Hello! If you don’t know who I am, or if we haven't met yet, my name is Dustin Diggle. I’m an assistant coach on the JV Football team at Mountain View and I’ve worked at Spartans Sports Camp for nearly 7 years now at all levels. Starting out as a counselor for Multi-sport and football, then becoming an assistant director and getting a greater opportunity to make camp better for everyone. I even worked a couple years as part of the operation staff that deals with everything behind the scenes day to day.

Now I’ve been given the opportunity to become the multi-sport director at Spartans Sports camp and I couldn't be more excited. I bring my passion for sports to camp everyday. Teaching, talking, learning, watching, you name it, if it involves sports, I’m interested in it. I’ve always loved how sports connects us and makes us work better together while simultaneously challenging the individual to be better “for the team”. It's an attitude and mindset that I try to bring everywhere in my life.

I’ve further fueled my passion for sports by getting the chance to be a football coach for the past 4 years. It’s no secret to anyone who has met me that football is by far my favorite sport. The intensity of the sport requires a special kind of effort and focus that isn’t normally asked of someone in their own day to day life. The sport allows you to not only practice dealing with a challenging workload, but instills a hard working attitude that equips you with tools to deal with these challenging tasks. Football also has a unique set of challenges in that, if you have to be socially distanced, you can’t really practice most of the skills needed to play the game.

Around 6 months ago, I was unsure if we were going to be able to have a season at all. We were socially distanced and conditioning in cohorts, masks on at all times, but practices were far from looking like a real football practice. However, just being able to be out on the same field, working out and running together, was a huge win at that time. At other times, it was difficult to stick to the plan of doing the same practice over and over, as our options of what we could do at practice were limited. Eventually, we got the green light that we were going to have a condensed 5 game (plus a scrimmage) season! After a couple weeks of full practice, the season was kicked off with a rivalry scrimmage against Los Altos. It’s always fun to play the cross town rival, even if no official score was kept. Week 1 was where the Spartans had the first of many home games under the new permanent lights. After so many years of waiting and settling for portable and noisy ones, it was fantastic to see a home game under the friday night lights. Another high point in the season was varsity winning its senior night. Having the opportunity to play a season this year was a great feat in itself. Winning the last game played on the home field was absolutely the cherry on top that made it all worth it. Like in every season, there were ups and downs, but to take the hand that was dealt and turn it into the season we had was nothing short of spectacular. I’m very proud, of not just the student athletes that play football, but all student athletes at Mountain View that participated and still participate in sports during these unsure times. This season had its own unique issues and obstacles, and those were met with equal amounts of positivity and hard work. I can’t wait to get back at it for next season, with the possibility of a full Spartans Stadium, and hearing the roar of the crowd behind us.

Sports camp has meant a lot to me personally. It was an engine that I could use to impact Mountain View sports as well as the community at large. It's disappointing that camp won't happen this year. But hopefully we won't have to wait too long to get back to camp!