Now, as a coach and founder of the Nipomo Junior Titans, Castillo hopes a new mentoring program will help keep his players, aged 8 to 14, from experiencing the struggles he went through.
“The biggest point that I’m trying to make right now with these kids is to get them through their teens, get their diploma, and move on,” Castillo said. “All we’re trying to do is lay it down for them. They can take off and know that they’re Junior Titans, and they’re always going to be Titans.”
Castillo adopted the nickname and the colors of Nipomo High School to get his young players to identify with the town’s varsity team early on and provide them with a visible goal to aim for: staying in school.
This year, the Junior Titans will have even more incentive to stick with football and stay out of trouble. Each player will be assigned a mentor, an older player from the high school’s varsity team who will keep in touch with him throughout the season through motivational letters and one-on-one coaching.
On Friday nights, the kids will also get a first-hand experience of high school competition by helping out at the varsity games, serving the players water, and working as ballboys.
The idea for the mentoring program came from Nipomo High’s assistant varsity coach, Joe Robledo, who compared it to a “big brother” system.
“They get the inspiration to want to be at the high school level and to be under the tutelage of the varsity program,” Robledo said. “So it’s building that funnel from the youth level to the high-school level.
“It’s something that we want to create here for a long time,” he added.
For a school that’s only been around since 2002, a successful funneling system would level the playing field with other area high schools, like Arroyo Grande and Morro Bay, which already have similar systems in place.
Robledo, who will also help out with the Junior Titans’ bantam level team, said the mentoring program has the full support of the high school’s players and coaches.
“As we grow, we want our kids to stay here to make our high school program a success, which in turn will keep our kids motivated to stay in school and be part of that successful program,” Robledo said.
One of the Nipomo High School players who will serve as a mentor this season is Steven Mansera, a senior defensive end and tight end.
“When he told me about it, I thought it was great for the kids because they need some motivation,” Mansera said. “It would be cool to spend some time with them and get them involved in football even more. If I was a kid, I would love it because I’d get to hang out with high school football players and watch the games.”
Another mentor, offensive lineman Dom Cabigas, said being exposed to the high- school atmosphere will help the kids succeed in the future.
“It will give them an idol to look up to,” Cabigas said. “If they see us there [at the games], it will build up their confidence for when they get to our level.”
Going into their third year as a team, the Titans have been overshadowed by Nipomo’s other Youth League football team, the Cowboys, for which Castillo is a former coach. He wanted to create a youth team that would stay local and focus on tutoring and developing the young players.
“At this level, we’re developing these kids to be young men,” Castillo said.
The head coach for Castillo’s senior level Titans squad is Al Rasgado, a former Santa Maria High School assistant football coach. He said his main goals are teaching football and instilling respect, dedication, and humility in his players.
“If you give up in football, you’re going to give up in life,” Rasgado said. “The kid doesn’t care about how much you know until he knows you care about him—because if not, the kid is not going to listen. It’s just going to bounce off.”
Comparing the sport to an old-time community barn-raising, Rasgado said football gives kids a sense of camaraderie and working together toward a common goal.
“Too many coaches miss that boat. It’s all about win, win, win,” Rasgado said. “No, it’s not. It’s about teaching these kids to be young men. These kids need to know what life’s going to throw at them, and it all starts with football.”
Open to all comers, the Junior Titans are recruiting for their upcoming season, which begins in September. Castillo hopes to sign up enough kids to field three Titan teams of different age and skill levels.
Once in the program, the players are sure to glean some valuable life lessons, courtesy of their coaches.
“You’re going to get knocked down, and you’ve got to learn to get back up again and push forward,” Castillo said. “The easiest thing in life is to quit. But if you’re a fighter and you push on, you’ll make it eventually. You’ll come around.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas sounds like Denzel Washington. Contact him at jthomas@santamariasun.com
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 6, 2009.