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Wildcat sweep: coach
By JAMAL THALJI, Times Staff Writer WESLEY CHAPEL -- His first practice was without pads. Or helmets. Or a stadium. The bus wouldn't even bring half the kids the whole way, instead dropping them off nearly a mile away from the practice field. They walked the rest of the way to the practice field, just a grassy patch of a middle school stadium, in the shadow of the high school being built next door. That was the spring of 1999, and all that mattered to John Castelamare was that after three years away from the game he loved, he was back coaching football. Three seasons later, after enjoying one of the best years in county history, Castelamare has is the Times Pasco County Football Coach of the Year. But to him, of course, it was the kids who earned the award. "These guys were together for three years," Castelamare said of his team. "Most of them were ninth-graders starting their first year, and it took all this time to work out together, to play sports together, they didn't even know each other's names. They'd say "What's his name, Coach?' " Castelamare guided Wesley Chapel through the first 10-0 regular season in the Wildcats' three-year history. Wesley Chapel won its first Sunshine Athletic Conference title and its first Class 3A, District 7 crown and earned its first home playoff game. All firsts for Castelamare as well, who spent 12 years coaching at Ridgewood and then guided Wesley Chapel to a 1-9 record in 1999 and 5-5 in 2000. But for all his new-found success this season, Castelamare always goes back to one thing: the kids. "They deserve everything they got because they worked for it," he said. "You work hard and it will all come together, and all the coaches did a good job. We all had to do it together, we all had to work hard." Wesley Chapel enjoyed its share of good fortune. Injuries weren't a factor until the playoffs. Team depth allowed many players to gain experience, which should help next season's campaign. But the most important key to the Wildcats' run, Castelamare said, was confidence. If the players didn't believe they could go 10-0, all that talent might have been wasted. The players had to learn how to win after a 6-14 start for the program the previous two seasons. "The kids, they had to believe that they can do this," the coach said. "I'm not so sure if, in the beginning of the season, they were that confident, and I'm not sure if they knew what they could do. "But they played hard enough to keep on doing what they did, and that slowly built up their confidence."
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