The Fremont Podcast
The only podcast dedicated to telling the stories of the people and places of Fremont, CA. The diversity and integration of people and cultures of Fremont truly makes it a special place. This podcast explores these stories.
The Fremont Podcast
Episode 115: Chris Warden - Athletics and Arts at Ohlone College
Taking a look at Ohlone College athletics, where the energy pulsates both on the field and in the stands, we take you behind the scenes with Chris Warden, the dean of kinesiology, athletics, and performing arts. Consider what it takes to create a captivating fan experience that keeps the community coming back, game after game. From the echo of basketballs on the hardwood to the sharp crack of baseball bats, we've wrapped up the essence of local sports in a way that will resonate with enthusiasts and newcomers alike.
Chris walks us through the ebb and flow of college sports and shares insight into his daily life and the secrets to managing a department as varied as the sports they oversee. From his transformation of an athletic trainer to a masterful administrator, his story unfolds, offering a playbook on how to juggle responsibilities across music, theater, dance, esports, and broadcasting. It's a peek into the personal triumphs and hurdles that shape the vibrant spirit of Ohlone College's athletics.
As we rally around the college's teams, the episode throws a spotlight on the student-athletes who are as tenacious in their studies as they are on the court. We share anecdotes that illustrate the lengths to which educators go to support their passion, and we paint a picture of the community's involvement that transcends mere spectatorship. It's more than just a game at Ohlone College; it's a celebration of camaraderie, perseverance, and the pursuit of excellence. Join us for an episode that scores on all fronts, leaving you with a deeper appreciation for the heart and hustle of community college sports.
For more information about Ohlone Athletics go here.
If you would like to contact The Fremont Podcast, please text us here.
Petrocelli Homes has been a key sponsor of The Fremont Podcast from the beginning. If you are looking for a realtor, get in touch with Petrocelli Homes on Niles Blvd in Fremont.
Haller's Pharmacy is here to help. They have been in our community for decades.
Founder: Ricky B.
Intro and outro voice-overs made by Gary Williams.
Editor: Andrew Cavette.
Scheduling and pre-interviews by the amazing virtual assistant that you ought to hire, seriously, she's great: your.virtual.ace
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
I want to make sure that the experience that the spectators have and the students and the coaches, all are as high of a level as we can right. So, even coming in and going through the ticket booth, if you will, and finding your seat, and if there's some food available, where's the restrooms? And just the experience. I want to make sure that our fans they have and leave with a good experience. The talent that we see ebbs and flows, as you would imagine, right, some years we're going to have just some amazing pitching like wow, where'd these people come from? And then some years like hopefully we can throw it over the plate, right, but that's just the dynamics of community college athletics in general.
Speaker 3:Coming to you straight from Fremont, california, this is the Fremont Podcast, dedicated to telling the stories of the past and present of the people and places of the city of Fremont, one conversation at a time.
Speaker 2:I'd like to know when they get there, when they leave, and give some pictures.
Speaker 4:Hey, hey, how are?
Speaker 2:you Good. How are you? I'm good. How was the walk?
Speaker 4:Just from around the corner.
Speaker 2:Okay, oh, you took the walk, uh, just from around the corner. Okay, oh, you took the. Uh, I just parked over there because it's easier than that's good. Yeah, searching here, that's right, well she, she had to park down the way a little ways yeah, yeah, you got lucky.
Speaker 4:That's great, that's fantastic very good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had, um, uh treat, some trees trimmed. So this tree is coming out back here over here and there's a tree in the back that's coming out, this one. Apparently the roots are growing up underneath my neighbor's front porch and so they're pulling that out. But then my neighbor also was concerned about the overgrowth in my backyard. I told my landlord that I mean I kinda like it because it feels a little like tucked in a little bit. But I mean he was like he was fine either way. But then he just said we just need to take care of it, especially for the for the neighbor, so anyway, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:Honestly, we've started doing that once we got this new rug. But what are some.
Speaker 2:Well, I want to make sure that we figure out, like, what things look like between now and the end of the season, um, and when we think the season might uh end, and who we need to get in between now and the end of the season, um, and then what that all is going to look like. I'm not even really sure that I have all the answers to all those things, but I want to figure out collectively what we're feeling in order to get like even rolling on August. It would just, I mean, I could still, we could still schedule we're going to need to still schedule interviews to be ready to go in August, but then at least now we're bumping up.
Speaker 4:Last episode is June 14th so we can move towards that date and then record, like we're bumping up last episode's June 14th, so we can move towards that date and then record like you're saying and then basically just take it to the like when we've taken it to the end of the year, so season 4 being all the way to the end of the year.
Speaker 2:Appreciate it, thanks, andrew appreciate it.
Speaker 4:Thanks for inviting us over. Look at all that yikes Absolutely. This is great. Look at all that Yikes.
Speaker 2:Yikes, there's just a wide open hole right now. Wow.
Speaker 4:Okay, have fun with that yeah thanks, all right, have a good one. You are listening to episode 115 of the Fremont Podcast.
Speaker 3:Now, here's your host.
Speaker 2:Ricky B, you said you get up early in the morning sometimes and you see the moon rise or the moon set. How often do you normally get here in the morning?
Speaker 1:My philosophy is to get here first, okay. Campus opens at 6. I'm usually here by six, five, six, 10, six, 30 latest. Okay, uh, allows me to kind of just check in. Uh, get get a workout in if I can, okay, and if not, just get ready and then have some quiet time before the campus starts to wake up. That's great, right, yeah. Or if it's winter time, I always tend to see a great view coming off that.
Speaker 2:That's our structure. Yeah, it's pretty cool. That's awesome. Do you have other like official responsibilities in the morning that you I mean I know you said you had your workout quiet time. Do you have any other responsibilities that you have to see to, or when is your first responsibility? Yeah, good question.
Speaker 1:That's a good question. It changes.
Speaker 1:It can't change anyway yeah, yeah, um but, as you know, my title is not just as you know, I've been a director it's the dean of kinesiology, athletics and performing arts. So one of my first things is check in to see what's happening across the division. Okay, um, and that's usually just email. We do a lot of email work here, so, okay, I'll see you know what's happening over in the fine arts, performing arts. What's up with the music? I also oversee esports. I'm kind of checking in on them to see what's going on, um, and then just basically open up the building for athletics to see how it's looking um we also have a swim program for the community.
