Cal-Berkeley linebacker returning to hometown Merced to host youth football camp

Merced is always going to have a special place in Trey Paster’s heart as his hometown. The Cal-Berkeley linebacker has often taken time to speak to local high school players when he’s back home.

He has talked to football teams at his former high schools Buhach Colony High School and Stone Ridge Christian about what it took for him to accomplish his goal of playing college football. He has encouraged players they can make their dreams come true with hard work.

Paster, who is making the switch from defensive back to linebacker as a junior at Cal this season, has given tours of the Cal campus to players who have made the trip to Berkeley.

Paster will be helping kids from the Merced-area again when he hosts “The Seven Pillar’s Community Day Football Showcase” on Sunday, July 24th at Veterans Stadium on the campus of Golden Valley High School.

The youth football camp will be open to middle school and high school age football players. Registration for the camp is $40. Athletes can sign up at thesevenpillars.org until Friday, July 22.

Paster said the idea for the showcase popped into his head one day when he realized nobody else from Merced was doing anything like it.

So why not him?

“I thought I could get other guys who are playing in college to help out,” said Paster, who graduated early from Buhach Colony in 2019. “I figured if we got some guys together we could show kids from Merced that it is possible to do something. There are a lot of guys playing college football from our area.”

Up to 15 current college football players with connections to the Central Valley are expected to help out at the camp, including Fresno State’s David Perales (Merced), Sacramento State’s Xavier Williams (Atwater), Cal Lutheran’s Desmond Thompson (Merced), Cal’s Xavier Carlton (Modesto Christian) and Sacramento State’s Pierre Williams (Patterson).

“They were 100% in,” Paster said. “They just said ‘let me know when and I’ll be there.’ That was the easiest part honestly.”

The middle school portion of the camp will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and will focus on teaching proper technique. The participants will go through a variety of drills led by the college players.

The high school portion is scheduled to run from noon to 2 p.m.

“For the high school guys, it’s going to be a lot more competitive,” Paster said. “They’re going to go through realistic testing, like combine testing. They’ll take part in real competitive one-on-one drills. It will be like a college camp or something you’d see at a Nike camp.”

“We’re really going to see who competes and they’ll learn things that they can take with them to their teams,” Paster added.

Special coaches listed for the camp include College of Sequoias receivers coach and passing game coordinator Mike Machado, Stone Ridge Christian strength and performance coach Marcello Martinelli and biomechanics coach Ryan Ting.

Position MVP awards and camp MVP awards will be handed out after the camp. Food will also be provided for all athletes after the high school camp.

Paster says it’s important for him to come back to Merced and help the community.

“I definitely would have ate this up if I was in high school,” he said. “I think it’s really important and honestly it’s something the city needs. The city of Merced has been moving forward. I see what the mayor Matt (Serratto) is doing. There is a lot of stuff going on with new businesses coming. When I come back to Merced I see a lot of stuff that wasn’t there when I was there.”