YMCA #YiBelong Spotlight Javier Garcia

By Matt Browning

Javier Garcia was chosen for the YMCA Yi-Belong profile for September.

Garcia has participated in adult basketball leagues for over 10 years at the YMCA.

“From playing in the leagues, I have met so many great people and built a lifetime of good friendships,” Garcia said.

Garcia and his teams have found a significant amount of success since they started in 2009-2010, winning 97 straight games at one point. The pandemic altered things, of course, but Garcia and his team have tried to get teams back into leagues.

“Right before Covid my team TRI-FECTA had won the league back-toback,” Garcia said. “We used the league as a tool to not only play the game we all love but help get other teams back in the swing of some normalcy. We went on to win the next seven leagues in a row.”

Whenever a new session starts, Garcia makes it a point to bring new people so they can see the benefits of being involved with other teams. “Our pitch to get teams to play with the Y is that there is good competition and we get a good workout,” Garcia said. “Every session, we try to get at least one to two teams to join. I would recommend staying active and playing the sport that you love to stay healthy.”

Visit Salina Winning Edge Player Spotlight

Abilene’s Grant Waite

By Matt Browning

Grant Waite of Abilene was chosen as the Visit Salina/Salina Chamber Athlete of the Month for September. Last season, Waite was an all-league and state qualifying runner for the Cowboys, which finished 10th at the 4A Tournament.

“Last season was the first time we were ranked in the top seven in 4A in a long time,” Waite said. “We were disappointed that we fell to 10th at state but we are only using that as motivation for this year as we look to repeat our state appearance.”

Now that Waite and Abilene have gotten a taste of getting to the state meet, they are hungry for more this season.

“Expectation for this season includes our boys team placing top five at state,” Waite said. “We return all of our scorers from last year along with some new varsity recruits that will definitely help us get some points. Individually I would like to qualify for state again and be an all-league runner in the NCKL.”

Waite holds high standards for himself and his team, which he thinks is one of his strengths.

“We hold each other to high standards and we do not train lightly,” Waite said. “We’re a strong group that can do some big damage if we all have a good day.”