- April 18, 2024
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Seabreeze head coach Pat Brown, former booster club president Jonathan Bunch and Volusia County School Board member Carl Persis celebrate the opening of the new weight room at Seabreeze High School. Photo by Michele Meyers
Eli Campbell stands among his peers in Seabreeze High School's new weight room. Photo by Michele Meyers
The Seabreeze football team poses in the new weight room at Seabreeze High School. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze football players warm up prior to lifting in the new weight room. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze football players pose in the new weight room holding a broom signifying a sweep this season. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze coach Pat Brown directs his players' warm-up prior to their workout in the new weight room. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze football players warm up prior to lifting in the new weight room. Photo by Michele Meyers
Coach Pat Brown gets his players down into a sumo squat during a warm-up in Seabreeze's new weight room. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze football players warm up prior to lifting in the new weight room. Photo by Michele Meyers
Aiden Ford spots for Caleb Geathers as he begins his squat in the new weight room at Seabreeze High School. Photo by Michele Meyers
FPC transfer Zeli Hayworth uses the squat rack as Luca Sarno spots for him in the new weight room at Seabreeze High School. Photo by Michele Meyers
Tyrone Cordare goes down into a squat as Antonio Davis offers support in the new weight room at Seabreeze High School. Photo by Michele Meyers
It was Antonio Davis' turn to knock out a set of squats while his lifting partner, Tyrone Cordare, spots him. Photo by Michele Meyers
Lifting partners Antonio Davis and Tyrone Cordare finishes up another set of squats on the new squat racks at Seabreeze High School. Photo by Michele Meyers
Chris Rivera pushes through a set of squats on the new squat rack at Seabreeze High School. Photo by Michele Meyers
Shamar Durham, Brogan Kelly (background) and Lawrence Campbell Jr. Photo by Michele Meyers
Lawrence Campbell Jr. begins a set of squats as Shamar Durham encourages him to push through it at Seabreeze High School's new weight room. Photo by Michele Meyers
Micah Karr gets a spot from lifting partner James Lyon at Seabreeze High School's new weight room. Photo by Michele Meyers
Jesse Shirley spots for Charles Davis in the new Seabreeze weight room. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze Principal Tucker Harris, Kendall Harris, the Harris children, Susan Persis and Carl Persis. Photo by Michele Meyers
Volusia County School Board Member Carl Persis and booster club president Kia Glenn celebrate the opening of the new Seabreeze High School weight room. Josh Kelly (background). Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze head football coach Pat Brown and JV head football coach Pepper Johnson take a moment to discuss plans. "We are excited," Johnson said. "We have a great young class this year." Photo by Michele Meyers
Tucker Harris, Kia Glenn, Barbara Kelly, Lisa Kelly, Carl Persis and Pat Brown. Photo by Michele Meyers
A red and blue sand crab glared down upon the occupants of the new weight room at Seabreeze High School on Saturday, Aug. 6, signifying a new era of athletics for the school.
The newly redesigned workout room was a collaborative effort initiated by head football coach Pat Brown, spearheaded by Seabreeze Football Booster Club president Kia Glenn and athletic director Brad Montgomery who was instrumental in creating the Wall of Fame and Sandcrab wall covering with DME Visuals.
Montgomery poured over decades of yearbooks and met with many alumni groups from the 1950s to the current year.
“The weight room is a place of physical and mental development,” he said. “The names on the wall go back decades and represent the best that Seabreeze graduated to collegiate, professional and Olympic athletics. Many are individual state (champions) or were on championship teams and have been inducted into our Hall of Fame at Seabreeze.”
This is Glenn’s first year as the club’s president. Her son, B.J. Glenn, graduated in May.
“I stayed because I have a heart for here. I just want to continue to be a part of the legacy... Coach worked hard. He brought the team from 1-9 to be district champions. I want to see this program go to the next level.”
KIA GLENN, Seabreeze Football Booster Club president
“I stayed because I have a heart for here,” she said. “I just want to continue to be a part of the legacy. I’m showing up for them. Coach worked hard. He brought the team from 1-9 to be district champions. I want to see this program go to the next level.”
Brown began submitting emails to the school’s booster club the first year he was hired requesting various necessities to support his team. The first year was jerseys and equipment. The second year, funding was put into helmet safety. The third year was the weight room.
“When I first got here, the weight room was not conducive for a football team workout,” he said. “I thought about it from a college standpoint. How can we make it efficient for 35 to 40 kids at a time, be able to get the workout in without any downtime.”
Brown and his coaches had trained at college-level facilities and based Seabreeze’s weight room on those experiences. After meeting with a BSN Sports representative on multiple occasions, the decision was to have nine multi-functional weightlifting racks and an open area in the center for traffic, warm-ups and training.
After receiving Browns’s equipment list, booster club vice president Liz Sarno itemized everything, wrote a grant and submitted it to Carl Persis, chairman of the Daytona Beach Racing and Recreational Facilities District. It was approved for $97,000 of which between $70,000 to $75,000 was used for the weight room.
Persis, who is also the Volusia County School Board member for District 4, and his wife, Susan Persis, the deputy mayor of Ormond Beach, are graduates of Seabreeze High School and declared they were “all in on Seabreeze.”
“There is a lot of support for you,” Carl Persis said. “Old guys like me are out here cheering for you guys all the time. It’s my pleasure to serve as the chair of the Daytona Beach Racing and Recreational Facilities District.”
Fellow Seabreeze graduate and newly appointed principal Tucker Harris expressed his enthusiasm for the “positive movements that are already in place.”
“I’m excited about this,” he said. “I don’t consider myself a principal. I’m a number one servant — kind of a school dad. I’m here to do whatever I need to do to help all of (the students) cross the stage, first and foremost, and have an awesome athletic program where we can get some wins but also build good young men and young women — the whole child.”
