He was a Dade County All-Star Team member in football, and also participated in volleyball and in track and field as a high jumper.
Amato learned to long snap in his last year playing Pop Warner football, but he did not do it again until college.
[1] Amato attended Moorpark Junior College for two years, then transferred to Montana State University.
After his college eligibility expired at the end of the 1998 season Amato spent the next two years finishing his degree while also assisting Montana State's coaching staff with video work, as well as other tasks.
[1] After graduation, he then spent two years working as a full-time juvenile service specialist in Miami, Florida.