'Coach of the Year' on What's Going Right with CVHS Football

I had the pleasure of meeting with Hayward Area Athletic League Coach of the Year and CVHS head football coach Nic McMaster on Wednesday, July 20, to discuss the Trojans upcoming football season.

On the heels of his previous two seasons building up the program as head coach, McMaster sees this season, his third in the driver’s seat, as a real opportunity to develop the character of the young men on his team, practice and play consistently well on the field and off, and bring the community together for a successful season and school sports program. 

When I met with, Coach McMaster, he was in final preparations to take his squad over to LEAD Sports Academy at Chabot College for a three-day training camp this weekend. LEAD stands for Leadership, Education, Athletics and Discipline, and as you will see from our conversation, these are truly some of the hallmarks of this coach, and the legacy he is helping to leave behind.

At LEAD Sports Academy, the Trojans will participate in scrimmages (7-on-7, 11-on-11, OL/DL) with many of the Bay Area’s top high schools and start to get a feel for their competition and how they’re operating together as a team. 

“We get in game shape," McMaster said. "Football is a unique sport. You’re not practicing when you’re playing. You’re working on really small technique pieces all the time: tackling form, blocking form. I see most other sports, you can practice a sport through playing it. Not with football. It’s good to get competition during the summer because if kids are just practicing eight weeks straight, those practices are going to start becoming meaningless.” 

You enter the season with the league’s Coach of the Year Award. 4-3 league record. This is your third year in the program. You said that if a coach gets the award three years in a row, they might be doing something right. What’s right about the CVHS football team? 

First of all, the award is a credit to the rest of the staff and all the kids. It’s not like I, individually, have done anything to warrant that. To have your peers agree on that and vote on that means that we’ve shown a marked improvement in the league. I don’t know what everyone’s grading criteria are, but we’ve been more competitive in league last year. We’ve played more consistently. We played games where we’re in the games. Maybe a couple of teams last year put the hurt on us, but we’ve just shown improvement. I’m big on the character of my kids and the standard I hold my kids to. We are representing our school and our league better. 

It’s an award for how the program has shown a marked improvement. We don’t play to get awards. Awards are so abstract. It’s nice to [get awards], from a group of your peers. That is a cherry on top of the things we are already happy with.

You have said that “someone who is mentally tough can make their body do amazing things.” Where does mental toughness come from for your team?

We’re training them on a daily basis to ignore the negative instincts that some people have. You know, when we’re doing our conditioning at the end of practice, guys physically feel some of the worst pain they’ve ever felt in their whole life. And that’s the same way they feel at the end of the football game. If a guy misses his assignment, he’s not the guy who’s going to get hit hard. 

The things we do on a daily basis build this mental capacity that, you know, makes them commit to the idea that no matter how they feel, they’re going to stick to what the plan is. We’re almost building them like soldiers. 

Most human beings' instinct is to push back or defend themselves, but in the context of the greater good of the team, they have to sacrifice that instinct. Their instinct, their reaction could end up being a negative result for the team.

I didn’t look up anything about how penalized the team was last year. There is a great deal of discipline on the football field that can result in the gaining or losing ground on a drive. 

Penalties lost us a game last year. We always pick a motto that is an area we need to work on as a team, our Achilles heel. We’re about establishing a character. 

Last year was about pride, and establishing pride in the group and being able to walk through the hallways. Kids deal with the social pressures of losing, and it was about developing the idea of not needing to hear that feedback from your peers, leaving practice exhausted and being proud of that. 

“This year our motto is TALK IS CHEAP. Anyone can talk. You want to get noticed, talk with your play, talk with your pads. All these things take mental toughness. The pride piece takes mental toughness to ignore what people are saying; the burden of past teams or past records. 

Teaching this team to be less impulsive is going to be the key to success. Let’s think of the greater good of the team. We’re still building that concept of being selfless. 

This is not a team where you can just walk out, show up and get on the field. There is such a high standard here that we are enforcing, that kids have to buy in, commit to the team and abide by the standard. There is no guarantee that you are going to see the field. We’ve created something that’s becoming larger than any individual. 

At the end of the NCS playoff game, senior Moner Afschar said, “I hope the younger guys learned something from me and the rest of the senior football players, and good luck next year.” How do you feel about good luck versus doing well? 

