in high school and in 2007 he was an instrumental part in the Heat’s successful run that resulted in the PDL Championship for the Gateway City soccer team. It was Garcia that hit the game winning penalty kick pass the Michigan (Detroit) Bucks goalkeeper that catapulted his career into another dimension for the local soccer standout.
Garcia returned in 2008 to play for the Heat but while attended high school as a regular student at LBJ, Garcia was also became a member of the United States Under 20 Men’s National Team. In the summer of 2008, Garcia once again helped the Heat reach the PDL Championship Game while doubling his duties with the national team.
It was because of this success on the field that Garcia was chosen by the Houston Dynamo of the Major League Soccer (MLS) as an adidas Generation Selection in 2008 and was awarded a professional contract that started with the 2009 MLS season.
Due to unforeseen circumstances and a personal decision by Garcia in early 2009, he returned to Laredo to complete his high school senior year and obtain his diploma and he did not return to Houston to fulfill his contract during the 2009 MLS season. It was because of this decision that Garcia has not been able to play competitively in any soccer avenue since August of 2008.
“Absolutely”, said Heat Owner Shashi Vaswani when asked if he would like to have seen Felix play in the MLS instead of the Heat this year.
“Our program is designed to nurture talent and then reveal it to the higher levels of soccer in this country”.
Vaswani continued, “Felix symbolized the potential success a youth player can have within our organization. We still continue to support Felix and we have not given up on him and neither has the MLS”.
“Major League Soccer has made it very clear that by agreeing to allow Felix to play with the Heat in 2010, they can give him the opportunity to play competitively at a higher level with the hope that he joins the Dynamo for their 2011 season”, concluded Vaswani.
The Laredo Heat opens up their 2010 PDL Regular Season on Friday, April 30, 2010 versus the Rio Grande Valley Bravos at the Texas A&M International University Soccer Complex. Kick-off is set for 8:00 PM.