Speaker 1:That's not really run through me, but it's our pool so yeah, make sure the lifeguards are yeah checked in and everybody's kind of, and that's 7 7am, so I try and be at my desk, fully awake and aware, by seven, just so I can catch, yeah, all that, and so I'm usually here until about five, five, 30, maybe six every day.
Speaker 2:That's how it works. Yeah, that's great. Well, that's a lot. Well, let's get officially started here then. Um, so I'm with Chris Warden and I'm going to have you say your title, because I feel like you have a bunch of responses You're the dean of like a handful of things or close to a handful of things.
Speaker 1:So Chris.
Speaker 2:Worden. What's your title? What do you do here at Ohlone College? Great, thank you, yeah.
Speaker 1:So dean of kinesiology, athletics and performing arts. So the performing arts piece covers our music program department, our theater program, our dance program, which are all in the same area. Also oversees the broadcasting, which includes radio and television. So I was just looking at I had some television work yesterday just to see how it's going, and then kind of the cherry on top is e-sports. Wow, I also oversee that one. So yeah, it's a pretty fun little dynamic on that side. And then the kinesiology, physical education, health okay, so all the nutrition classes you know fall under me as well wow, yeah, that's a big, that's a lot.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's a lot to say and just to actually do it.
Speaker 1:I think there's a lot as well yeah, it's a little unique as far as the position goes with athletics. Athletic director, which also, you know that's me as well is typically full-time somewhere, so it'll be a full-time AD.
Speaker 2:And, if I understand, that was what you were originally hired for here at the college. Is that correct?
Speaker 1:No close. So the original hire back in 2001 was athletic trainer, so I was the head of all medical for athletes. I would do the evaluation, injury prevention, okay, management of injuries, rehab of all injuries and then return to play so that was my uh field of study for undergrad and grad. Okay, got the job in 2001 and then, about seven years into it, our athletic director retired okay so they asked me hey, would you want to be interim? Step into ad position. There'll be a dean who you report to um you know, for academic side, sure.
Speaker 1:So I did that for a couple of years and then they said hey, we want you to stay on. Are you willing to just move over to the dark side they call it, which is administration? So when that move happened and I think it was officially in oh eight then I became full administration, which included Dean-esque duties but still had the director title. And then I tell you, from that point to this point I probably had seven different titles.
Speaker 1:I think throughout the time. So they call it reorgs or just reallocations. That happens often, I think within the higher education. So maybe there'll be some retirements and then we kind of reallocate positions. There'll be a need to kind of shift, so we'll have a new title kind of under my belt um, promotion type stuff, that new title under the belt. So it happens often. Okay, um, we're probably due for a reorg and retitling the next year or two, I guess. Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, awesome. So, uh, I think it's interesting that you are the dean over basically the fine arts and all the broadcasting, all that stuff, and then as well as sports. And I have to say that this interview, this conversation, this is like third or fourth try that we've had. You and I met one time before, when we originally scheduled this interview, and that might've even been a year ago, I don't even know how long ago? That was yeah.
Speaker 2:Um and uh it was, it was my my bad because I had a conflict and I got there late and it just wasn't going to work out great for us. But you and I got to talk and got to get to know each other a little bit and I think what I found interesting from that conversation was that you oversee, or you're the dean of these fine arts as well as the athletics. But those two things, that coupling, is something that was part of my background as well.
Speaker 2:I did theater, music right uh, a lot of those things as well, as I was in every sport involved and involved in all that and there is, there is somewhat of a um, kind of like, a what's the word? I'm looking like a sharing, like, like there's, there's there's a give and take that, uh, you can that that are beneficial between those two disciplines.
Speaker 2:For sure, if you're doing something in theater especially like choreography or whatever to be athletic, it's important to have athletics and also to be able to know how to work as a team within, say, an acting troupe or something like that. But then at the same time, those things benefit the other way as well. You work with people and team and you develop relationships in the arts and you can carry that over into athletics as well, as you're working with a team and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:When they first talked about having the performing arts in general come to me, they made those exact connections and I saw it as well, because it's also like event management. You're going to put on an event in athletics which happens, you know, one or two times a week. Well, performing arts is the exact same thing. Right, it wouldn't be something I'd be directly ever seen, but I understood it enough and they understood that my as a dean. I I got what they were trying to do was that was that?
Speaker 2:was that a lot of work for you? So I guess I get that. That was my long introduction to my question too was like did it make sense for you and was it a huge? Pivot for you to be able to say yes to that, or did it make sense and was it a natural change for you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would answer that differently, from the start of the question to the end of the question, meaning like how it goes, okay, good. So one thing that I love about the performing arts side of arts in general is that they are always evolving. There's always something new happening, just like athletics. There's always something happening. Athletics is a very high touch group because of what I just said. There's a lot happening. There's seasonal changes, there's you name it right, we have 14 sports. It's just a ton of touch. Well, performing arts is also a ton of touch, right, they have the same, similar types of touch points. So, as much as I understand and get the connection on management styles, which is working great, it also just basically doubled or tripled the touch points. So the workload was something that probably wasn't thought about. Much is more like hey, this makes sense for Chris because he understands it all. But then they realized, wow, it's a lot, it's a lot of touch.
Speaker 1:Um, as opposed to if it was more of a social science or something that was a little more less touchy, just more like a robotic if you will contracts and scheduling, it's a little easier to deal with the the workload itself would be a little easier to manage.
Speaker 1:So that's where a year ago they actually took off some of the arts because there was such high touch. Now it's just performing arts, okay, um, so the touch points are a little bit less, but it's really it's a lot of touch. That's why again back to the original piece that typically there's an athletic director who just oversees all these touches for athletics and then the Dean over performing arts. That's a full-time gig too. So it's we really have two into one right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:We'll be right back. You can hear the rest of this conversation in just a moment. I want to tell you about Minuteman Press in Irvington. I have personally worked with them before and I find their services to be fantastic. They are your quality printer to go to here in Fremont. Look no further than Minuteman Press in Irvington. You can find them at 44141 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont.
