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Miami Palmetto High School rising senior Daniel Fandino already has at least one potential football scholarship waiting but he’s working hard in hopes of qualifying for an offer from a Division I university.
“That’s one of my biggest dreams, playing Division I football,” he says. “I already have one Division 3 scholarship from St. Vincent in Pennsylvania.”
Fandino plays offensive guard and center – mostly center. He’s considered undersized at 6 foot and 270 pounds.
“It’s been like a blessing,” he says. “It’s easier for me to get lower than them. Especially with me being smaller, I can move faster from side to side.”
He started his freshman year as a defensive lineman.
“I started playing because of my brother,” he says. “I thought D line was the coolest thing.”
But that was a year still affected by COVID.
“If one player got COVID, the players around him got quarantined,” he says.
A day before a game, a bunch of the guys were out with COVID, and the coach ended up playing a bunch of the guys out of position.
“It was first time playing O line,” he says. “I stayed up all night trying to get the position right. We ended up tying with Belen.”
He mentors the younger players to help them become better players. He took his cue from the coach, who told the team leaders that the team only goes as far as they go.
“I do take a lot of pride in making sure the people on my team that are new and fresh that they can be as good as they can be,” he says.
The 2023-2024 team had a strong year, going 9-2.
“The team is doing well,” he says. “We are working hard, and we have a great coach.”
Because of the time commitment as a football player, most of Fandino’s community service comes from being in the sports program. He helps the team in whatever capacity he can, including being a test dummy for the sports medicine program.
Last year he also went with other team members to Palmetto Middle School where they used their muscle to move things around to get ready for the school year.
Outside of football, Fandino is a member of the Palmetto Senate, where he leads the athletic committee.
“We are all about athletics,” he says. “We want to make sure the programs are as safe as possible. One of our concerns is that we all believe that the field we practice on is subpar. It has a lot of potholes.”
Other concerns include getting lighting for the field.
“We are not allowed to play on the fields past five because we don’t have lights,” he says.
They also want the basketball courts to be more consistently waxed and the gym needed new seating. That situation was being resolved at the end of the school year.
Fandino is also a member of the Thespian Honor Society and took part in the holiday show.
“One of my biggest regrets, I was not in the play Legally Blonde,” he says. “I have only been able to be part of the holiday shows.”
Football season ends in early December and spring football practices start in January.
Workouts with pads start in mid-April.
“We are a hardworking team, we have aspirations to be the best team,” he says.
Fall football practice begins several weeks before school starts in August.
Fandino wants to get a football scholarship and is open to attending the instate Division I universities, where he wants to study business and finance.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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