Miami Herald High School Athlete of the Week 17: Valentina Kalka of Lourdes soccer

By James Varsallone

January 16, 2026 11:38 PM

Valentina Kalka of the Lourdes girls’ soccer team is the Miami Herald Athlete of the Week for Week 17.

The junior scored the winner in a 4-3 victory over a tough NSU University School team and also scored in a 3-1 victory over LaSalle on Senior Night as the Bobcats improved to 9-3.

Other nominees were: Emma Esparza, Palmer Trinity basketball; Olivia Yakich, Stoneman Douglas wrestling; Michael Mocco, Cardinal Gibbons wrestling; and Mayar Dhieu, Westwood Christian basketball.

To be considered for a nomination (Broward and Miami-Dade high school varsity athletes only), email hssports@miamiherald.com.

Jim Varsallone

Miami Herald

305-376-3621

Jim Varsallone writes a high school sports column twice a week, featuring top performers in all varsity sports (boys and girls) in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. He also covers pro wrestling, something he’s done since his college days in the late 1980s. Now in his fifth decade of coverage, he currently follows WWE (Raw, SmackDown and NXT), AEW, Ring of Honor, TNA Impact Wrestling, MLW, WOW, NWA, and the South Florida indies, mainly CCW. He writes MMA, too -- mostly profile stories and video interviews with American Top Team and Sanford MMA fighters in South Florida. As for pro wrestling, he writes feature stories and profile pieces, updates upcoming show schedules in South Florida, photographs the action and interviews talent (audio and video) -- sharing the content here and via social media on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel: jim varsallone (jimmyv3 channel). Support my work with a digital subscription

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