Speaker 4:Fremont Bank has been around for 60 years and they sponsor a lot of stuff, and now included on the list of things they sponsor is this podcast. Thank you, fremont Bank. Saturday, april 27th is Independent Bookstore Day. Fremont has an independent bookstore, banter Bookshop on Capitol Avenue. I say Capitol Avenue like everyone knows where. That is Capitol Avenue in downtown Fremont, near the Hub and the Fremont Bank building, and Capitol Avenue. I know we all rely on the maps, but it's in downtown and you should go.
Speaker 2:If you need help navigating the local real estate market, give Jennifer Petrucelli a call. With almost two decades of experience, this family-owned brokerage is an expert in the local real estate market. With her wide-ranging knowledge of the real estate industry and expert negotiation skills, Jennifer goes above and beyond for her clients. Jennifer helps her clients make smart real estate decisions that benefit them in the long run. So if you're looking for a realtor who knows what they're doing and who genuinely cares about your needs and wants, reach out to Jennifer today and discover why Petrocelli Homes is the right choice for all of your real estate needs.
Speaker 4:Every single episode of the Fremont Podcast is now on YouTube. We put it there in case playing it from YouTube is easier for some people Enjoy. Please consider donating $1 a month on a reoccurring basis to help this podcast that you enjoy. Buymeacoffeecom. Slash the Fremont Podcast, slash Membership. The Ohlone College Flea Market is happening every second Saturday of the month from 9 am to 3 pm on Ohlone's Fremont campus. Can I ask you, what are you hoping to find today?
Speaker 1:It's just interesting to see what's out there, and you never know what you'll find.
Speaker 4:Treasures. Hey Van. If people want to contact you, how do they get in touch?
Speaker 5:So our phone number is 510-659-6285, and the email is fleamarket at Ohloneedu is fleamarket at Ohloneedu. More information can be found at Ohloneedu slash flea dash market.
Speaker 2:Well, let's talk about the athletics, because this is something you, before we started our conversation here, you gave me a quick runaround tour of the at least the athletic part of the campus.
Speaker 1:Got to show it off.
Speaker 3:Yeah that's right, that's right, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:I got to see. I've been here on the campus and done a few interviews before I've come here, because I love parking here, um, and hiking mission peak, and so I've been. I've been here for that purpose and I love watching sunsets from the, uh, from the top of the parking garage. So that's pretty cool too, um, but this is the first time I've been in, uh, any of the athletic facilities. I've been able to see the pool from the parking garage and I've seen, um, different events going on, or practices at least, going on. And then you just gave me a tour. We walked through the gymnasium, we went down to the fields, the baseball and softball fields, and I peeked in and saw the soccer field as well.
Speaker 2:So this is cool. I was telling you when we were walking around that I don't think that people at least I'll speak for myself, and maybe there are other people in Fremont that feel this way as well I didn't think of Ohlone College as a place for athletics. I think of it as a place to get a local degree, to take some local classes, you know, as an institution, as a campus, you know I think of it more strictly as an educational entity. But there's not just athletics happening here, but there's some good athletic programs that are going on here.
Speaker 3:So let's talk a little bit about that right now.
Speaker 2:We're in the middle of the spring, it's April, mid-april and we've got a few. What seasons do we have going on right now and how are they doing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a great segue there, if you will or lead-in.
Speaker 1:So we'll go from kind of the most known popular kind of down to what's coming up and new for us Okay. But baseball has been kind of our staple for many, many years. Okay, our coach right now, coach Mike Curran, he's been with us for 11 years, 12 years I think, and he's done a great job. He's full time Okay, and he's done a great job at recruiting motto, an academic rigor motto. He's really done a great job at kind of establishing a culture. That's great and with that establishment the kids respond and they do really well both on and off the field. In fact, the baseball for Ohlone College has been recognized multiple times for academic success not just athletic success.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's really kind of cool.
Speaker 1:So coach really makes that a part of his recruiting process. So we're just a few weeks out of finishing the season and then we're going to go into post-season, and I'm not sure coach Kern's ever missed a post-season bid. Wow, yeah, wow. So sometimes we're going to go into post-season and I'm not sure Coach Kern's ever missed a post-season bid Wow. So sometimes we're hosting, sometimes we're hosting all the way through, sometimes we're just traveling, but we usually go in almost every time. So he's got a structure.
Speaker 2:Didn't they do really well? Last year Was it last year.
Speaker 1:Last year they did pretty okay. The year before they hosted all the way through to the very last home. Yeah so he's, he's had quite a run, that's in the year prior, we made it to state wow as well. So um he hasn't gotten that state championship yet, but he's close and he's always, always competitive.
Speaker 1:Some great baseball in the state of california, right, wow, uh, softball is kind of that same trajectory. Um coach, uh, julie marshall. She's awesome. She's been with us since our longtime coach was full-time Donna Runyon Okay, retired out. In fact, our field right now is named Runyon Field. Oh nice, yeah, nice yeah. It looks pretty cool and they're doing well too. They're going to probably make post-season, so they're kind of our two main staples for spring. Okay.
Speaker 1:And then the next group kind of coming in there is our swim program, okay, and they're going to make a couple of them are going to make it into our state championships. And then we have a fairly new program, our tennis program. So our men's and women's program run by Adrian he's done a great job, gonzalez and we'll probably have a few of our higher levels go off to states and they do individual work out there. Oh, for, at Ojai, actually it's one of our Inventura.
Speaker 2:You said that the tennis program was new, right? How new is that?
Speaker 1:Well, that's a good question too, because tennis has kind of come and gone.
Speaker 1:We have great courts and I think tennis came on in late 70s and then they went through the 80s and then our coach retired and then that tends to go away and we brought it back when I first started in 2009. Went for a few years and it dropped because our coaches fell. So I knew tennis is something I want to keep bringing back. We have the facilities. It's silly not to. It's starting to grow again. So Adrian Gonzalez, he's like, hey, let's do this, let's do it. So recruiting is going to be your lifeblood. Keep working about recruiting, recruiting and then establishing that. So he's done a pretty good job of trying to reestablish. And then our last sport we brought on was just this year. It's badminton. Nice. So badminton is sponsored by what we call the 3C2A, the California Community College Athletic Association. Basically, it's the NC2A at the community college level. For California we have 114 schools. It's huge, wow.
