David Garza (Paralympic footballer)

David Garza
Personal information
Nationality  United States
Born (1993-04-24) April 24, 1993
California
Sport
Sport Soccer / Cerebral palsy soccer, Volleyball
Achievements and titles
Paralympic finals 2012 Summer Paralympics
Updated on 18 June 2016.

David Garza (born April 24, 1993) is an American Paralympic soccer player. He attended California State University Dominguez Hills, and was involved in a car accident in his freshman year that left him with permanent paralysis on part of his body.

An active sportsperson, he was a two-sport athlete at Bonita Vista High School, playing boys varsity volleyball and soccer. He also played club soccer for the Chula Vista Rangers. He earned a spot on the California State University Dominguez Hills team, redshirting his freshman year.

Garza was with the United States Paralympic National Team in 2012, playing with the team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. He went on to represent the USA at the 2015 Cerebral Palsy Football World Championships, 2015 Parapan American Games and other 2016 Summer Paralympics qualifying efforts.

Personal

Garza is from Chula Vista, California,[1] and attended Bonita Vista High School.[2]

Garza had a traumatic brain injury in May 2012 after his freshmen at university as result of a car accident.[3][4] The accident left him in a coma for four and a half weeks. The extent of his injuries was such that doctors initially told him he would never be able to walk again. He has permanent paralysis on part of his result as a long term consequence of the accident.[3][5] He attended California State University Dominguez Hills, graduating in May 2016 after studying sports psychology.[2][6] While there, he was an Army Senior Cadet, serving in the CLC cadet 8th regiment.[3][6] In 2015, he participated in a 28-day Cadet Leadership Course Fort Knox as part of the United States Army Cadet Academy program.[3] In December 2015, he required an operation on his talus bone in his ankle because a piece of the bone was missing.[5]

Garza is 6 foot 2, and weighs 165 lbs.[2]

Volleyball

Garza started playing soccer when he was 7 years old.[5] He played volleyball in high school.[2] During the 2009/2010 season, as a junior, Garza was a member of his school's boys varsity team. That season, he had a hitting percentage of 0.261, 13 blocks, 17 digs, 23 kills and 1 ace.[7] He was with the team again for the 2010/2011 season, and played in the Metro Conference’s annual all-star girls and boys volleyball games. He played for the Mesa league in that game.[8]

Soccer

As a youngster, Garza played for the Chula Vista Rangers. In a game in 2010 against the City of Salford Schools F.A. under-17 boys soccer team, he scored a goal in his team's 2 - 1 victory.[9] He played varsity soccer at Bonita Vista High School as a defender. He was part of the team that competed in the California Division II title match.[10] He played for the California State University Dominguez Hills, redshirting his freshman year.[2] Other schools that tried to recruit him to play for their programs included Cal Lutheran, San Francisco State, CS Bakersfield and Cal State East Bay.[2]

Cerebral palsy football

Garza is a CP6 classified footballer,[11] playing as a midfielder.[1]

Garza captained the United States squad at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[4] National team coaches changed, and his January 2013 call up to participate in camp was the first one he did under the leadership of new coach Stuart Sharp.[12] In April 2014, he was invited to participate in a week long national team training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California. The camp was being held in preparation for the 7-a-side Football Ciutat de Barcelona in June of that year.[13] He was invited to a national team training camp that took place from April 29 to May 6, 2015 in Carson, California. This camp was in preparation for the 2015 Cerebral Palsy Football World Championships in June of that year in England.[3][14]

The 22-year-old captained the US side at the 2015 Cerebral Palsy World Championships, scoring two goals against Argentina. One of them came off a penalty kick after Argentine goalkeeper Gustavo Nahuelquin was red carded for kicking Adam Ballou.[3][6][15] This performance qualified the United States for the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[16] He was a starter in the team's 10 - 0 loss to England.[17] He also started in the USA's 2 - 1 win against Scotland.[18] It was his first World Championships as a member of the national team.[19]

Garza was part of the 14 man squad that represented the United States at the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto. There, the United States played Canada, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil.[3][20] He played in the United States' 0 - 6 loss to Brazil at the Parapan Games.[21]

