Keep Coach Erika Blanco at East Los Angeles College
The Issue
For more than 20 years, Coach Erika Blanco has dedicated herself to East Los Angeles College Softball and the student-athletes she has coached.
To us, Coach Blanco has always been more than a coach. She has been a mentor, a leader, a teacher, and someone who helped turn a group of athletes into a family. She has supported generations of student-athletes both on and off the field and has created an environment built around teamwork, accountability, support, and pride.
Her impact cannot simply be measured by wins and losses. The lessons, relationships, memories, and opportunities she has given to her players have continued long after they leave the softball field.
We, the undersigned students, student-athletes, alumni, families, faculty, staff, and members of the community, respectfully ask East Los Angeles College and the appropriate decision-makers to listen to the people whose lives Coach Erika Blanco has impacted.
We ask that her years of dedication and contributions to ELAC Softball be recognized and that every effort be made to allow Coach Erika Blanco to continue serving the student-athletes and community she has dedicated so much of her life to.
COACH BLANCO BUILT MORE THAN A TEAM.
She built a family.
She believed in us.
She challenged us.
She supported us.
She stood by us.
The student-athletes of the East Los Angeles College softball program are the people who will be affected the most by the decision to remove Coach Erika Blanco. For years, Coach Blanco has built the foundation of this program and created something that goes far beyond softball. She has made a personal impact on every girl on our team by being there for us during some of the hardest moments in our lives, supporting our mental health, and reminding us that we always have someone standing in our corner. For some players, her support has even been life-changing and helped them through moments when they felt like giving up. She has created a family where players feel supported, cared for, and motivated to become better athletes and better people. Losing Coach Blanco would mean losing the leader who built the trust, culture, and family that hold this team together, and we truly believe the program will suffer without her leadership. What makes this even more difficult for us is that the decision to no longer have her as our coach was made without the players having a voice in the process or, to our knowledge, being given a clear explanation for why this change was made. We are the student-athletes who experience Coach Blanco’s leadership every day, and we believe our experiences and voices deserve to be heard. We are not simply fighting for a coach—we are standing together for the person who stood beside us when we needed her most, the foundation she spent years building, and the family that East Los Angeles College softball has become.
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The Issue
For more than 20 years, Coach Erika Blanco has dedicated herself to East Los Angeles College Softball and the student-athletes she has coached.
To us, Coach Blanco has always been more than a coach. She has been a mentor, a leader, a teacher, and someone who helped turn a group of athletes into a family. She has supported generations of student-athletes both on and off the field and has created an environment built around teamwork, accountability, support, and pride.
Her impact cannot simply be measured by wins and losses. The lessons, relationships, memories, and opportunities she has given to her players have continued long after they leave the softball field.
We, the undersigned students, student-athletes, alumni, families, faculty, staff, and members of the community, respectfully ask East Los Angeles College and the appropriate decision-makers to listen to the people whose lives Coach Erika Blanco has impacted.
We ask that her years of dedication and contributions to ELAC Softball be recognized and that every effort be made to allow Coach Erika Blanco to continue serving the student-athletes and community she has dedicated so much of her life to.
COACH BLANCO BUILT MORE THAN A TEAM.
She built a family.
She believed in us.
She challenged us.
She supported us.
She stood by us.
The student-athletes of the East Los Angeles College softball program are the people who will be affected the most by the decision to remove Coach Erika Blanco. For years, Coach Blanco has built the foundation of this program and created something that goes far beyond softball. She has made a personal impact on every girl on our team by being there for us during some of the hardest moments in our lives, supporting our mental health, and reminding us that we always have someone standing in our corner. For some players, her support has even been life-changing and helped them through moments when they felt like giving up. She has created a family where players feel supported, cared for, and motivated to become better athletes and better people. Losing Coach Blanco would mean losing the leader who built the trust, culture, and family that hold this team together, and we truly believe the program will suffer without her leadership. What makes this even more difficult for us is that the decision to no longer have her as our coach was made without the players having a voice in the process or, to our knowledge, being given a clear explanation for why this change was made. We are the student-athletes who experience Coach Blanco’s leadership every day, and we believe our experiences and voices deserve to be heard. We are not simply fighting for a coach—we are standing together for the person who stood beside us when we needed her most, the foundation she spent years building, and the family that East Los Angeles College softball has become.
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Petition created on August 19, 2026