It’s become extremely competitive to land college scholarships. However, high school and community college student-athletes who are looking to advance to the next level now have more avenues available to steer themselves in the right direction.
Personal trainers have entered the sports performance world as a welcome ally.
The GreenSpeed Training Facility in Eastlake has built up an impressive clientele of about 200 individuals, about 50 of whom attend high school. Founder and owner Tom Green was able to take satisfaction earlier this year as four highly motivated and highly decorated female student-athletes signed national letters of intent to make the transition to college sports.
The four San Diego-area prep stars include three from Eastlake High School — Olivia Sekimoto (soccer), Mia Shalit (soccer) and Lindsey Tarr (gymnastics, cheer, acrobatics and tumbling).
Sekimoto will attend American University in Washington, D.C., while Shalit has committed to attend the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
Tarr will attend the University of Oregon.
West Hills High School senior Lluvia Tarnitza (track and field) rounds out the quartet of GreenSpeed graduates. She will continue her athletic career at UCLA.
The four seniors are also academic overachievers with a collective 4.4 grade point average and are all honor roll students.
The girls trained together as a group, working on their speed, agility, strength and overall athletic performance.
“It’s truly an honor for me to be involved with their journeys,” Green said. “Juggling school and athletics is a very difficult commitment, especially to do it at the level these four have throughout their high school careers.
“Their hard work and discipline will definitely set them apart from most. I couldn’t be happier with their success as individuals and they will forever be a part of the GreenSpeed family.”
Making the grade
Sekimoto, a three-year varsity standout, topped Eastlake in scoring in 2019-20 with 17 goals and seven assists in helping guide her team to a 21-7-1 record, 11-1 in league play with the Mesa League championship, and a semifinal berth in the San Diego Section Open Division playoffs.
She also led the Lady Titans in scoring in 2018-19 with 13 goals and two assists as the team finished runner-up in the Division I championship game.
Sekimoto finished third in team scoring as a sophomore with five goals and one assist as Eastlake won the Open Division championship in 2017-18.
She has also helped her club team, the Rebels Soccer Club, reach great heights by competing at the U17 level at the 2018 United States Youth Soccer national championships.
“I am extremely excited to announce that I have committed to play Division I soccer and to continue my academic and athletic career at American University in Washington, D.C.,” said Sekimoto, who earned First Team All-CIF honors this season. “I’d like to thank my parents, my coaches and amazing teammates for helping me get one step closer to my dream of playing soccer at the collegiate level.”
Shalit, a four-year varsity performer, helped guide Eastlake on the pitch with a 25-10-5 career record, 24 shutouts and 1.29 goals-against average.
She appeared in 20 games in 2019-20, logging 927 minutes in the net with 11 wins, 10 shutouts and a 0.60 goals-against average to her credit.
Shalit logged 440 minutes as a junior with 10 wins and 10 shutouts as the Lady Titans (18-6-5) finished runner-up in the Division I championship game.
She played 204 minutes with three wins and three shutouts as a sophomore as Eastlake finished 19-6-3 and captured both the Mesa League and Open Division CIF championships.
She appeared in six games as a freshman in mostly part-time duty.
Shalit will bring international experience to UNLV as a member of the Peruvian National Team program since 2015, serving as the starting goalkeeper for that nation’s U17 team in 2017-18 and most recently earning the starting goalkeeper position at the 2020 South American U20 Women’s Football Championship tournament in March.
Shalit, who has played club soccer for the San Diego Surf, DMCV Sharks and the Rebels Soccer Club, has earned several academic awards, including a Hispanic National Merit Scholar Award and an AP Scholar award.
“I love soccer,” Shalit stated. “I love the sport, the competition, the teamwork. The field is the one place other than the classroom that I feel I can really do anything.
“Playing soccer has taught me more and introduced me to a world I never knew existed. It has allowed me to travel abroad to places I never would have seen, meet people who will be in my life for a very long time, experience new cultures and ways of life, and grow as a person both physically and mentally … finally and most importantly, to never give up.”
Tarnitza opened the 2020 season on March 5 by combining with teammates Berea Crescitelli, Sandra Costello and Natasha Whitman to win the 4×400-meter relay in 4:27.87 in a Grossmont Conference dual meet against visiting Granite Hills.
Tarnitza also finished second in the 4×100-meter relay in 53.37, third in the 200-meter dash in 27.93 and fifth in the 100-meter dash in 13.64 in the same event.
Green, an eight-time NCAA All-American and Olympic hopeful in track and field, founded the GreenSpeed Training Facility in 2015. He has more than 33 years of athletic experience and 16 years of experience in San Diego as a personal trainer, coach and sports performance specialist.
He retired with the ninth-fastest 50-meter time in the world.
Training methods focus on quality not quantity, persistence and energy, with a focus for athletes to reach their goals in their respective sports.
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GreenSpeed Training to welcome back old and new clients when lockdown lifts
GreenSpeed Training Facility will be ready to welcome back old and new clients as soon as lockdown in California lifts, with keeping safety and health as its top priority, according to owner and founder Tom Green.
The training facility, which was established in 2015 in Chula Vista’s Eastlake area, will remain committed to keeping its clients safe as the community continues to navigate changes and compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic, Green said.
Green, an eight-time NCAA All-American, has made “quality over quantity” an integral part of the foundation of his gym, where passion is seeded in treating everyone like “they’re part of a family.”
GreenSpeed Training coaches a variety of clients, including professional, rising high school and college athletes, military, law enforcement, families and others who simply want to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.
“I am fully committed to the safety, health and overall well-being of our clients,” Green said. “Not only will we follow all guidelines, but we’ll take it a step further with specially designed workouts and scheduling protocols to ensure social distancing and minimal foot traffic until things have fully cleared. It’s of utmost importance that healthy clients stay healthy.”
Green plans on welcoming his clients back as soon as government officials give the all-clear, but also proceeding with caution.
“I’m so excited to get our ‘gym family’ back together again,” he said. “I speak with a lot of clients on a daily basis, and they can’t wait to come back. GreenSpeed is like a second home for many of these people, and to have that aspect of their life taken away so abruptly has been difficult for both physical and mental health.
“This is especially true for all the senior athletes who weren’t able to finish their high school athletic careers. But, we’re all staying positive, focused and eager to start things back up again better than ever. I’m also looking forward to welcoming many new faces that have been in touch with me over the past few weeks. This community is strong and I’m honored to be a part of it.”
For more information, visit the website at www.greenspeedtraining.com.
