Ken Watts Found His Career Path at SBCC

An Athlete Whose Interest in Physical Training Led to a Field of Study

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It was Ken Watts’s senior year of high school when things went awry. He had just received a scholarship offer to play football at a four-year university when life threw one of its best curveballs: a knee injury during the very last game of his senior year. In a matter of seconds, his plans derailed, and his dream shattered — or at least it felt that way. “I was a little dejected,” he admitted over the phone, “unsure what I wanted to do with my life.”

Without a clear path forward, Watts stayed in Marin County where he had grown up, enrolled at the community college, and worked in construction alongside his dad to make money. It was a temporary solution — although he was admittingly restless as his football dreams still lingered in the peripheral.

Then, in 2011, Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) came onto his radar. A friend attending SBCC had a room for rent, and Watts, eager for a fresh start, jumped at the opportunity. He had been to the city only once, when he decided to switch schools and move on a whim. “I came down here,” he said, “took a placement test at the campus, went to Sam’s to Go and got a sandwich, and then looked at one apartment in the Mesa, and that was it, basically.”

At SBCC, he joined the football team, finally scratching the football itch. It was fun; practices were long and early, but he didn’t mind it because he was finally doing what he always wanted to. However, he admitted,“My very first year, our team was not very good at all,” he said. “But regardless, we had fun.”

More than the game itself, he valued the friendships and connections he built, which were especially meaningful in an unfamiliar city. “I went from having, you know, only a couple friends [to] having a network of over 50 within a few weeks,” he reflected.

He had been passionate about fitness training since high school when he was only 130 pounds and six feet tall, and began working out in his school’s weight room, gradually building muscle and strength. It helped him understand discipline. “It was very eye-opening to see how it translated into my play on the football field,” he said.

His love for fitness ultimately led him to study kinesiology at SBCC. Between odd jobs and football practices, often in the early morning and late afternoon, Watts was in the classroom. He vividly remembers his Human Anatomy class, particularly the practical lab portion, where he studied human cadavers — an experience he found “pretty unique to have at a city college level.”

He had always been the kind of student who breezed through high school exams without much studying, but SBCC challenged him in a way he hadn’t expected. At first, he approached his Human Anatomy class with the same laid-back attitude he had in high school. But when he failed the first go-around, he quickly realized that SBCC’s curriculum was far more demanding than anticipated — it was the upper echelon. “The standard for education here was higher,” he noted. In other words, he couldn’t “BS it.”

Luckily, he passed the second time around.

Although he had the chance to transfer to a four-year university after SBCC, he felt it wasn’t necessary for his career. After earning his associate’s degree from SBCC in 2013, he secured a job as a personal trainer at 24-Hour Fitness, diving head-first into the personal training world. “The sooner you can start, the better,” he mused. He stayed there for a few years, climbing the ladder before working at the Santa Barbara Athletic Club.

Then, in 2019, he opened his own personal training and coaching business in town, operating out of a small semi-private gym called The Void on Upper State Street. Opening a business just before the lockdown was undoubtedly challenging, but he made it work by holding outdoor training classes in the park and even hauling equipment there.

Now, with a decade of experience, Watts trains clients from as young as 13 to as old as 80, helping them reach their weight loss and muscle-building goals.

Looking back, he recognizes the silver lining in his high school injury. While it’s impossible to say for certain where he would have ended up if he hadn’t injured his knee, he believes Santa Barbara City College undoubtedly played a key role in his success.

“I think it’s a great foundational building block for whatever career you want to get into.”

This article was paid for by Santa Barbara City College. For more information on Santa Barbara City College and the hundreds of programs they offer, visit sbcc.edu or (805) 965-0581. If you are an SBCC alumni please join SBCC Alumni Connect at sbccfoundation.org/alumni.