Garza took part in a national team training camp in Chula Vista, California in early March 2016.[1] In April 2016, he took part in a national team training camp in Bradenton, Florida in preparation for the May 2016 Pre Paralympic Tournament.[12][22] He was part of the United States Paralympic National Team that took part in the 2016 Pre Paralympic Tournament in Salou, Spain.[11] The United States finished 6th after beating Argentina in one placement match 4 - 3 and losing to Ireland 4 - 1. The goals scored in the match against Argentina were the first the USA scored in the tournament, before putting up one more in their match against Ireland.[23][24][25] He scored one of the United States's goals in their placement match against Argentina.[24] The tournament featured 7 of the 8 teams participating in Rio. It was the last major preparation event ahead of the Rio Games for all teams participating.[26]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "U.S. PARALYMPIC TEAM HEADS TO CHULA VISTA FOR TRAINING CAMP". U.S. Soccer. U.S. Soccer. March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "David Garza - 2012 Men's Soccer". Cal State Dominguez Hills. 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Cadet Spotlight: David Garza". United States Army — Cadet Command (USACC). August 4, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Schildhouse, Becki (July 6, 2015). "WATCH: San Diego Soccer Star's Amazing Story". NBC San Diego. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Browning, Paul (May 16, 2016). "2016 Criminal Justice Graduate David Garza Battles Back from Car Accident to Become Army Officer, Olympian". California State University, Dominguez Hills. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 Schildhouse, Becki (June 27, 2015). "San Diego Native Leads Team USA To 2016 Olympics". NBC San Diego. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  7. ↑ "David Garza's Boys Volleyball Stats". Max Prep. Max Prep. 2010. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  8. ↑ Brents, Phillip (May 28, 2011). "Mesa League doubles up South Bay League in senior all-star tilts". The Star News. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  9. ↑ Brents, Philip (April 16, 2010). "Chula Vista Rangers conduct own World Cup draw". The Star News. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  10. ↑ Brents, Phillip (March 16, 2011). "CIF final: Barons coach has been there before". The Star News. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  11. 1 2 "United States — Roster" (PDF). IFCPF. IFCPF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  12. 1 2 Schildhouse, Becki (April 2, 2016). "San Diegans Garza, Abbiate Named to Paralympic Team Training Camp Roster". NBC San Diego. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  13. ↑ "U.S. Paralympic national team roster". Soccer America Daily. April 22, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  14. ↑ Woitalla, Mike (April 27, 2015). "U.S. Paralympic team prepping for world championship". Soccer America Daily. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  15. ↑ Butler, Nick (June 27, 2015). "Wonder strikes propel England to fifth place finish at Cerebral Palsy Football World Championships". InsideTheGames. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  16. ↑ Rimmer, Peter (August–September 2015). "Russia edge Ukraine to retain CP World Championships". Possibility. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  17. ↑ Reid, Jamie (June 26, 2015). "England booked an intriguing final Cerebral Palsy World Championships fixture against the Republic of Ireland, after a commanding 10-0 victory against USA.". The FA. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  18. ↑ U.S. Soccer (June 20, 2015). "U.S. Paralympic National Team completes comeback for 2-1 win over Scotland". Soccer Wire. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  19. ↑ U.S. Soccer (June 16, 2015). "U.S. Paralympic National Team heads to cerebral palsy football world championships". U.S. Soccer. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  20. ↑ "USPNT ROSTER FOR THE 2015 PARAPAN AMERICAN GAMES". Soccer Nation. August 6, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  21. ↑ Faris, Nick (August 13, 2015). "Brazilians have no peers at 2015 Parapan Am soccer events". National Post. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  22. ↑ "PNT HEAD COACH STUART SHARP NAMES 16-PLAYER ROSTER FOR APRIL TRAINING CAMP". US Soccer. March 23, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Ireland — USA". IFCPF. IFCPF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  24. 1 2 "USA — Argentina". IFCPF. IFCPF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  25. ↑ "Argentina — Ireland". IFCPF. IFCPF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  26. ↑ "Schedule". IFCPF. IFCPF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
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