{"id":16280,"date":"2026-06-19T14:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=16280"},"modified":"2026-06-19T14:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:02:14","slug":"santiago-canyon-college-coach-stresses-values-on-and-off-the-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=16280","title":{"rendered":"Santiago Canyon College coach stresses values on and off the field"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Leilani Utupo has seen the Darwinian side of sports. Up close and too personal. Every time she looks at her ankle, the one with the torn ligament that wouldn\u2019t heal, the one that prompted a blood test that revealed she was a Type 1 diabetic, the lesson returns.<\/p>\n

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Give back. Build community. Construct a mind\/body connection that can persevere through defeat and depression. And \u2014 most of all \u2014 pour a foundation of support that enables all of the above to thrive.<\/p>\n

That torn ankle ligament ended Utupo\u2019s college basketball career at Colorado, brought her back to California and sent her on a roundabout path to where she is now: the newly minted flag football coach at Santiago Canyon College\u2019s newly minted flag football program. The Hawks begin play in the spring of 2027.<\/p>\n

Utupo, meanwhile, busies herself with the details of building a program from scratch: assembling a staff, researching and reaching out to the many flag football programs sprouting like mushrooms across the region and building the offensive and defensive playbooks.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the basics, the paint-by-numbers part of the game. But Utupo wants you to know there is more to the game than the game. One of the many lessons she learned on her path from \u2014 deep breath \u2014 Colorado to Long Beach City College to Long Beach State (BA in communications) to coaching stints at Long Beach Millikan, Lakewood High School and Long Beach Poly, a year as an assistant at USC and finally, SCC.<\/p>\n

Have life experience, will travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was raised by a coach, my brother played the game, my husband played the game, and it was something that brought our family together,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s important that we provide that network, the camaraderie in the locker rooms to our players because the network outside of football is important to me. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important to me to see women who look like them, who have played sports and done things outside of sports: having children, supporting families. To win on the field is important to me, but it\u2019s more important to me they win at life. That definition is different for everyone, but showing them examples is super important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Utupo is a good example to roll out. When she got back from Colorado, after losing her scholarship to injury, she realized the mental aspect of athletics was more important than anyone ever taught her. Inspired by the Las Vegas Raiders hiring Kelsey Martinez as the NFL\u2019s second female strength and conditioning coach, Utupo\u2019s first coaching position was as Millikan\u2019s strength and conditioning coach. When she met and married her husband, Justin, Utupo\u2019s real coaching odyssey began.<\/p>\n

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The first flag football stop was at Lakewood. That came after Utupo was hired as strength and conditioning coach, when then-athletic director Mike Wadley told her there was nobody better to coach the new flag football program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that he was right,\u201d Utupo said. \u201cI have a pretty strong presence with the boys in tackle football. It\u2019s not easy to win over male athletes in a male-dominated sport, but I knew I put in the work over the years and knowing that females were being introduced to the sport and the conversations we had for providing opportunities. That\u2019s what coaching is for me: providing opportunities, and I knew he wanted me to set an example for female athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Utupo led Lakewood to a CIF quarterfinal playoff appearance during her two years there. Then, she followed her husband to Long Beach Poly, double-dipping again as the strength and conditioning coach. She set another example in 2024 when the Los Angeles Chargers named her Los Angeles County\u2019s All-Star Head Coach for the annual LA County-Orange County All-Star Game.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

At every stop, including that one year as a USC assistant, where she grasped the business side of the game, Utupo\u2019s lessons about mental toughness meshed with her desire to build athletes who can learn something from every play. Because she remembers the lessons from that torn ankle ligament and where it led.<\/p>\n

To where she is now. And there\u2019s a message in every moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell my athletes that you should show up to the weight room like you are at church: humbled, but ready to serve,\u201d she said. \u201cFor church, you show up in your Sunday best. For the weight room, that means to be dressed like an athlete. The goal is to practice discipline, be in uniform and follow the structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cPractices are designed to be hard and difficult. They\u2019re built for them to fail. But there\u2019s a science behind that failure. We learn camaraderie. We learn character. We learn our mental breaking points and how to rebuild from there as a team and as an individual. Teaching those values is important not only on the field, but in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Leilani Utupo is building the college’s flag football program from scratch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nSantiago Canyon College coach stresses values on and off the field - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=16280\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Santiago Canyon College coach stresses values on and off the field - Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leilani Utupo is building the college's flag football program from scratch.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=16280\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-19T14:02:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=16280#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=16280\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\"},\"headline\":\"Santiago Canyon College coach stresses values on and off the field\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-19T14:02:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=16280\"},\"wordCount\":864,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=16280#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/13b7bee4e198728428a3a1d554b1b91f.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"College Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=16280#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=16280\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=16280\",\"name\":\"Santiago Canyon College coach stresses values on and off the field - 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