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Elijah, Jones HS Student: No. Hello, my name's Elijah McCluster and I attend The Great Jones High School. Yep, it's football season. Let's see why OCPS has the best sports programs.

Announcer: Presented by Addition Financial Credit Union. Here's our OCPS superintendent, Dr. Maria Vazquez.

Dr. Vazquez: Hi, everyone. One of the top reasons some parents choose Orange County Public Schools is our phenomenal athletics program. We have some tough teams, and they win a lot, and the games are so much fun. Take a look. Joining me at the table is our Director of Athletics and Wellness, Lonnie Flores. Lonnie, thanks for being here.

Lonnie Flores, Director of Athletics and Wellness: Thank you so much.

Dr. Vazquez: All right. Let's get right down to it. Tell us about the successes, the championships, all the titles. I know there's a lot.

Lonnie Flores: There is, ma'am, and it is great for us to have those successes, and it's a wide range of successes. You know, our girls' bowling team at East River is now three-time state champions in bowling, and it's great that we get to host that here in Orlando at Boardwalk. So, the rest of the state gets to see the great things here in Orlando. Winter Park Girls Volleyball are back-to-back state champions. And then we had a handful of individual swimmers, Riley Ursman, who set not only a state and national record in the 100 freestyle.

Dr. Vazquez: Yeah, I remember meeting her. And Winter Park has a legacy going with their cheerleading team.

Lonnie Flores: They do. You know, we had three cheerleading teams that won state titles with Freedom, Windermere, and of course, Winter Park. Also, something that was very exciting last year was that we had the first girls wrestling team to win two state titles. And that was the second state title for Freedom Girls Wrestling. And then last but not least, I would like to recognize our weightlifting Champion from Boone High School. So, as you can see, we were well-rounded and well-represented as a county. 

Dr. Vazquez: Yeah, we've got incredible students, incredible coaches, and teachers and support staff that rally around them.

Lonnie Flores: Oh, yes, ma'am. You know, the opportunity for our communities to come together, you know, businesses shut down. You know, we have our commissioners, our school board members, our mayors at some games. And it's awesome to see everybody so invested in their school colors and the pep rallies. Our administrators are really involved in the games as well, ma'am. You know, as we've talked about before, it's how competitive they are. And the video with the Principal, Mr. Mark Wasco from Timber Creek High School, on the stretcher doing 35 pushups to match the scoreboard was unbelievable.

Dr. Vazquez: Yeah. And they are. The principals are incredibly competitive. Let's, let's talk a little bit about, you know, our athletes, right? Because we, we know they are very talented. They have a lot of success. They've won championships. But they also do very well in the classroom. Talk a little bit about that.

Lonnie Flores: They do, ma'am. And I always try to, to remind people that athletics is an extension of the classroom. Yes. We're taking what they learned during the day, and now they get the chance to apply it in the extracurriculars that they're involved in. And our success in the classroom is due to our students and our coaches because we spend a lot of time in study halls. We spend a lot of time with tutoring. And we have teams that, you know, every single year we have academic team champions. And I always try to figure out a way to explain to people what that is. And last year we had Innovation Boys Golf, Timber Creek Boys Swimming, and Windermere Boys Volleyball. And those teams combined had a grade point average of 3.0 and above. And then you take the -

Dr. Vazquez: No easy feats.

Lonnie Flores: No, not at all. And then you take that grade point average as a team, and it's compared to all the other golf teams, swim teams, volleyball teams in the state, and those teams had the highest grade point average. So, it is a very difficult feat. Not a lot of schools ever achieve that, let alone districts. So, we are very fortunate for the work our teachers and our coaches do together for that grade point average to happen for those sports teams.

Dr. Vazquez: So, talked a little bit about Mr. Wasco, who is highly, highly competitive. But we have some amazing coaches, right? Talk to us about some of the things that they do to help build our program and build up our students.

Lonnie Flores: Our coaches are selfless. They, they go far beyond just the X's and O's of sports. We understand that we're building, you know, our future community members. So, when our coaches spend time with our students, they're developing great community members. Yeah. They're developing, you know, future mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters. And it's great, as a coach, in my time coaching, to see that development from a freshman to a senior. And it's someone who might not even have aspirations to play sports. They just want to take the skills learned in athletics and the teamwork and want to apply that into their daily lives. A great example of our coaches and our students is the Fred E. Roselle Sportsmanship Award. This was won by Lake Buena Vista High School last year. And then we also had the Floyd E. Lay Sunshine Cup, which is an accumulation of overall finishes of all of your sports teams. And Winter Park won that for a second year in a row. 

Dr. Vazquez: Oh, that’s Wonderful.

Lonnie Flores: And then, you know, something dear to my heart is a new sport we started, which was esports. Over the last couple of years. And, last year, Play VS, our system we use for our games and our seasons, they actually voted Orange County Public Schools as the school district of the year.

Dr. Vazquez: So, in football season, you know, I root for my home football team, but who are you watching, and what are the big rivalry games?

Lonnie Flores: Yes, ma'am. I, I agree with you. I've got to tread lightly because somebody will mention what team I did not mention today while talking with you. But, you know, we have such great rivalry and theme sports games. I really love those because of the tradition. The tradition here in Orange County is that all of our alumni remember when they were in high school.  And they were at that game, you know; you have the Boot game, Colonial, and University. You have the Shield, West Orange, and Ocoee, the Smudge Pot, which is relatively new, but really a great touch to the Horizon, Windermere game. The Barrel, of course, Boone and Edgewater. The fence, that is Olympia and West Orange; the Soul Bowl is Evans and Jones.

Dr. Vazquez: Everybody comes out for these special rivalry games. Yes. It's great to see alumni there.  Again, I love football season. So, can you tell us what are some of the lesser-known sports that we offer at OCPS?

Lonnie Flores: You know, I take great pride in our county to be able to provide all of the FHSA-sanctioned sports. A lot of people think football, baseball, and basketball are traditional sports. But we're very good at some of the other sports. They offer water polo, beach volleyball, bowling, you know. So we are a well-rounded county. I call that kind of the Olympic sports. We're not only good at the typical culture-based sports that are in American society, but we're great at the Olympic sports, and our kids excel in every avenue that we have and provide.

Dr. Vazquez: They do. They really do. I love when we bring the teams in to the board recognition events. And you're right, we have them for all of the sports. Well, Lonnie, this has been so much fun. Thank you for being here. We'll have to bring you back for some highlights in the winter and in the spring. They have some great sports teams at that time as well. Coming up on our podcast, we'll talk more about the Independent League. Thank you for watching. Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe. Have a wonderful week.

Announcer: For an extended conversation on today's topic, listen to the Mondays with Maria Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Mondays with Maria is presented by Addition Financial Credit Union. Count us in for every step on your financial journey. Learn more at Additionfi.com. For more OCPS news and information, visit TheSlice.ocps.net. I'm your announcer, Jamir Jones, a student at OCVS. Thanks for watching, and have a great week.