Kickin’ it: O.C. 11-year-old is Sports Illustrated’s Kids Sportskid of the Year
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Dec. 6. I’m Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week’s TimesOC newsletter with a look at the latest local news and events.
She’s a soccer standout who’s also highly valued by her fellow players and coaches on her softball, volleyball, basketball and other teams. Oh, and she’s a budding track and field star, having this summer won a 400-meters championship in track at the AAU West Coast Nationals.
Indeed, Fei Fabiola “Fifi” Garcia, who started playing soccer as an 18-month-old (!) with her local Lil’ Kickers chapter, has been making a name for herself ever since. She has nearly 4,500 Instagram followers as of this week, and this summer she was the focus of a Daily Pilot feature story by my colleague Matt Szabo.
The 11-year-old from Huntington Beach has now captured national attention: This month she’s on the cover of Sports Illustrated Kids as its Sportskid of the Year, not only for her considerable athletic talents but for her performance in the classroom (she’s a straight-A student) and service to her community.
Naturally, her latest achievements were also documented by Szabo in a story published Friday.
All of this must be a heady experience for the sixth-grader at Saints Simon & Jude Catholic School.
“I was very happy,” she said of her reaction when she found out about the national honor. “I was actually amazed I got picked. It took a lot of hard work for me to get it.”
Fifi’s dad, Hodari Garcia, told Szabo that Sports Illustrated contacted her club soccer team, the Southern California Blues, to get the process going that ended up with her being named SportsKid of the Year.
“They did a photo shoot with her in Costa Mesa for a couple of hours, and then they said she won,” Garcia told our reporter. “They said, ‘She had the best year of any kid we’ve seen.’ I was shocked ... We had no idea. We’re a regular family in Huntington Beach, and you don’t expect anything like that to happen.”
What lies in her future? Fifi told Sports Illustrated she’d like to one day play soccer and softball for UCLA. But might she instead turn a soccer pro as a teen? We will have to wait and see.
MORE NEWS
• Four one-day strikes are being carried out by thousands of Cal State faculty seeking higher wages. The California Faculty Assn. and the California State University system have been in so-far unfruitful negotiations. Monday’s walkout by Cal Poly Pomona faculty members is being followed at San Francisco State, Cal State L.A. and Sacramento State. Cal State Fullerton’s Daily Titan reports the local university is prepared for a potential strike there as well.
• A sewage spill with an estimated volume of 94,500 gallons resulted in the closure of Laguna Beach’s coastline a week ago today. The incident occurred while routine maintenance work was being conducted overnight by the Laguna Beach public works department. The closure extended from Laguna Avenue to Blue Lagoon, according to the Daily Pilot’s initial report. Orange County public health officials said some of the closures were reduced Friday.
• Officials declared Friday that the Tustin hangar fire was “fully extinguished” after 24 days. In making the announcement, officials estimated that cleanup of nearby schools, parks, open space and public rights of way was 90% complete and that more than 50% of residential properties have been inspected with 35% cleared. According to the L.A. Times’ story, Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard stated “The residents and businesses in the area who have been impacted by this fire now need the full accountability of the Navy and the support of the Governor’s Office and FEMA to help our city and our community financially recover.”
• A magnitude 3.5 earthquake was reported Monday at 8:09 p.m. in Fullerton, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 6.6 miles, less than a mile from Anaheim, one mile from Placentia, two miles from Brea and two miles from La Habra.
PUBLIC SAFETY & COURTS
• Authorities announced last week they have identified the remains of a teenager who is believed to have been slain by the notorious serial killer Randy Kraft in 1974. Michael Ray Schlicht, who died when he was 17, was identified a week ago yesterday by investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department using investigative genetic genealogy, the L.A. Times reports. Schlicht’s body was found nearly 50 years ago on the side of a trail in what is now Aliso Viejo. “Over the years, multiple young men were found deceased throughout Orange County and Southern California, including several within a few miles of where [Schlicht’s] remains were discovered,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release reporting the outcome of the investigation.
• The O.C. surgeon once accused of sex assault pleaded guilty Nov. 29 to gun and drug charges. Under a plea deal, Newport Beach hand surgeon Dr. Grant Robicheaux, 43, was placed on one year of probation for the drug misdemeanor, which can later be dismissed if he successfully completes probation, and two years probation for the gun felony. “He can wake up with a big sigh of relief,” Robicheaux’s attorney, Philip Kent Cohen, said minutes after his client pleaded guilty to a felony count of possessing an assault rifle and a misdemeanor count of possessing psilocybin, according to the L.A. Times’ coverage of the case’s closure in a Fullerton courtroom.
• A Camp Pendleton Marine pleaded guilty to federal charges Thursday for his role in a firebombing attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa. Chance Brannon, 23, of San Juan Capistrano, is scheduled to be sentenced April 15. Co-defendants Xavier Batten, 21, of Brooksville, Fla., and Tibet Ergul, 21, of Irvine, are still awaiting trial.
