Breeze Athlete of the Week feature returns for fifth year
The Cape Coral Breeze will kick off its fifth year of honoring two student-athletes each week, as the scholastic sports season gets underway.
The Breeze’s Athlete of the Week program for the 2025/2026 season will premiere in next week’s edition on Aug. 29, where a pair of student-athletes from the West Zone will be highlighted.
The Athlete of the Week program runs throughout the entire school year, and will be capped off by The Breeze’s annual Breakfast of Champions where a male and female athlete of the year, team of the year, and coach of the year will be named.
“The Breeze is thrilled to kick off another year of honoring area athletes for their accomplishment and thankful, as always, to our community sponsors who make it possible,” said Breeze Newspapers Publisher Ray Eckenrode.
Each and every week (save a few holiday breaks), two students from Cape Coral High School, Mariner High School, Island Coast High School, North Fort Myers High School, Ida Baker High School, Oasis High School, or Bishop Verot High School will be selected by our staff.
Each of the athletes will have their accomplishments touted both in print and online.
The Breeze’s mission each and every week as we review each box score, compile every stat, and make our selections, is to recognize the achievements of student-athletes that call this area home.
“Once again we are excited about the start of the new school year and the beginning of what we know will be a great high school sports year,” Breeze Editor Chris Strine said. “We look forward to providing coverage of the teams and student athletes in our area, and honoring the special standouts for their performances with our Athlete of the Week.
“While our 2025-26 Athlete of the Week officially begins next week,” Strine continued, “this week we are paying tribute to last year’s Breeze Athletes of the Year for 2024-25 — Mariner’s Maximus Brady and North Fort Myers Hannah Busenbark, by running their Athlete of the Week features from last year.” (See page 36 of today’s Breeze)
At the end of each month, our readers will be able to vote on who they believe is worthy to be named the Athlete of the Month, and eventually, The Breeze will have a fan-voted Athlete of the Year.
This year’s title sponsor for our Athlete of the Week program is Torched Bar & Grill. Supporting sponsors include Zak’s Jewelry and Gavin’s Ace Hardware. In-kind sponsors are SP Designs and Cape Vineyard Community Church.
To reach Breeze Staff Report, please email news@breezenewspapers.com