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Coach Greg Zavala
Internationally renown for his coaching achievements in wrestling, Greg Zavala has also found success in school administration and gang prevention programs. He developed a nationally recognized gan...view moreInternationally renown for his coaching achievements in wrestling, Greg Zavala has also found success in school administration and gang prevention programs. He developed a nationally recognized gang intervention, prevention and suppression program called Street Smart and a handbook entitled Gangs in the Hood, adopted by Stockton Unified School District along with other school districts and law enforcement around the state and nation.
Zavala also introduced a 10-day drug and gang prevention program for K-12 students, which included counseling, employment skills, tutoring, after-school activities, guest speakers, health services and mental health—and even a “coloring book” for K-4 students. He developed a gang guidebook (in 10 different languages) for parents, law enforcement and educators that supports a safe learning environment. His program, initially funded at the state and federal level in the 1980s, has continued without funding through Zavala’s efforts. He currently serves students, educators, law enforcement and parents on a daily basis at Jane Frederick Continuation High School in Stockton.
In conjunction with his gang prevention work, Zavala is highly acclaimed for his coaching skills in wrestling. His wrestling coaching career includes stints as United States coaching staff in the 1996 Olympics and staff member at the 2004 Olympic training camp, and he was the head coach for Peru’s Pan American Games team in 1987. He holds several awards and was most recently inducted in 2010 to the California Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Stockton Mexican Athletic Hall of Fame.
Zavala grew up in Stockton and excelled in school sports. With the help of his high school counselor, he received a football scholarship at UC Davis in 1969 and was the first in his family to attend college. With a minor in physical education, Zavala went on to earn his teaching credential at UC Davis. In 1977, he received his master’s degree in education from the University of San Francisco and went on to work for the California Youth Authority and Stockton Unified School District. In 2010, Zavala earned a master’s degree in behavioral/criminology from Capella University.view less