• As of early this week Santa Ana police were still searching for a man suspected of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old child on Nov 28. Nicolas Gonzalez, 39, is suspected of harming the child at a home in the 500 block of North Mortimer Street, police said. Anyone with information on Gonzalez’s location is asked to contact police at (714) 245-8379 or AAvila@santa-ana.org.
• A Tustin man was sentenced Monday to more than 17 years in federal prison for dealing a deadly dose of fentanyl. Anthony Bernard Fender, 32, pleaded guilty in March to possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl in connection with the overdose death that killed a 40-year-old man March 9, 2021, in the parking lot of Town Place Suites in Lake Forest, according to City News Service.
• A 74-year-old veterinarian, Edgar Moore Church III, pleaded guilty Friday was sentenced to six years in prison for firing a gun in his Newport Beach home and holding police at bay for hours in a July 11 incident. Church pleaded guilty to assault with a firearm, assault with a weapon on a peace officer/firefighter, resisting arrest and assault with a deadly weapon, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of disobeying a domestic relations court order and hit-and-run with property damage, City News Service reported. He also admitted sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a firearm and committing a secondary offense while out on bail.
LIFE & LEISURE
• The Ecology Center is celebrating 15 years in San Juan Capistrano. Beginning in 2008 with 1 acre of land on which stood an old farmhouse, the Ecology Center has since grown to 28 acres. “We were looking to create a common gathering place — a community center where creativity and problem solving was present, such that we could embody our stewardship values as a community caring for the earth and the people,” founder Evan Marks told the Daily Pilot, which reported on the nonprofit’s anniversary over the weekend. Readers may recall that earlier this year the Ecology Center opened its own farm-to-table Campesino Café.
• Three red Giving Machines opened during a launch event Tuesday night at Pacific City mall in Huntington Beach. They are vending machines that allow people to select and donate up to 30 different items to both local and international nonprofits, according to the Daily Pilot’s coverage of the opening. Each machine has cards with pictures of items that represent different charitable gifts — from therapy dogs and wool blankets to groceries and more. The cards also identify the charity that will benefit. They’ll be in Surf City through Dec. 17, when they move to Dana Point Harbor from Dec. 19 through Dec. 29.
• Burnham-Ward Properties announced the completion of work to restore the historic Mariners Medical Arts building in Newport Beach. The 1963 work of iconic Southland architect Richard Neutra on Westcliff Drive needed some rehabilitation, according to this Daily Pilot story, to bring it back in line with Neutra’s original design. Among other work at the site, original water features and other landscaping details that enhance the modern building were restored, with the work beginning in 2022.
SPORTS
• Los Amigos High’s boys’ soccer team continued its hot start with a win over Laguna Beach last week. Los Amigos enjoyed its third win in as many matches on the new turf field the school’s athletic programs have begun putting to use this year, according to the Daily Pilot’s coverage of the game.
• The high school football CIF state championship bowl games are set for this Friday and Saturday. On Friday night, Mission Viejo (12-3) will play De La Salle (11-2) at Saddleback College for the Division 1-AA title. L.A. Times prep sports writer Eric Sondheimer offers this preview of the action.
•Angels star Mike Trout is ‘not getting traded,’ Perry Minasian told reporters yesterday. The L.A. Times reported on the Halos general manager’s comments, made at Major League Baseball’s winter meetings in Nashville. “Mike Trout’s not getting traded,” Minasian said. “100%.” Trout, who finished this past season on the injured list, signed a 12-year, $426.5-million contract extension with the Angels during spring training in 2019. The Times also reports that Dave Roberts said Shohei Ohtani met with the Dodgers last week. “Clearly, Shohei is our top priority,” Roberts said.
CALENDAR THIS
• Holiday light shows abound across the Southland this month, including several in O.C. The L.A. Times curated a list of “30 dazzling holiday light displays that make SoCal shine,” which includes all the details you’ll need to visit local shows such as Capistrano Lights at San Juan Capistrano Mission, Brea Eagle Hills Christmas lights, Sherman Library & Gardens Nights of 1000 Lights, Newport Dunes Annual Lights of the Bay, Hikari: Festival of Lights at Tanaka Farms and the Dana Point Harbor Holiday Lights and Boat Parade of Lights.
• Orange Coast College’s chamber singers will become one of the first choruses in the world to present a new Spanish-language version of Handel’s “Messiah” on Saturday. The new edition is titled “El Mesías” and was created by San Diego conductor Ruben Valenzuela. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre on campus, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here.
• Patchwork Show Makers Market, a bazaar of artisan and handmade goods will be held Dec. 16 in Tustin. The free festival will feature shopping from more than 100 vendors, showcasing local emerging artists, crafters, junior entrepreneurs and designers alongside artisan food, DIY crafting and music. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 245 El Camino Real, in Old Town Tustin. For more information, visit dearhandmadelife.com/patchwork-show.NEWS.
KEEP IN TOUCH
Thank you for reading today’s newsletter. If you have a memory or story about Orange County, I would love to read and share it in this space. Please try to keep your submission to 100 words or less and include your name and current city of residence.
I appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to carol.cormaci@latimes.com.
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