Speaker 3:So that's why we have our own state association as opposed to being out to the njca which is kind of a national.
Speaker 1:Okay, we don't need national because you have so many internal right, yeah, um, and so badminton is sponsored by the 3c2a. Wow, and badminton's ripe in this area, this east bay. There's clubs all over the place. It's just something I've been trying to get you know a foothold in, and a couple years ago when er, when Eric Bishop was here Dr Bishop, he's like, hey, how are you going to grow athletics? What are we going to do? Cause we want enrollment. It's really helps with enrollment I said, well, badman, he's like, do it, yeah. So that's awesome yeah.
Speaker 2:So we've got a coach got the season and we've already got a lot of wins. Badminton is a popular sport.
Speaker 1:I mean.
Speaker 2:my neighbors set up a badminton net in the cul-de-sac, across the street from my house, and they're out there playing badminton and it's a popular sport.
Speaker 3:It is.
Speaker 2:In certain countries, in certain cultures, it's a popular sport. It is In certain countries and certain cultures it's a popular sport. I think it's a very. I think it would be a smart move to bring badminton here, especially if you're trying to draw people locally to the college to consider that.
Speaker 1:The hardest part of. I mean, every sport has their challenge when it comes to recruiting, and I'm going to I'll push recruiting. Recruiting is the lifeblood For anything. At the college level, recruiting is key. High schools you don't actually get to recruit because you just have your own body. But now they have to step it up and find the students right. Badminton has one biggest struggle for recruiting that there's no badminton at the four-year level period. The next level for badminton out of community colleges is the Olympics. That's the next tier. So, unlike, say, football or basketball or baseball or softball, some of the carrots that we have out there is that, hey, we can get you into the next level, we can maybe find some scholarship money.
Speaker 1:You can go from what you thought might be low level to high level. Give us two solid years, maybe three years depending on how your ed plan goes. And you're going to go on. We have example after example of that exact person. So we have, like baseball is classic. Well, they'll come in, they'll red shirt. Well, they won't play the first year, they'll get academic rigor. They're going to practice, practice, practice but not play. Year two, year three, they're finishing and they're getting a d1 scholarship. That was was never on the table, you know.
Speaker 4:Three years ago ever.
Speaker 3:Now they're actually getting it.
Speaker 1:So now they're getting paid to go continue their education and play. So those are great examples. That doesn't exist in badminton. So now for badminton. His strategy has got to be something like academic transfer. Like we can get you to UC somewhere. Get your education here first. Enjoy the game Really, use the advantages of athletics Team, get the things that really are solid with athletics, and then move on to the four-year school.
Speaker 2:I see, wow, wow. So those are the sports for the spring, right now, and then in the fall or, I guess, starting in the middle of summer, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You're going to have sports, a whole slew of sports, in the summer, right yeah?
Speaker 1:so again we have 14 total. And then in the summer, that's when we have the calendar change, and everybody starts in July because that's when we have our official we call it CAR, but Countable Athletic Related Contact. Okay, that all starts. July kind of a calendar flip. Okay, july kind of a calendar flip, okay, yeah, so we really start to gear up with men's and women's soccer okay, we have a great field for that, which is fantastic volleyball indoors. We have a great program there. It's been going on for a long, long time.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna have to come over and watch volleyball. Yeah, it's you and I found it.
Speaker 3:I mean we connected over volleyball as well because I played division two in college.
Speaker 2:Right, it was actually only one year because of various reasons, but then I played in in like pickup tournaments and stuff like that afterwards, but I love volleyball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's my sport, it's my sport.
Speaker 2:If they've got a great program here, I'd love to come watch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really good. In fact, one of our hopes is that volleyball for men actually exists in the Southern California area.
Speaker 3:It doesn't actually exist in the North.
Speaker 1:It is. So there's been a movement by quite a few schools locally to see if we can start to get that back, because it is a growing sport actually, look the numbers, it's huge um, makes me think my son.
Speaker 2:My son is 11 and, uh, he's asking me because he's in football flag football right now and he's in, he's interested in basketball. But he started asking me recently about volleyball. He's like do you think I do well in volleyball? I said, well, I play volleyball. You're kind of built the way I'm built and I think you have a lot of the same intuition that. I do and I said I think that it's something that you could do really well at, and so he's been curious and maybe by the time he gets to, college there'll be a really good.
Speaker 1:I think the biggest challenge for us is that, unlike a lot of high schools, we don't have two gyms right. So we have a primary or on our only gymnasium, you know the Epler gymnasium, and so having four athletic programs or not is just a scheduling nightmare right.
Speaker 1:So one of our, our hopes within the next measure you know, bond movement is that we're going to have an opportunity to put together a an event center kind of more on the frontage property and then that would create kind of a two gym model we could keep the gym here, events down there, practices up here, and it can really start to expand our programs, volleyball being one of our, the primary one for indoor that's awesome.
Speaker 2:You said you have both the men's and women's currently right or no, just the women's. And then water polo. So we, that's awesome. So, and you said you have both the men's and women's currently right or no, just the women's, just the women's. Yeah, just women's.
Speaker 1:And then water polo. So we have a full aquatics program. We don't have any diving. We get those out, but we have men's and women's water polo and then for fall that's it. Then you go into kind of the winter, but they're still fall. Sports is basketball. I know that I think that across the female athletics in general it's been a difficult recruiting since COVID.
Speaker 1:That's really an identified timeline that says we lost the recruiting piece of it really has become a struggle. So there's a lot of programs are helping our coaches kind of re-recruit our female side. So I mean I think all of our female sports have been struggling and now this year alone we've seen some change. So our softball start to build up. You know, having bad female sports have been struggling. And now, this year alone, we've seen some change, so our softball start to build up. You know, having badminton has been helpful.
Speaker 2:So there's other programs are starting to get back into volleyball, kind of rebuilt as well. So I want to. I want to revisit a conversation you and I already had and I think it's I think it's a good one. I really loved what I heard from you, but you were talking about a game that just took place women's softball game that just took place. The score was 1-0. And you said it was just a really good game. It was an exciting game, very defensive game. So the question that I asked you when we were walking around was I think that there's certain things that people enjoy about professional sports. The way I was thinking about it when we were talking was professional sports kind of seems to be the thing that a lot of kids, younger people, younger athletes, might dream about. Like, I wish I could be that big. Do I'm going to use that simply because I don't really watch any other college sports except for occasionally, college basketball, which we just went through March Madness and all of that.
