- April 18, 2024
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A three-sport athlete at Matanzas High School, junior Alyssia Paiz doesn’t have a lot of time to herself.
During the fall, she plays volleyball for the Pirates and soccer for her club team, Florida Elite. During the winter, she’s on the soccer field for the Pirates. And during the spring, Matanzas’ softball season starts up and club soccer returns for a second go-around.
But when Paiz isn’t slamming a volleyball, ripping a soccer ball into the back of a net or crushing a softball with her trusty bat, she spends her time one of the only ways she knows how: by giving back.
Nearly every weekend, Paiz volunteers at the Grace Community Food Pantry, located at 245 Education Way in Bunnell, bagging food and distributing it to needy families. Matanzas softball coach Sara Novak helped organize a group of Pirates to volunteer at the pantry. Paiz has been involved since this past summer.
“Those people are so thankful and grateful to be getting free food like that,” she said. “And the work we put in to get it to them, no matter what, even when it’s pouring rain, we’ve been out there helping.”
Paiz’s toughest challenge came in early September after Hurricane Irma pummeled the east coast of Florida with intense flooding that devastated much of Flagler Beach.
With her parents by her side, Paiz leapt into the fray. She helped collect food, water, toiletries and clothes. In addition, when she wasn’t collecting and distributing donated items, Paiz was helping tear up and reconstruct drywall, lay down fresh carpet and give life to previously drowned yards.
“Fortunately for me, I wasn’t impacted by the storm as much,” Paiz said. “But the families that we were helping, it was really upsetting to see them and how young some of the kids were hurting. Them coming and getting what they needed and having them tell us what happened and seeing all the houses destroyed, I just felt like I needed to do something to help.”
Balancing her passion for sports and her desire to serve her community has been a difficult task. But so far, she’s managed OK.
Last softball season, Paiz was the first Pirate to ever hit a home run over the fence at their home field. On the soccer pitch, Paiz is only 21 goals shy of breaking the 100-mark for goals scored in her career for Matanzas.
The first person to accomplish that feat for the Pirates?
Her sister, Gabby Paiz.
“I really want to be able to prove myself,” Alyssia Paiz said. “I’ve always kind of been living in my sister’s shadow, and I want to be able to do something that she’s been able to do and maybe more than what she’s done. As for softball, that’s my own sport. My sister didn’t play it. So, doing what I do there is for me and me only.”
And entering 2018, it’s all about calming her nerves and focusing on the task at hand.
“As a freshman and sophomore, I was really nervous about everything: stepping out on the field, stepping out on the court,” she said. “I’m getting over all that, though. I’m letting it all go.”
