KING CITY — Anthony Velasquez has been selected as the new athletic director for King City High School.
The 28-year-old grew up in Fairfield, where he attended Franklin High School, and is a graduate of California State University, Monterey Bay, majoring in business. At CSUMB, Velasquez played center back for the Otter Men’s soccer team. He completed his master’s degree in sports management at the University of San Francisco.
At King City, Velasquez will teach business classes and handle the athletic director duties. He has already been attending athletic director training and is excited with what he has seen so far in the Mustangs athletic program and in the community.
“I feel that King City has been and will continue to be very supportive of the sports programs,” Velasquez said. “I grew up around sports as my dad was a Fire Chief and also coached me in baseball. I have been working for an Educational Talent Search Program and that is what first brought me down to South County. I feel that this will be a great opportunity to teach and to continue to work in athletics.”
Velasquez learned early in life that there is more to being part of a sports program than practicing and the games and was taught by his father and uncle how much has to be done before a program can run well.
“When I was playing baseball as a kid, my dad was coaching me but also became the equipment manager for the league I was in,” he said. “We inherited a messy equipment room but took our time and organized it so everything was in place. Being involved with helping my dad in the equipment room taught me that the games are just 10 percent of what is needed to organize teams and leagues. Later on I would help my uncle who helped coach the minor league team in the area. And, I was able to see players like CC Sabathia start at that level of play. I would help my uncle when he would work on preparing the fields and also served as a bat boy for the team. Later on I realized that even though baseball was my favorite sport, I was better suited to be a soccer player.”
Velasquez spent some time in the spring as an onlooker at sporting events at King City, including lending a hand at the King City Track and Field Invitational.
“I met members from the Mustang Bench and just got a good feel of the community at the track meet,” Velasquez said. “I like the small town atmosphere and look forward to teaching and working with the coaches and players at the high school.”
