Mission Bay High School entered the 2012-13 academic calendar with new athletic director Jorge Palacios at the helm after predecessor Krista Allen resigned to take a new position at Patrick Henry High School in June. “I’ve been here at Mission Bay for 15 years as a coach and a teacher, so it seems like a natural fit for us,” Palacios said. Palacios takes over an athletic department that includes 22 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) sports teams broken up into fall sports (football, girls’ volleyball, girls’ field hockey, boys’ water polo, girls’ tennis and cross country), winter sports (girls’ basketball, girls’ water polo, girls’ soccer, wrestling, boys’ junior varsity soccer, varsity soccer, varsity basketball and boys’ JV basketball) and spring sports (badminton, baseball, boys’ tennis, boys’ volleyball, golf, softball, swimming, and track and field). In 2011-12, some of the Mission Bay High teams enjoyed a high level of success when the girls’ basketball team won the CIF championship, boys’ basketball lost by one point in the CIF championship game and girls’ soccer — coached by Palacios the past 10 years — posted an undefeated regular season. Palacios said he “absolutely” intends to continue as the MBHS girls’ soccer head coach. Mission Bay athletic facilities will get a facelift in the near future when a new football field is put in next summer, along with the addition of an athletic trainer for all teams, not just for the football program. We think it is important to provide for our student/athletes,” Palacios said. Palacios also estimates that there are between 400 and 500 students involved with athletics at Mission Bay High this year out of a total enrollment of 1,550. There could be also lights added to the new football field, but the plans are still tentative. If it happens, however, Mission Bay could be hosting night football games for the first time since the 1970s. Community involvement is another area that Palacios said he wants to emphasize, by getting Pacific Beach residents, Mission Bay High alumni and former Mission Bay High teachers interested in coming to and supporting the school. “Even though a lot of our kids are not from the area [today], we hope that the community can adopt them as their own to come out and support our teams for events like Homecoming, and also hopefully bringing back some former Mission Bay athletes,” Palacios said.