Written by: Kaylissa Elenes and Miah Leal
El Diamante entered into a sweepstakes with T-Mobile earlier this year to get an opportunity to upgrade their existing stadium and finally have a home game. Unfortunately, our school wasn’t chosen to be in the top 16 finalists, but that is not stopping us from finding another way to build a stadium.
Photo Credits: @all4theminers on Instagram
On a positive note, El Diamante did receive a $5,000 dollar check from T-Mobile, which will be put into an ASB account to be specifically used for building a new stadium in the future. Even though we are out of the challenge,” athletic director Dr. Watamura said that, “as we do additional fundraisers or we get additional donations all [of] that money El Diamante receives will be put towards that account to help improve our school.”
Defensive football player, Joseph Pena, responded to the question saying, “I think the T-Mobile challenge was a great opportunity for El Diamante to get the stadium we finally wanted. Although we did not win the challenge, it showed how much the students and staff wanted a home game on campus. This is a great way to show the district that they need to consider helping our school get the funding for a stadium.”
Pena is devastated by the outcome of the challenge but continues to keep the spirit of the challenge alive and still believes our school can strive to get a well-earned stadium.
Varsity football player Brian Enriquez shared his opinion about the loss replying, “I felt kind of sad because as an athlete I always wanted our own stadium, and I want it to feel like we could have an actual home game instead of playing at Golden West.”
The race for a new stadium devastated our football team, but this is not the end for El Diamante.
Photo Credits: @eldathletics
Dr. Watamura says she has some things in the works to help start the process of upgrading our field. Some drawings and cost estimates are being created as a start.
As she said, “It is [her] career goal before [she] leaves this place that there will be something at El Diamante to hold a home game even if it might not be as fancy as they hope with top-of-the-line features.”
She is not giving up hope and will find other ways to get a stadium even though the T-Mobile competition is no longer possible.
Despite the disappointment of not entering the sweepstakes as a finalist, now is not the time to lose faith in the school. We are grateful for the T-Mobile experience, which really displayed the spirit of our student body. Sooner or later, our school will have a stadium, and we can hopefully get that home game we deserve.