Following a successful resurgence during last year’s scholastic athletics season, the Cape Coral Breeze is bringing back its “Athlete of the Week” feature where two athletes in the coverage area will be highlighted for their accomplishments across all high school sports platforms in print and online.

The sports staff of Cape Coral’s hometown paper for more than six decades will have its ears to the ground and eyes peeled around the area looking to give kudos to many of the area’s talented and gifted athletes, newspaper officials said.

Last year, Breeze reader and viewership numbers grew weekly as we gained more and more attention from local supporters. The Breeze featured students over 38 weeks and during that time honored over 70 athletes highlighted for their excellence in sports. Online, the Breeze had over 20,000 page views of these students and garnered more than 8,000 individual votes and 1,300,000 papers were distributed over this time featuring the program and the students.

The Breeze focuses on seven schools in the Cape Coral/North Fort Myers area, including: Cape Coral High School, Mariner High School, Ida Baker High School, Island Coast High School, North Fort Myers High School, Bishop Verot High School and Oasis High School. The Breeze staff will make selections each week and at the end of each month, will honor the “Athlete of the Month” in an online poll open to all.

The year concluded with a Breeze Breakfast of Champions recognition event that packed the Cape Coral Yacht Club and saw various trophies given out for male and female Athlete of the Year, male and female Team of the Year, and Coach of the Year.

“We couldn’t be happier with how our student-athlete recognition program went in its first year back,” said Breeze Newspapers Publisher, Ray Eckenrode. “We’re looking for it to become bigger and better this school year.”

The Breeze sports staff has spent years becoming familiarized with local teams and their players and is eager to be able to spread the word of amazing on-field accomplishments throughout each sports season.

Throughout the year, The Breeze will ask fans, coaches, players and their families to share highlights via social media on Facebook and Twitter (@CapeCoralDaily) using the hash tag #BreezeAOW.

Look for Breeze Associate Sports Editor CJ Haddad on the sidelines throughout the year and for photo galleries on Breeze social media platforms.

The Breeze is also still looking for program sponsors. Being an “Athlete of the Week” sponsor will bring your business 38 weeks of promotion on the spotlight ad in the newspapers and on each website, along with promotion on our social media channels. There are limited sponsorship packages available. For more information on sponsorships, contact Breeze Digital Advertising Manager Eric Martin at 239-994-2414 or by sending an email to emartin@breezenewspapers.com.

Stay up to date with out Athlete of the Week selections, which start Sept. 2, at www.capecoralbreeze.com in its own category in sports.