January 15, 2024
MDCA Basketball Player Javi Rowell Is Our Student-Athlete Of The Week
By Kyle Coppola
MDCA Basketball Player Javi Rowell Is Our Student-Athlete Of The Week
Mount Dora Christian Academy basketball point guard #1 Javi Rowell is our student athlete of the week. Javi is a 6’0” senior and has been having a fantastic season. He currently leads the team in points, averaging about 16 points per game. He is also a team leader when it comes to steals per game and has turned those steals into points on the other end of the court multiple times this season.
(MDCA #1 Javi Rowell is defended by Umatilla High’s #11 Jay Miller. Javi Rowell leads the MDCA bulldogs in scoring with 16 points per game on average.)
MDCA is currently 11-7 this season. Javi has been a huge reason for the MDCA basketball team’s success. Javi Rowell has been great from the free throw line this season and is averaging 75%. That has been helpful along with his teammates who have given him plenty of help this season. #14 Bishop Wenze lead s the team in rebounds with #4 Ethan Priest who both have nearly 5 rebounds per game. Head coach Steven Hayes always gets the most out of his team. This season has had some challenges, including three losses that have been decided by 2 points or less. Overall though the Bulldogs have looked solid.
(MDCA #15 Dillon Mancauskas is defended by Umatilla High School’s #3 Artis James.)
#24 Xavier Dalton and #15 Dillon Mancauskas both average about 8 points per game and have complimented Javi Rowell nicely this year. More than anything else the team is acting as a cohesive unit. The loss on Friday night stung but for MDCA to hang with a team like Umatilla and nearly win the game should come as an attention getter for the rest of Central Florida when having to play against MDCA.
(Javi Rowell is shooting 75% from the free-throw line this season.)
The Bulldogs also had a tough loss against McKeel Academy on Saturday. That game ended in overtime and McKeel Academy hung on for the win 46-45. The game was a low scoring defensive matchup.
With the district tournament approaching MDCA will be looking forward to trying to win yet another district championship.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
