Born and raised in Memphis, TN. Garrett attended college at Union University (Jackson, TN), where he played collegiate baseball for 4 years.  Garrett, his wife Jill, and son Mac moved to the Palm City area last summer.  Quickly after moving, Mac joined the 6U team and Garrett joined the coaching staff.  Also, Garrett has over 7 seasons of combined experience coaching high school and little league level baseball.  This year, Garrett will be assuming the role of the head coach of the 6U Dolphins team.

“My #1 rule is to keep it fun!  I like to create an upbeat, positive, and team centered environment.  This helps develop a self-confidence while instilling personal responsibility that comes with being a successful contributor to a team.”

Coaching football has been an honor for me for the past five years and this will be my second season with the Palm City Dolphins, and first as a head coach. My wife and I have five kids and we have lived in Stuart for over 15 years. Two of our boys share our same passion for football, which ignited and continues to fuel my spark to coach.

It’s my belief team sports, such as youth football, provides the opportunity for individual growth and development in young athletes. Growth which strengthens an individual’s self-confidence through overcoming challenges and adversity, both in practice and in games, by working together as a team, in support of one another and achieving more than what was originally thought possible. While winning is an important component to any competition, I do not ascribe to the philosophy of winning at all costs. Success isn’t always measured by the score or the final result, rather in the context of a team sport, is measured in the growth of the team and the individual sacrifice players make towards working to achieve team success. It’s not the team with the best players that win. It’s the players with the best team that wins.

My coaching style focuses on player accountability, commitment, hard work, positive reinforcement and the importance of mastering the fundamentals of the game as a basis for being successful, both individually and collectively as a team. Our coaching staff will hold themselves to even a higher level of accountability in these areas and stress and prioritize the importance of “team” over individual success. Coaching young athletes has been beyond rewarding for me and watching these athletes learn, grow, and continue to be enthusiastic about the game is a privilege. It is something coaches are responsible for in continuing to foster and develop throughout their coaching career.

Players who play for me understand our Dolphin team is a family and that we will work together and support one another, both on and off the field. It is about building trust in each other, while pursuing success together with tenacity, enthusiasm and good sportsmanship, that will cement the Palm City Dolphins as the team to beat in Pop Warner football.

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work….” -Vince Lombardi

If you’ve ever seen the movie Any Given Sunday, you know the iconic speech that Al Pacino gives to motivate his team, that has been falling apart, in order to try and will them together to win. When I heard this for the first time, being a football player for most of my life, this resonated so intensely. This piece, modified with my own personal thought process, is called Any Given Someday..... 

When facing life’s challenges, very often, I don’t know what to say to myself really. Three minutes, three hours, three days, three years or three seconds. The time is often irrelevant. We are, at any given moment, at the beginning of the biggest battle of our lives. What if, that battle, all comes down to today? What if, how you choose to face the challenge, that is staring at you like a giant monster across your personal battlefield, is the difference between healing and crumbling? Either you heal and grow or, you wither and fall apart. All too often, we look at these massive obstacles in front of us and say they are insurmountable. That there is no way we can go over or circumvent or even tear down such a wall. Yet, if we attack each challenge, piece by piece, inch by inch or moment by moment, until we are finished with it, no matter how long it takes, then those giant obstacles, aren’t so big after all, are they? Maybe you are sitting there right now, reading this and saying to yourself, that’s me and that is right where I am. Believe me, I know for a fact we have all been there. You still have the ability to choose. You can choose to stay there, in whatever personal battle you are in and get the living crap kicked out of you and blame whatever you want for where you are. But, if that is all you do, complain, you will stay in that or any other struggle, if that is what you choose to do. OR.....You can choose to fight. Fight your way back into the light. You can choose to climb out of or over your struggles. You can begin to tear down the walls that confine you. Piece by piece, moment by moment, inch by inch. If you choose to do that, eventually, you will come to a time where your struggle, no longer holds you in captivity. Now no one can do it for you. But you can’t make excuses like I’m too old, it’s too hard or I just don’t know how. You’re never to old !!!!It’s going to be hard !!!!If you don’t know how, ask someone who does !!!!There is ALWAYS a way !!!!! 

When I look around the playing field of my life, I still see obstacles. Some I have overcome. Some, I am still tearing at piece by piece, moment by moment, inch by inch. I remember my once young face, when I see my worn and tattered face, filled with scars and wisdom from battles won and lost. When I look in the mirror and I think of all that I have personally gone through to get to this moment in my life, I am often amazed at how far I have come and yet, even more amazed at how far I still have yet to grow. I look every right or wrong choice that a middle aged man, like myself could make or has made. Believe it or not, I have chased off many who have cared for me and even loved me. There are actually times, even to this day, with all the good things in my life and all the obstacles I have overcome, that I still, can't even stand the face I see in the mirror. But, eventually, piece by piece, moment by moment, inch by inch, that perspective changes and I can again see, the man I am as well as the man I have yet to become. So if you, aren’t liking what you see staring back at you in the mirror, just remember, it can and will change with patience, perseverance and a willingness to keep fighting. 

I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. I attended Niles West High School and played football all four years and was nominated as an All-Conference Nose Guard for the Varsity football team as well as honorable mention, All Chicago Team. After high school, I attended University of Illinois and received a B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. I am presently a practicing consulting Aerospace Engineer with the specialty of Airframe Structural Analysis.

I have lived in Stuart, Florida for about 15 years now, and am married with two children.  My son, John, has played football, both tackle and flag, since he was 5 years old.  I have been honored to be a certified coach to his various teams while he played for Pop Warner, USA Football and i9 Sports.  We have been part of the Palm City Dolphins family for 3 seasons now.  My wife, Melissa, has been a PCD Team Mom in the past.  And, as in the past, you may hear my South Fork High School daughter, Sophia, sing the National Anthem for the team, if she is not busy swimming with SF Bulldogs team on game day.

As an Assistant Coach for 12U, I will share my love, experience, and knowledge of the great game of football with the team. I hope to help each player develop self-confidence and gain an understanding of their personal accountability that is important for the success of their team. The lessons and discipline I hope to teach these players include the importance of hard work, dedication, perseverance, teamwork and execution during practices and games. These experiences will remain in the hearts of these player, as they have mine throughout my life. They will grow in the knowledge of playing football and gain skills beyond the game. I believe they will become greater players and people by learning these skills which they will carry throughout their lives.  Football teaches one to be a fighter in the great game of life.

I appreciate the opportunity to coach football with the Palm City Dolphins and look forward to a fun and successful season!  GO DOLPHINS!