Estancia football team building culture around successful students and athletes
COSTA MESA, Calif. — Head Coach Mike Bargas is proud of the 2022-2023 Estancia Football team. “Estancia Football is represented by the greatest kids living in our community. Not only do most of these student-athletes participate in football, but they are also heavily invested in community,” said Head Coach Bargas. Notably, Estancia’s Football team is comprised of “our local kids, we don’t recruit, these kids just keep battling. I am privileged to be a part of this program.”
The coaching team consists of Head Coach Bargas and coaches Chris Bargas, Raul Gonzalez, J.J. Jett, Zach Proodian, Eduardo Tapia, Josh Romero, Max Perez, and Mario Mondragon. Off the field, what makes these coaches proud is that the players are contributing members of the community, as well as successful students and athletes. The players have volunteered in a variety of Orange County community events including “Concerts in the Park, O.C. Marathon, Victoria’s Spring Fling as well as coming up this December, our very own Westside Christmas Lunch and Gift giveaway. This will be our third year of putting this on. One hundred and twenty- five individuals are invited from our local feeder schools to enjoy lunch and a gift for Christmas. Our players are involved 100% in serving, decorating, dispersing, and most importantly the clean up!” In his sixteen years as head coach, Bargas has consistently emphasized to the team the importance of “being a student-athlete as well as being a service-oriented member of the community.” He is so proud of the student body at Estancia, they are “all about family and community.”
Devotion to community flows into to devotion to the team and team goals on the field. Their goal is to “work hard to win League and make it to the Post-season. We want to be playing fourteen weeks,” said Head Coach Bargas. Team captains Noah Aires, Oswaldo Sanchez and Oscar Vasquez “are the lifeline of the team. They help ensure practice and games go smoothly. They lead through being a good example of hard work paired with good attitudes. They excel at being “proactive when it comes to all facets of the program. From cleanup to work outs, they are the ‘alphas’ of the program.” Team captain Sanchez is on his way to state notoriety, he’s currently #3 in the state for individual tackles. It is “pretty impressive for being from one of the smallest high schools in Orange County,” said Head Coach Bargas.
The current Varsity team members are “quite receptive to new members as long as they are humble, committed and do the work. The current members will welcome them, tour them around the facility and introduce them to the rest of the group.”
The new members are shown game day traditions. On game days, pre-game prep is a thoughtful affair. The whole team dresses in semi-formal attire: button-down shirts, ties and blazers. They eat dinner together at 2:30 in silence and then retreat until walk-thru. Before they leave for the field, they have a chant called “The Prayer” to set the mood for the game. During the game, if a player makes a particularly great play on defense, that player gets to wear the gladiator’s mask. Even after a victorious game, the players show superior sportsmanship by remaining relatively calm and congratulatory on the field until they enter the film room where they can whoop it up to their hearts’ content and let loose amongst each other. The coaches and the team know that win or lose, the next game comes on fast.
Come support the team and watch these hard-working local kids strive to be their best and show their school spirit.
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