Good luck is a general sort of address. Moner was a hell of a leader. Everything he did on the field was a result of hard work. He wasn’t one of these kids that was born with these tools that elite athletes have. He earned recognition, some All League honors. He was a great leader for the team. 

He’s identifying the fact that they had to do some heavy lifting, last year’s class. We were trying to turn this thing around. They got half their high school in that program. They understood the improvement that was made as a program. 

That quote speaks to the fact that we had to do some heavy lifting and for our achievements and how we can improve on those achievements this year. He’s saying to keep it going. He’s saying, "We showed you what hard work can lead to. You guys can still push it and lead the program even more." 

Like I preached to those guys, they’re always a part of this program and should feel satisfaction from the success of this program. They have just as much a part of it. 

You have a former fifth-grade student of mine, Anthony Viveiros, on your squad. He enters the season as a senior and the HAAL Co-Offensive Lineman of the Year and, along with Forest Ferguson, the anchors of your O-line. Two things: How do you size up your offensive line in terms of their greatest strengths and secondly, who are they protecting this year? Tell us about your likely starting quarterback on Sept. 2 against Monte Vista. 

Anthony put in an awesome year. He’s a strong kid. He responds to competition. The better the person across from him, the better he plays. He did a really good job playing a lot of football. 

A couple of schools complimented his defensive play. He’s a good, hard-working kid, takes care of business. He played through some pain. It’s not that I want guys to play injured, but that was a very selfless act. It shows the mindset of the players and that they’re willing to sacrifice for the team. 

Forest has one of the highest motors I’ve ever seen. He does everything 100 miles an hour. I’ve never had to tell him to speed up. It’s the only way he does things. He played tight end the first two years, and we got to a situation last year where I had to get my best eleven on the field. 

Alex West was going to start at tight end. I asked Forest to play offensive line and he said, "Absolutely." Taking a back seat to your individual aspirations to help the team is what we’re asking. He proved it to himself. 

When you play that hard, and you’re that competitive, you’re going to get noticed. He’s not probably over 200 pounds; your prototype offensive lineman. He’s just a hard-working kid, a great leader, and ups the level of play for all of us. 

They’re [Viveiros and Ferguson] going to be anchoring the line. We’re going to fill in some gaps. 

The JV starter, Luke Huerta, from last year is the frontrunner for the starting QB spot. He’s been working hard and managing the offense well. He’s an incredibly intelligent kid. He finds a way to get things done. He’s a baseball player, on varsity last year as a sophomore. He’s played quarterback every year he’s played organized football. He’s played in the secondary. He has a really good understanding and a feel for the game. He’s really comfortable. 

Tell me what comes to mind when you hear the following names: 

BEN ATKINSON 

Started at defensive end (DE) last year. He obviously came up to varsity for a reason. He plays his tail off. Ben is tall and has good physical tools. He is full go-in and committed. He gets it. He understands he’s part of something big. He’s been doing well so far in the camps we’ve had. He’s going to come back in and start at DE and will also be our starting tight end. He was a two-way starter as a junior and has an opportunity for a breakout year. 

DAVID VALLADARES

A guy who did a really good job for us last year. He was a two-way starter as a junior who came up as a sophomore. He’s a guy who’s a really physical guy; extremely strong. His biggest strength is that there is not a lot of arm tackling. He brings this incredibly physical element to our defense as a linebacker. As a fullback, he brings physicality. He’s a returning player who took care of defensive player of the league — Arroyo’s Micah McMurray — last year. He’s excited about his senior year. 

Ben and David earned All League Honorable Mentions last year. Who else do you think has what it takes to elevate their game as All League players this year? 

John Marsh, our wide receiver, had an incredible offseason. He’s brought an incredible work ethic with him. He’s developed his skills and will have an awesome year. He’s really showing it right now. He’s just flying around and doing everything we’re asking him to do. I expect a lot of big things out of him his senior year. 

Alex and Mickey Cardoze: Going into their senior year at running back and the defensive secondary. They’ve been ultra-committed from day one and put in incredible off-season’s every year. Pound for pound, they’re the two strongest kids on the team based on what they lift and what they weigh. They both figure to really contribute to the team from that standpoint. 

