A long-standing Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) legacy takes on Athletics Director for the 2025-2026 school year. After being an English teacher for 22 years and the cross country and track and field coach for the past 11 years at Foothill Tech, Jason Dinkler looks to shed new light on student athletes and ways to highlight their achievements to the public.
Foothill Tech is known to recognize students’ academic excellence in their Renaissance Rallies, but never had a place to acknowledge the achievement of student athletes. Within Dinkler’s first month as athletic director, he has established a new tradition: an Athletics Rally. This will be the first Athletics Rally in Foothill Tech history recognizing student athletes on Sept. 17, 2025. He hopes that this Rally will encourage attendance at sports competitions, as well as create an athletic community for the Dragons.
“Our athletic program is a part of the school, but is not seen as a vital component and I want to grow that vital component.” said Dinkler when expressing his thoughts towards the importance of an athletic program.
Dinkler wants to implement a new and improved social media presence for athletics to reach an audience of families and overall, the Ventura community. His social media presence through Instagram and an updated athletic site is to build a consistent view and reminder of Foothill Tech’s athletic success.
Not only does Dinkler want to grow the athletic presence in Foothill Tech but the idea that athletics is a way to build life skills. He believes his role as an athletic director is to create a pathway for students to learn and grow as student-athletes, and not only in the classroom.
“Resilience is pretty much the most important thing that you can gain from athletics, how to learn, how to win and lose, how to learn to bounce back from things that are challenging, how to rise to the occasion.” said Dinkler.
Dinkler acknowledges how academically driven the students are that attend Foothill Tech but also believes that students can expand their learning outside of school using sports. He believes playing a sport in high school is a vital component to learning balance.
“Perfectionism is the enemy of balance … and student athletes learn how to balance their lives … that’s something that I want to promote and see developed,” Dinkler stated when speaking on the importance of balance.
His main goal for the future is to promote the success of the Dragons and encourage athletic engagement at Foothill Tech. He has implemented his office as a tool to promote athletic success, through posters of athletes all around the walls, CIF champion plaques displayed around the room as well as sports photos tracking back to the first year of athletics at Foothill Tech.
Looking into the future, Dinker’s goal is to reach the students, and provide for them. He has moved to the next level beyond the Athletic Director position of just scheduling, to digging deeper into what’s important to develop students for the next years of their lives and using sports as an output for that.