Speaker 2:But if I'm watching the NBA I just think, man, they're just so good and I can't imagine myself being out there. But I could dream about it. But I watch college basketball. Sometimes I'm like I could imagine myself being there, because it's a little bit more scrappy, it's not as clean, it's not as polished. You know there's still some work to be done. And then you go back all the way down to, like, say, high school sports.
Speaker 2:Right, and you're like, depending on the high school, like if you go down to Texas and Friday Night Lights, you know you might have some amazing football Right and Friday Night Lights you might have some amazing football. But you come to some sports, even locally, and you're just like football on a high school level may not be all that great to watch. It's just a lot of fun for a community to come out and see it and everything.
Speaker 2:So my question is is that when you come out to a Loney Sports, like I think sometimes and I was asking you specifically about when I go to a professional baseball game because, say, the pitching is so good or just the natural flow of the game is just so predictable sometimes you just find yourself just sitting in the stands waiting 20 minutes before someone gets a good hit or a good play and you're like oh, I was there, I saw that.
Speaker 2:And then you go get your hot dog and your other stuff and you come back and wait for the next big play that happens Like? Is that the kind of like experience when you come to see like an Ohlone College softball game or a baseball game, or is this level of college sports something that's just really enjoyable and is the like do you find that to be something that people would enjoy from our community coming out and being a part of, because it actually is a really good environment?
Speaker 1:and place to watch? That's a really good question. I'm glad you asked it because it is a part of what I try and create, or help create is a product, Right, and so I want to make sure that the experience that the spectators have and the students and the coaches all are as high of a level as we can, right. So, even coming in and going through the ticket booth, if you will, and finding your seat, and if there's some food available where's the restrooms? And just the experience. I want to make sure that our fans, which are mostly parents, which is fantastic or even just local people like hey, there's a softball game, I'm gonna go check it out they have and leave with a good experience. The talent that we see ebbs and flows, as you would imagine. Right, Some years we're gonna have just some amazing pitching like wow, where'd these people come from? And then some years like, hopefully we can throw it over the plate, right, but that's just the dynamics of community college, sure, athletics in general.
Speaker 1:Again, the onus of the talent piece comes on the coaching ability and, more importantly, the coaching recruiting. If you can recruit the talented, then the coaching part doesn't have to be as harsh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, so, uh. So for the example of softball, which is during the, we talked about it because such a fun game is that, yeah, you see a score of one to zero. You're like what was that, like you know what was that, but when I was down there, is this exciting because you have, um, this level, you don't see a lot of dominant pitchers, so you're not seeing swing and misses all the time. You're seeing the ball put in play and because you don't have the most elite, uh, players, you never know what's going to happen. There's always action, there's always a little bit of challenge there's always going to be.
Speaker 1:Did they get the right jump on it or did they put their glove out right? And so the minute the ball's hit, which is often, there's excitement. That's awesome, from the minute that out is put out like wow, that was close. So there's always. There's no bored times, really, yeah, so it's a very exciting game. Um, in baseball, the same way there's, you know, you don't have a dominant pitcher typically, and if you do, they're going to come out at some point and the new pitcher comes in, you know, as a relief. And then there's action. So there's a lot of action. I think with all these types of sports and those are the elite ones really at this level right, basketball, similar they're very a lot of good action, some really talented plays, but you're going to see a lot of learning as well.
Speaker 1:Right you get to see that coach interaction, like okay, this is what we talked about. Yeah, why didn't we do this? You know here's plan a.
Speaker 2:You kind of went to x what happened right, yeah, so you see that learning happening all the time right yeah, I think I think what I'm envisioning and I don't know, um, I don't know if you would say the same, but I'm you're talking, I'm thinking about this. I have gone to some really high-level, say, basketball. I've gone to some really high-level high school basketball games where, even as high school coaches, they're recruiting and you're going there you're like. This is like you're seeing, maybe they shouldn't be recruiting, but I know that that student does not live in this community.
Speaker 1:And they came out, you know.
Speaker 2:Sure. And so you go to some of these games and you're like man, these are not professional, they're not even college, they're high school, but they're really good. I just love the game. I feel like what I'm hearing from you is like I guess in some sense if you go to a high school game. You're taking a gamble. It might be good, it might not be good, yeah, Depending on, even if the one team that's you know playing is really good and the other team's not good at all.
Speaker 2:It's just like a horrible game to watch because you're just like you feel bad or it's just like it's a dominant. But it sounds to me like the type of sports, the type of games that are being played here. You can just like it's going to be a good game, it's going to be a fun game to watch, it's going to be a good environment, a lot of energy and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one of the things I talk to our incoming students a lot about, especially when they're just randomly inquiring about hey, I want to join the basketball team, I say, okay, let's talk. Were you on the varsity team in high school? And if so, were you on the vars three or four years? That's the level we need here. So, like I didn't play basketball in high school, well then most likely you're not going to make the team, right, because there's tryouts, if you will, there's two classes, but we have an evaluation period and then they're probably not going to make the team because the expectation at the college level yeah, we're two years of the four-year experience, but we're still college level. It's beyond the varsity level. It's much, much more so. So we'll look at like baseball, where you can look at the roster of the baseball team. Most of them on that roster who are starting right now were the elite on their team at the high school level. And if you look at the conference from that, maybe only three or four from that conference. That's how high level we are at this at this phase.
Speaker 1:Now, if we were to completely scrap it or bring on a brand new sport and we need to just field players. It's going to be a different feel, like they're going to be new. We have some very new tennis players or those who have never really competed. It's fine. Let's just get the bodies. Let's get the bodies, let's get the recruiting up and you start to build from there. Right, that's great. But the expectation is that we're going to get to the baseball, softball level at some point, to the basketball level at some point. We want to try and facilitate and shepherd those newer programs to get to that level. That's the expectation. We want to make sure we have high level, always thinking about the academic side of the boat, like what are we doing? So academics is always our, our founding father, if you will, when it comes to this. That's great. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2:I love that let's talk about. I want to get like, maybe, a little bit of a background, like what did you do before you got here? Are you from the Bay area? And like, um, what brought you to the Loney? And then um, and then we'll talk about your experience here over the last 23 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure, uh, love to. So I was born in Santa Clara. Okay, that was my. My roots, um grew up in San Jose area, the Willow Glen area, until I was about nine. Wow, yep. Um and then, uh, my folks, we all moved up to the Placerville Camino specifically, which is Apple Hill as you're going up to Lake Tahoe.
