SAN ANTONIO — We recently spent some time visiting with several area San Antonio high school athletic head coaches. We asked them what Hispanic Heritage Month means to them. Below are their answers.
Taft Head Baseball Head Coach TJ Tejeda: "I think the best thing I can say is pride, and being extremely proud of where I came from, and grew up at."
Johnson Jaguars Football Head Coach Mark Soto: "For me it is Hispanic Heritage 'year' because you are in San Antonio Texas. You are in south Texas. To have one month based on the Hispanic heritage is pretty important, too. It gives us a chance to show the best of our culture."
Veterans Memorial Football Head Coach Richard Mendoza: "I think we are just a really passionate group of people. I just think family. I think family and passion. I know one thing, my mom and dad raised me to be well rounded. Respect where you come from. Honor where you come from. Don't forget where you come from. Be part of a group that is unique, but at the same time that is integral to America. I think that passion that the Hispanic culture has just translates into some hard working folks.'
Steele Knights Football Head Coach David Saenz: "Whenever we have a get together, Easter, a birthday, there is always a ton of family. More than anything when we are talking about the Hispanic culture, and things like that, is that it is very family oriented. My parents me growing up that you work for everything that you want. Sometimes you will get recognized for that, and sometimes you won't. But that's not what it is about, it's about you as a person doing the best that you can do."
South San Athletics Director Robert Zamora: "It is family. The love in the family with the mom and the dad being the support of the household. We love our food, we love our music and we love Selena."
Holmes High School Football Head Coach Juan Morales: "We want everyone else to know what family is. It is nice to be able to say we're gonna recognize where it is that we come from, and how many of us we represent."
Jefferson Girls Basketball Head Coach Natasha Benavides: "To me it shows the struggles that my parents and grandparents had to overcome in order to give me these opportunities."
Brennan Softball Head Coach Selena Garcia: "When it came to work ethic I had to give one hundred percent and come home with all 'A's' most of my life. I learned work ethic from that, and carried that over for everything else."
Our series will continue next week with our head coaches sharing some personal stories of life growing up in San Antonio.