This young man, Calvin (Dub) Waters, is the Fruita Canyon Dental Athlete of the Week.

With two passions that are rather conflicting yet on the other hand complementary, Dub, as his friends and family call him, is a wrestler, a sport that is rough and tumble, and then he has the passion for cooking, which takes a gentle hand. Dub wants to be a master chef someday.

Gordon Ramsey, who has the show Kitchen Night Mares, and another titled, Hell’s Kitchen, is one of his favorite chefs.

Dub attended Shelledy Elementary where he grew in a love for reading especially science fiction. Ray Bradbery and Isaac Asimov are two of his favorite authors. Now, this brings up a question, does science fiction have anything to do with wrestling? There certainly could be some new holds and moves created. Food certainly does, for without sustenance the body would waste away.

Sports has been the common thread in Dub’s development. In grade school he played Little League baseball. The team he was a member of actually went undefeated either during their second or third year together. He was introduced to wrestling in middle school, grades seven and eight.

It was also in middle school that he ran into Vivian Lybarger, who taught him social studies, language arts and reading.

“She pushed me and encouraged me to do well all the time,” he said. “When I got to high school, she encouraged me to take AP classes.

Wrestling and baseball were still his sports in school.

“I really liked wrestling since it is a contact sport, an individual sport,” he said. “You are the one responsible for the moves. You do it or you don’t.”

Luke Archuletta was his middle school coach and always pushed him to do better. Here he learned the basics. His eighth grade season saw him go undefeated.

Heading into high school was an eye-opener because now he felt like he was going back to the bottom again in wrestling. High school itself was an adjustment with crowded halls, with deadlines for handing in assignments and the fast pace of everything.

“I weighed 171 pounds by the time the season began,” he said. “I had to lose ten pounds. This was the season I had many adjustments to make.”

It was his sophomore year that he began to come back. He started placing in tournaments.

He was wrestling at 140. He had grown so much and had let his hair grow long that when he came out for wrestling, the coaches did not recognize him.

In his junior year, he placed in the top two every tournament. He also lettered that year.

“I had a 30 wins- 4 losses season,” he said. “ I had 23 pins as well.”

When asked about his wanting to be a chef, he said that he had wanted to do this ever since he was six years old.

“Mom would let me help with cooking at home.” He said. “I liked watching the chef programs on television. So when I found out about Pro Start in high school, I also found out that I could not take it until I was a junior. I took food science as a freshman and then as a junior I started Pro Start. This class was actually more in depth then I had expected. It is actually the introduction to college culinary classes. You earn credits there which count toward the culinary art classes in college.

“Johnson and Wales is where I want to attend school. They are the second from the top school for this subject in the country. Tyler Florence is one of their graduates. He is famous now.
Emeril Lagassie also went for a time to school at J and W.”

Looking at the upcoming senior year, Dub wants to be a state qualifier in wrestling. He dropped the ball when the draft was being changed. Besides that, competition in Pro Start clashed with that schedule. As a senior he will be playing football for the first time ever.

After camp in Wyoming, he knows he has lots to learn.

Just coming back from wrestling camp, he is excited for that season.

Dub feels his parents have helped him attain a good work ethic.

“I know I can’t achieve without pushing hard,” he said.

To sum it up, that is why Dub will be successful in whatever he chooses to do in life.