Speaker 1:So I was all the way through high school you know El Dorado High School Cougars shout out Cougars and then after high school I had some options to go to Northridge or Long Beach. I was big into volleyball, men's volleyball, and I was big into physical therapy, so that whole kind of genre. So, Long Beach. I was going to go play, you know, d1 level volleyball and I was going to, you know, be like a doctor in physical therapy. And I got there and I couldn't do either one of them right.
Speaker 3:Really no, I was not good enough.
Speaker 1:You know my mind is out of high school like oof reality check. So I stayed active, of course, but volleyball was done at that point stayed active, of course, but volleyball was was done at that point, okay, uh, and then, uh, physical therapy had a a much, much more stringent science and medical background and then somebody got me interested in um athletic training so it was really the physical therapist for the athlete and that was really wanted to be, you know, at the athletic health care was kind of what I was thinking.
Speaker 1:Anyway, didn't even know it was a job. So I pivoted from health sciences to out there training over at Long Beach and just found my niche.
Speaker 3:That was great, that's cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was really cool Great internship, great program, top quality program for sure. During that time I got certified as a trainer able to work, and then I wanted to get my master's, so I went to Illinois with my fiance at the time, right, okay. Uh like, let's just throw our name out there. Where can we pick up a master's program? Looking at accredited programs for athletic training, Uh so Illinois state the red birds, Wow.
Speaker 1:Shout out red birds Picked me up. Um, so we went out there for a couple of years, got my master's degree.
Speaker 2:Um asked my wife to marry me and we got married in 99. Wow, stayed there for a couple years and then were you doing some uh athletic training there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I was working through a physical therapy clinic. That's kind of a classic place for athletic trainers to be, so we would be aides or just technicians that would kind of help with um, the pt okay aspect, uh, trying to find a full-time gig out there, um, but as after I graduated, you know, got my master's degree, uh, my wife she's like, okay, that's really cold, so, uh, the joke is that she was going back to the West coast.
Speaker 2:I could come with her, but either way, she's, she's going.
Speaker 1:So I pushed real hard for about a year to to find something on the on the West coast again. Back in California. Family was here and here and we were just more comfortable over here, and so Ohlone had a great position for athletic trainer faculty.
Speaker 2:Had you heard of Ohlone, or did you know Ohlone before? No, I didn't even know how to say it right.
Speaker 1:So I did some research on it, thought it was pretty interesting. I liked the Fremont area from my childhood down here earlier. I knew that Great America used to be down, not too far away. So all these little like touch points, I'm like, oh cool. So I threw my name in the hat. I got a couple of interviews during that summer of 2001.
Speaker 1:And then they offered it to me, so I picked up and left it was one of those things where I heard kind of late in the season and I went to the next. The next day I went to my employer and said, hey, I'm quitting. So we got the house ready, cause we had bought a house just a year prior. Wow, yeah, and then so I came out early to get myself ready. My wife stayed there, uh, to get the house on on the market, and so she stayed. We were separate for a couple of months, okay, and then November she's the one that threatened to leave you and you to go with her.
Speaker 2:And then you're the one that actually like, jumped the gun.
Speaker 1:You're like since you said, since you brought that up it was kind of a flip on her, yeah that's right yes, it was fun for that, and then you know, I think it was uh, thanksgiving is when we okay, we drove out and came back together nice. Yeah, it's cool, and I've been here ever since okay, and you live here in fremont yeah, so we we landed fremont, uh rented for a few different places and then, uh 2007-8, we we bought like, could you imagine yourself being where you are doing what you're doing right now?
Speaker 2:or is that something that was kind of like in a I don't know what, where things are going to end up one day with my life? Or did you have, like, your heart set on being a trainer the rest of your life, or what was it? What was your? Well, what do you think about, like the journey that you've you've been on and where you've ended up now?
Speaker 1:right, I think you know the hindsight's always like never expected this sure like I didn't. I didn't, I didn't come into this looking to do this, but one of my philosophies in life is just to kind of let the doors open when they open you know, and be open to the idea of maybe um, you know, we'll call it promotion or just next level type stuff. Um so, when it in the 2006 when they kind of approached me like, wow, this might be something to consider.
Speaker 1:And it was kind of a soft landing like hey, it's interim, let's have you get your feet wet in it. So I felt more comfortable to try that, but that is a big jump. You go from out there trainer faculty right Teaching, you're doing your your craft and then now you're managing.
Speaker 3:So, I hadn't um, I hadn't entertained that actually because I was just living the life you just really enjoyed what you were doing yeah just totally, it's like huh.
Speaker 1:So then once my wife and I thought about it like well, let's give it a shot, and then once I was in it, it was sort of like okay, I'm in it.
Speaker 2:Let's just go with it.
Speaker 1:So, and then what I liked about it? I think what I like about higher education in general that you work in 16 week increments. And then you have a summer schedule and you have a fall and then a spring. So it's always, always changing. So for those who become, I say, bored or stale in it, then they probably need to retire, because there really isn't any reason why you should be stale.
Speaker 2:There's always something coming up and it's always exciting right, like for a teacher who has been in a classroom for a long time teaching the same thing. I think one of the unknown elements or one of the factors that makes it new each year is the fact that you have different students. You have new people coming in with new ideas, new abilities and that sort of thing and you've got to kind of acclimate to how that works best for that group and those people in general, and that is so much like an athletic team too.
Speaker 1:right, Because you're going to have a new dynamic, new faces, new attitudes new approaches. What I've loved over the 15 years or so I've been doing the administration side on the athletic side is that I see my coaches evolve, because how they used to coach 15 years ago isn't working as well. So they have to adjust. They get to learn new strategies, how to engage.