One other guy that had a decent year last year, if he can stay healthy, is Jesse Sellers. He’s just a very, very fast kid, extremely fast kid. He’s got great quickness, a really good running ability. He figures to do an awesome job. 

I have a ton of kids who I have really good things to say about. If they’ve made it to this point, they have my respect. A lot of juniors figure to contribute. I have a lot of guys who I’m really happy with as seniors. 

To name a few, I feel bad. I’d like to name them all. All these individual guys will only do well if the whole team is doing well. Not any one of them can make this thing happen. The reason why I mention them is because I believe they already know it. 

You’re a guy who takes things one snap at a time, it sounds like. Clearly, every game is important. But is there one game on the schedule this season that you have particular interest in? Is there a team in the league that you have your sights set on entering the season? If not, what are your focus and the vision for this year’s team? 

Every game we’re playing is about us. Every team we face is going to be a challenge. I can’t say there is any one game that is most important. The most important game right now is Sept. 2 against Monte Vista. And then more important than that is today, and then tomorrow. If you look ahead, you’re going to overlook the things that are right in front of you. 

O’Dowd is the league champion. We open the league against them [Sept. 30 @ CVHS].  They really beat us up last year and they’re returning a lot of players. Their JV team had an incredible year, too. So they’re really going to have a talented squad. Coach Nickerson does an awesome job with them. They’re going to be a team where we have to be prepared to play every minute of every quarter. We have to have ourselves pretty well figured out by then. 

Coach Bowers does an incredible job at San Leandro. (Oct. 7 @ Burrell Field in San Leandro) 

Coach Wright has made San Lorenzo ultra competitive. (Oct. 14 @ San Lorenzo) 

Arroyo beat us up last year and they’re returning some good players. It was challenging to play them. (Oct. 21 @ CVHS) 

Mt. Eden coaches are turning that program around. There’s not one team in this league where we can say we’re going to win. (Oct. 28 @ CVHS)   

Tennyson Coach Smith does an awesome job. Hayward made an incredible hire and those kids are working their tails off. (Nov. 4 @ Tennyson) 

We’re working this offseason to be durable and play tough for 10 games, and we want to play 12-13 games. We want a home playoff game. We want to be notorious for playing tough. 

We play non-conference games against Monte Vista, Newark, and California. We’re serious about competing and what we do on a daily basis. We’re committed to playing the best. 

Describe the challenges of operating a high school football team in this day and age of budget cuts. What can the community do this season to support high school sports in general and your football team specifically? 

We asked our kids to make a contribution of $325 to help fund the sport, and the fees associated with playing football are a struggle to come up with. I thought — considering we’re the first sport to have to do it — I thought we did an OK job. I don’t think we reached 100 percent. We got up around 70 percent to 80 percent contribution. 

We’ve created three fundraising efforts and applied the money back to each kid individually to help offset their fees and costs. The contribution can’t be mandatory per Ed Code. If the money doesn’t come up, the program disappears. The kids have been doing an awesome job. 

The CVHS Athletic Boosters put on the Superman cape and saved the day. 

If the community would like to support Castro Valley athletics, it would start with boosters. It’s not a monetary contribution. It’s by becoming a booster or volunteering to assist when boosters has their events. The last couple of years it’s been the same corps of ladies who also work full-time jobs. 

If people are in the position to make donations or contributions, they own businesses and make donations as a tax write-off, which would help. That would help athletics as a whole. 

To help football, come out to the game. Start with one. Boosters run a concession stand during the games. The money there and gate revenue run our student body and leadership classes. We’re building the strength of our program by filling the stands. Clapping for the kids and cheering for the team is something that can really strengthen the program from a general support stance. 

Coming down on a Friday night really helps strengthen our community ties. I don’t want to say opening up checkbooks, but people being proactive. I am a coach, teacher, program coordinator, and wear a lot of hats. Parents help as much as they can. If the community can be proactive and figure out what they can do to help, that would put us in a stronger position.”

Let's support our high school sports and arts and music programs. This fall, pick a Friday night to bring your family to our beautiful new football stadium and root for your Trojans as they battle their way to the NCS playoffs!