Ruben Contreras '17 Recruiting Profile

Towards the end of sophomore year, I decided to mix things up and tried out punting to see how it was. The summer going into junior year, I went to a camp, Snap, Hold,and Kick, and I got a few pointers and tips on what to fix. As junior was coming to an end, my season didn’t go exactly as I had hoped. I later received  an invitation to Coach Zendeja’s kicking camp, and I got one-on-one training with Coach Alex Perez from Chris Sailer kicking and Coach Paul Stonehouse. With them I fine-tuned everything that was wrong with my kicking and found my rhythm. With my coaches, they helped fix my stance: how I hold the ball, how I drop it, and how the ball is suppose to come off my foot. At the Zendejas Kicking camp in Arizona, I started to really excel and my kicking started to come together. I came in third for the final punting competition in Arizona at the Arizona Cardinals’ training facility. I was competing against other high school players from all over the United States and in the competition I came in third out of all the high school punters.

I am determined to work hard and willing to listen to criticism to improve my talent even more. I am hardworking and persistent at something and unwilling to give up on what I want. I worked hard, and it paid off because I got to start my senior year as the punter. Because of my hard work and unrelenting attitude towards this sport, I was able to achieve being ranked number one in the Southern Section, California, the Baseline league, and Division 4, and I was ranked number four nationally.

Once things started to turn around I became more dedicated. I am different because I will be willing to go to a two year or four year college. For college, I am willing to wait my turn in line to kick but would be willing to start as a freshmen. I would like to go to a college where I can excel in football and I can major in art, graphic design, and/or business management. I was taught that working hard in both school and sports coincide, so I worked hard in school and football this year and it payed off because of how my season has been going. I am dedicated to both education and sports because you really can’t have one without the other.

I came to love football after playing for only four years. To me, I grew up with football, and I would go to Damien games with my dad and brothers and my dad would always tell me stories from when he played. I was scared at first to play, but once I found my spot in kicking, I fell in love with the sport. I want to continue playing football because I feel like I could go and play on the collegiate level, and I would want to continue playing also to further better myself in punting and make myself better. It matters if I play in college because I am not ready to give up playing sports.