Speaker 1:You know how to describe how to demonstrate whatever it may be in their learning as well. So it's it's fun to see those instructors at the athletics or even in the classroom figure out better strategies in order to deliver that content and see those students click like ah, ah, they got it. Like that's my. When I was teaching, that was the ultimate. Like he got you. He got it they got it, she got it, perfect, so I've done my job.
Speaker 2:One of the things that you just said actually made me think about something which I actually find really cool about Ohlone. It sounds to me there's like there's a stability and a longevity that exists at Ohlone College as a whole, which is really, really cool. Is that what your experience is within your divisions in which you're overseeing and that you're working in? It just seems to be like a solid, stable place for everyone who's in the teaching and administrative part of the college.
Speaker 1:That's how I feel. I don't have experience in other colleges. I can kind of get some dialogue that's naturally from other schools. But, I've always felt that Ohlone has something that's unique. Yeah, and it really does have a family feel to it. Yeah, does that change over time? Has it changed over time? Sure it does. So that's just kind of a natural phenomenon, if you will.
Speaker 1:But no, I think you're right. I think some of the longer tenured individuals here, like myself, would all agree that there's just something special about Ohlone. It's really kind of neat.
Speaker 2:Which I think is even more admirable for Ohlone, because most of the community colleges and I don't have statistics on this, I think it makes sense. Most community colleges in our country don't live in a place where there's such a high cost of living, there's such a challenge when it comes to being sustainable and that sort of thing. So a lot of in at least other places that I've lived like teachers and administration and community college we're making really good salaries for where they are and where they are living. That seem to make sense and I don't know what the salaries are here, but I know that education across the board the teachers and the administrators that I know in Fremont it's not an easy life to stick with it, but to have such a longevity that is visible here at Ohlone, that just speaks well to the college, I think.
Speaker 1:I think it's a good point and one of the things that's probably seen that's changed over time, I think would be those who worked here lived here. That was back in the day, the OG, right, right, right, and even, I think, back in the early 20 aughts. That was what we all did. Most of us lived in the area, but if you take a snapshot now, I think it's probably opposite.
Speaker 3:Most of us don't live in the area because of cost of living. Because of the cost of living, absolutely so to be a full-time instructor.
Speaker 1:You're probably living somewhere. You have to drive, commutes not. You know you're driving by three community colleges to come here. But that's now saying something Right. They would, they coming from San Francisco or outside the area to come to Ohlone because it is such a great working environment. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it says something to that so I know that parents are not supposed to have favorite children and I'm assuming that probably transfers over deans are not supposed to have favorite sports or athletics. But if you, just not as a dean, but just as a resident of Fremont, just not as a dean, but just as a as a resident of fremont, okay, yeah, like if you, if you hear a particular team, uh, on campus is having a game like which ones do you like?
Speaker 2:find yourself being drawn to to go and I like right like I know that I'm a dean and I probably should make an appearance here, there, whatever, but then you're just like no, I really want to go to this game like I wanted like what? What are the games? What are the games that you kind of put on your own personal schedule sometimes? Right, that's a good question, I think you got to look at.
Speaker 1:You know, get all the hats off right. And I love all my children. I have a. I know I coached baseball for a long youth baseball. You know little league, all that stuff, right. So, um, and my son as well. He's 17, gonna be 18, um, so I've always had, are you?
Speaker 1:recruiting him, so I'll get to that so I think baseball's been in my blood for a long time. I'm a big giants fan, you know we go to games all the time, like you know. So I just have an affinity to baseball, which also lends to softball, you know that's they're very I find nuances in that game. That's different than baseball, but it's very similar. So I enjoy watching that. Um, I'm a volleyball guy, so when it comes to volleyball I'm always bragging about my volleyball prowess, and as I get older my prowess was way better. It's just how it works. So our volleyball coach and I you know, it's just how it works so I was exactly right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, our volleyball coach and I you know we've hit it off, even you know, before this. So I really enjoy watching that game from, uh, from a? Um, like a logistics or just an x's and o's concept, um, and then when covid hit, uh, my son transitioned from baseball to tennis. Actually, oh, okay, um. So he picked up the tennis racket and it's been really fun to watch his growth exponentially.
Speaker 1:So he's been recruited to come to Ohlone to play tennis so I tend to get out there and watch some good tennis as well. Again, that program's growing. He'll be able to contribute to that program. If I'm going to watch just a really competitive game, I'm going to go down to baseball probably that's awesome.
Speaker 2:How does a water polo do? I was talking to somebody. I ran into somebody. I mean I wish I knew I could remember what it was. But I ran into somebody and they were talking to me about water polo. It wasn't here, it was like a completely different place. They were just water polo players.
Speaker 1:It's not as popular up here in the north but, it's pretty strong. West Valley's got a really strong program.
Speaker 2:Lots of schools around this area have a lot of strong programs, so we're pretty strong. Does it have a pretty? I mean, is it a fun?
Speaker 1:is it a fun game to watch out here? Yeah, for sure. It's always moving, it's. You know? It's almost like, um you know, hockey and soccer kind of all wrapped into one you know, throwing the ball around and trying to get you know some, some team play. It's a fun game to watch. That's cool.
Speaker 2:Another question I wanted to ask you as you were starting the tour with me, there was this kind of like this room or this space at the end of the stairwell that has names and pictures of athletes and stuff like that. Tell me what that is again Like it's just. It seems like a place of recognition for different people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think a lot of schools. They use it for recruiting in some cases, but they have a hall of fame or a wall of fame or a recognition location. It might be trophies or whatever right. But early on in my management tenure there's this stairwell that goes from the third floor to the second floor. It has this blank. It was like a canvas. When I saw it I'm like okay, something needs to go there.
Speaker 3:We should do something.
Speaker 1:So there was a basketball coach of ours who had the idea of like hey, why don't we put up, like, our student athletes of the year? Because we have this running list back in the 60s of just student athletes of the year and it's been enshrined in a data file nowhere else while nowhere else, um. So we brought out a designer to take a look at the wall and see what they wanted to do as far as creating some sort of recognition wall, and so we created four distinct areas. One is kind of a thank you for high level sponsors or donors, that kind of thing. So then we have in the middle our female athlete of the year and our male athlete of the year, and that happens every year in the end of spring do a um, a poll to all the coaches on um, you know, nominating a student that would fit the criteria of being a renegade right, and then all the coaches and a bunch of others kind of vote on these nominations and then they're awarded this that is a recognition goes on the wall.
