NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Edinburg Vela libero Julia Cordon’s coach says she can play anywhere on the court, but she’s just too valuable as the defensive specialist to line up anywhere else.
Cordon’s summer was split into three parts, as she competed in volleyball, basketball and softball during her time away from school.
“In June, I had done a basketball league. I also did the Mission league for volleyball. I went to Venom and did some practices there,” Cordon said. “Once it started hitting July, I kind of booked myself with a bunch of softball tournaments. I was traveling for three weeks with my sister.”
After camps, leagues and training, she wrapped up the summer by accepting a softball scholarship offer from the University of the Incarnate Word.
Her father and brother played baseball for UTPA, and she’s followed in those athletic footsteps. As a guard on the basketball team and shortstop on the diamond, she’s not shy in a position that takes a lot of quick thinking.
“I played baseball as a little kid,” Cordon said. “I have three older brothers and sisters. There are five of us. It was hard for my parents to be running around and getting to all our games. My dad was coaching us, and he’s taught me everything I know. He gave me that mindset to always go 100 percent and stay positive and have fun in whatever I’m playing.”
Vela coach Araceli Ortega said a multisport athlete has traits that are hard to teach.
“I think that helps them across the board in the different scenarios that they get per sport,” Ortega said. “The aggressiveness, the experience they gain. A lot of the same movements in the different team sports, with maybe a little different purpose. That team unity aspect is very beneficial for them.”
Cordon excels at thinking the game, making libero an almost natural fit.
“I feel like that’s where I can help my team most,” Cordon said. “I had played middle back a little bit last year. This year, I just excelled. I read the ball better, and I just think I’d be able to produce more for my team in the back, especially because we have some good hitters in the front.”
Glenys Maldonado is the primary outside hitter who has emerged for the SaberCats after they graduated The Monitor All-Area second-team hitter Bianca Cortez. Maldonado, a junior, is another multitalented athlete who wears the blue and silver on the soccer field in the winter and on the track in the spring.
Maldonado is part of the reason the 2018 SaberCats feel they have a strong chance to make a run at the District 31-6A title. When the team needs a point, she’s the player the ball is set to. The way she goes on offense, the team goes.
“I love pressure. I love the pressure points,” Maldonado said. “I like to be the one serving those 24-25 games. Ever since I was little, I liked to be the one to take charge, to help my team move to the next step. I’ve always liked that feeling, that adrenaline rush.”
Both Maldonado and Cordon played on the varsity team last season and watched a lot of seniors move on at the end of the year. Luckily, most of the current players were teammates at South Middle School.
“We did lose more than half of our team,” Maldonado said. “But honestly, working together, the good thing is a majority of the team has all known each other growing up. A lot of us have gone to middle school together and a majority of our high school years. We already have that chemistry. We already have that bond.”