In a few weeks, spring training will begin for high school football in preparation for the upcoming fall season.
For Jason Warren, who teaches Auto Collision and Refinishing at Dos Palos High’s Career Training department, this is also spring training in anticipation of next year.
Warren, who has taught at DPHS for 16 years and during that time has also coached football and baseball, just wrapped up his “auto collision” season. His ‘players’ were students in his class who recently competed at a state competition in Ontario, California headed by SkillsUSA.
This was the first year DPHS has joined SkillsUSA, and the three-day competition was daunting, to say the least.
“It was a great experience for the boys,” said Warren. “We did not place in the Top Three. It was a tough nut to crack, but the boys felt like they competed well.”
The five students who represented DPHS were Cristobal Garcia, Osiris Navarro, Christian Estrada, Jorge Sanchez, and Reymundo Echavarria. All of them said that one of the best parts of the competition was making new friends from the other schools.
As for the actual work, it got dicey.
“The most difficult part for me was they were only going to explain the directions once and it got difficult to remember,” said Garcia.
The competition was also fast-paced, as there were five stations to work at and each station lasted 50 minutes, according to Navarro.
Warren noted that teachers are not allowed to talk to students—not even make eye contact, and that presented another challenge for the men.
“I couldn’t ask Mr. Warren a question when I got stuck,” Estrada said.
“The most challenging part for me was the plastic repair,” said Sanchez. “We had to repair a tear with adhesive on a piece of a bumper. The best part was getting all the dents out of the panel I was given. I felt like that was my strongest part.”
Just like on an athletic field, mental toughness plays a big role as to who is going to succeed, and Echavarria found that out quickly.
“I think the most challenging part was the mental strength I needed because I knew that everyone there was equally as skilled as I so we all had a fair chance,” Echavarria explained.
So with one year’s experience under their belt, Warren and his students are already preparing for next year.
“A few of the boys said that if they would have just done this one little thing different, they think they would have been in the top three, so I have to do better next year,” said Warren. “We’re going to wait for their final scores to come out.”
He will have one student returning next year and added that some brothers of his senior students have already expressed interest in the class.
“I 100 percent believe that we can crack that top three next year,” said Warren. “There is no doubt in my mind.”
This year Santana High of San Diego won the competition followed by Mt. Eden High of Hayward.