Speaker 1:They also get five hundred dollars for transferring so they can take that to the next level and, you know, have something that's kind of you know nice note by a book or two, right, and then the last thing on that wall is, um, kind of in recognition of some of them have passed away. Some are just people who have really helped the school, you know, or the program. Um, our bus driver was up there for a long time, so it's just, it's just another place to recognize, it's kind of a hall of fame if you will.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 1:We have a picture montage that changes from year to year. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:So it's really an awe moment when you walk in like I brought you in, you turn that corner and you're like, oh wow, that's cool, that's very cool. So do you have any athletes that have come through the program here that people would know about generally? Do you have anybody that you're like? Yeah, they played here and now they're playing, or they had played a major league or they played professional sports. Uh, yeah, we have a few that are on there gary plumber.
Speaker 1:I don't think he's on the wall, but uh, gary plumber, he, he came through alone. He back in the you know, late or mid 70s, okay, um, and there's probably quite a few names on there that made it far in their sport but just never really hit that major league.
Speaker 3:You know soccer, there's a lot of just low-level soccer leagues that are out there.
Speaker 1:But one thing I do get quite a bit from is they may email me just from an 80s team and say hey you know I played there and I was on the wall. I'd love to see what you guys are doing. Come see the game, Come on out.
Speaker 3:So I get a lot of this feedback like hey I really enjoyed my time at aloni.
Speaker 1:Is coach so-and-so still there. What happened to coach so-and-so? Like, oh, that's awesome. So we just kind of reach out and kind of bond with those people. But I think what I'm looking forward to is that they have a great experience here. Yeah, lots of times I've which is, you know, fortunate, unfortunate. I'll come. I'll hear from a student who transferred and comes back like, yeah, my aloni time was way better than my four-year experience that's great yeah, I'm like that's good, because
Speaker 1:I want to make sure that we're setting them up at least to have an experience that's memorable and, yeah, and they can go come back and recognize that right well, I, I could say that it's true for me, like the, the year that I I played division two volleyball in wisconsin.
Speaker 2:um, you know, it was just a, it was a one-year opportunity, but I, you know, I I that, and there was more to that experience than just playing volleyball. But the experience that I had playing volleyball and then I was able to take that with me and even play in local tournaments and I actually later ended up refereeing for I don't think five or six years, and then ended up coaching for a while. Right right.
Speaker 2:And I love that, you know. But I look back and I'm like where did you develop that love? And kind of like that set that trajectory in that direction. It was that one year I played Division.
Speaker 2:II volleyball you know, I don't want to take your time too much longer, but I'm just curious, like when it comes to the fine arts program or the, the performing arts, um, like what kind of things might the community expect or be able to be involved with, uh, or come and participate in, um, and I'm specifically thinking of like performances and stuff like that but what? Are some of the things that the community might find valuable about what happens here in the performing arts area.
Speaker 1:So again, the connection between the performing arts and athletics is very similar that way, because we really are a front face, we're a community, involved, spectator type of thing. We welcome our community to come and cheer or appreciate what we have as a product right. So our theater is recognized as award winning and they have fall productions, have springwinning and they have fall productions, they have spring productions and they have Summerfest, which is kind of a fun thing just to kind of get out. So there's always going to be an opportunity to watch a theater production. We have a theater inside which has got a great house. We also have an amphitheater on the outside. So we tend to do productions on both sides. So there's some sort of front-facing and spectator opportunity right, productions on both sides. So there's some sort of front-facing and spectator opportunity right. Our music department does very similar stuff. They'll have some sort of concerts that we put out there as well. So there's always something kind of going on that can be out there for our community right, yeah not to mention athletics as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then what's? What's been fun is that our broadcasting side of the house is really looking to partner with athletics, and so we've been broadcasting. Oh that's've been broadcasting our product, our baseball and softball games, and we've been getting some really amazing feedback. And as I'm watching it from my desk. This is high level stuff.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:We're talking four cameras with a PA and you have color behind it and it's really really quite nice. So I challenge any community college to be better than what we have right now that's our broadcasting program, so it's been fun to see that product and that opportunity for for a community that can't come here. Or, more importantly, if we have um, student athlete parents and their families are not in the area.
Speaker 2:They can't watch.
Speaker 1:Well, this is a way to do that, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, chris, thanks for joining, for joining me, man. This has been great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we finally got together. Yeah, let's do it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we scheduled this several times and you or I both had to withdraw because of conflicts in schedule, but this worked out really really well. I think the timing is good.
Speaker 2:I think this is a good timing, so thanks for making this happen and I would love to be able to follow up again, I've been already thinking about talking with people that I've interviewed a year or a year and a half ago and say I want to follow up and see where you're at, what you're doing and stuff, so we can, if there's anything coming up that I think that you feel would be a, you know, would be something that community would appreciate and benefit from, you know, I'd love to pop in here, we can put together a bonus episode and say, hey, this is a follow-up and you know the community needs to know about this.
Speaker 1:Love it, love it. The shameless plug is that you know come visit the college. There's some great activities here. I mean just simply aloneyathleticscom. It gets you right to the schedules. You can see what's going on. So we're going to have some postseason play, some playoffs for baseball, softball, coming up.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 1:So check the website. Check the website.
Speaker 2:That's great, we'll do that Well. Thanks, chris, appreciate it and hopefully we'll see you again. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Talk to you again, awesome.
Speaker 3:This episode, produced by Ricky B, I'm Gary Williams, andrew Kvet is the editor. Scheduling and pre-interviews by Sarah S. Be sure to subscribe wherever it is that you listen so you don't miss an episode. You can find everything we make, the podcast and all of our social media links at thefremontpodcastcom. Join us next week on the Fremont Podcast. That's a sacrifice.
Speaker 4:fly to left by Leiterman, drove in a run. He's got someone at third.
Speaker 2:This one hit very high, maybe the highest pop I've ever seen here. And that is going to go finally downward.
Speaker 3:Eventually, gravity has to kick in, so it did.
Speaker 1:I'm certainly hopeful that no one on the walking path was. I hope that sound was asphalt. Let's put it that way this is a Muggins Media Podcast.