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GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — With his father on his deathbed, Damon Garrison pinned his hopes on wrangling a standby flight to say his goodbyes.
It took three days of anxious waiting for Garrison to land a flight from Virginia to the opposite-coast destination — Southern California. While he made it back in time to bid his father farewell, it was at that time Garrison realized he was just too far away from home.
“I really figured out at that time how far I was away,” he said. “We had a swim meet Sunday and he flatlined that night. He was in critical condition in the (intensive care unit). I got the call that night and it took three days to get a flight out there.”
That was back in November, and about when Garrison started looking for a job that would bring him closer to home.
Five months later, Garrison is readying for a move to the Western Slope after landing the Glenwood Springs-based Sopris Barracudas swim team head coaching job.
“If I had lived in Glenwood Springs,” he explained, “I would have hopped in my car and could have been to L.A. in 11 or 12 hours.”
The 34-year-old Barracudas’ new frontman brings with him some lofty credentials — 16 years of club coaching experience in which he’s seen 10 of his swimmers qualify for junior nationals, three for nationals and one for the Olympic trials.
Currently wrapping up his head coaching gig with the Potomac Raiders Swim Club in Virginia, Garrison has also held lead jobs in Southern California, his childhood home.
Now, he has his sights set on establishing the Sopris program as a power in the Colorado club swim scene. He said he knew pretty quickly after visiting Glenwood and the Barracuda swimmers, who range in age from 6 to 18 years old, that he had found a job he wanted.
“I enjoyed what I saw,” Garrison said. “I enjoyed the people. I enjoy working in a smaller atmosphere. Glenwood’s a family area, a place I could settle into. It’s beautiful. I’ve always loved Colorado. Unfortunately, I’ve had too many times driving through and not enough staying in it.”
That’s good news for the Barracudas, who are in dire need of a long-term fix at its top spot. Garrison is Sopris’ third coach since longtime frontman Howard Jay resigned in 2006.
“Coaching is one of those odyssey businesses,” Garrison said. “I don’t want to odyssey anymore.”
Barracudas Board of Directors chair person Amy Cassidy, for one, hopes to see Garrison stick around.
“We are extremely fortunate to get a coach of this caliber to head up our program and we are all very excited about the potential for growth and success that we anticipate under this new coach,” she said by e-mail. “It is really a coup for our team.”
One thing, in particular, Cassidy and other board members liked about Garrison is his emphasis on academics. That is, in fact, the biggest source of pride for the new Sopris coach.
“I’ve had kids do great things, but one of my biggest, proudest moments of coaching is that I’ve coached 32 valedictorians … ,” he said. “I had a moment where I coached high school back in 2004 and we had an awards night for our athletes. They were doing honor roll students and wrestling had two or three kids, basketball had two or three kids and us swimmers had 47. We only had 53 athletes between boys and girls.”
It took three days of anxious waiting for Garrison to land a flight from Virginia to the opposite-coast destination — Southern California. While he made it back in time to bid his father farewell, it was at that time Garrison realized he was just too far away from home.
“I really figured out at that time how far I was away,” he said. “We had a swim meet Sunday and he flatlined that night. He was in critical condition in the (intensive care unit). I got the call that night and it took three days to get a flight out there.”
That was back in November, and about when Garrison started looking for a job that would bring him closer to home.
Five months later, Garrison is readying for a move to the Western Slope after landing the Glenwood Springs-based Sopris Barracudas swim team head coaching job.
“If I had lived in Glenwood Springs,” he explained, “I would have hopped in my car and could have been to L.A. in 11 or 12 hours.”
The 34-year-old Barracudas’ new frontman brings with him some lofty credentials — 16 years of club coaching experience in which he’s seen 10 of his swimmers qualify for junior nationals, three for nationals and one for the Olympic trials.
Currently wrapping up his head coaching gig with the Potomac Raiders Swim Club in Virginia, Garrison has also held lead jobs in Southern California, his childhood home.
Now, he has his sights set on establishing the Sopris program as a power in the Colorado club swim scene. He said he knew pretty quickly after visiting Glenwood and the Barracuda swimmers, who range in age from 6 to 18 years old, that he had found a job he wanted.
“I enjoyed what I saw,” Garrison said. “I enjoyed the people. I enjoy working in a smaller atmosphere. Glenwood’s a family area, a place I could settle into. It’s beautiful. I’ve always loved Colorado. Unfortunately, I’ve had too many times driving through and not enough staying in it.”
That’s good news for the Barracudas, who are in dire need of a long-term fix at its top spot. Garrison is Sopris’ third coach since longtime frontman Howard Jay resigned in 2006.
“Coaching is one of those odyssey businesses,” Garrison said. “I don’t want to odyssey anymore.”
Barracudas Board of Directors chair person Amy Cassidy, for one, hopes to see Garrison stick around.
“We are extremely fortunate to get a coach of this caliber to head up our program and we are all very excited about the potential for growth and success that we anticipate under this new coach,” she said by e-mail. “It is really a coup for our team.”
One thing, in particular, Cassidy and other board members liked about Garrison is his emphasis on academics. That is, in fact, the biggest source of pride for the new Sopris coach.
“I’ve had kids do great things, but one of my biggest, proudest moments of coaching is that I’ve coached 32 valedictorians … ,” he said. “I had a moment where I coached high school back in 2004 and we had an awards night for our athletes. They were doing honor roll students and wrestling had two or three kids, basketball had two or three kids and us swimmers had 47. We only had 53 athletes between boys and girls.”
Barracudas’ new coach
Damon Garrison, new Sopris Barracudas head coach
Coming to Glenwood from: Virginia, where he was the head coach with the Potomac Raiders Swim Club. Education: University of California-Santa Cruz (undergrad), University of California-Irvine (grad). Swimming background: 16 years as a club coach; 12 years as a competitive swimmer. Was a high school All-American at Downey High School (Calif.). Briefly swam collegiate at UC-Santa Cruz. |
A life in the pool
Garrison not only knows how to coach, but he knows what it likes to compete. He was a high school All-American at Downey High School (Calif.), a school with a celebrated swim history.That, after spending his formative years immersed in pool waters, competing for club teams.
“I can’t remember not knowing how to swim,” Garrison said. “I was probably 2 or 3 years old.”
He moved on to a brief collegiate swimming career at the University of California-Santa Cruz before a shoulder injury brought it to a close.
From there, Garrison concentrated on his education, graduating in three and a half years before heading to the University of California-Irvine for his post-undergrad studies — all in pursuit of a career in medicine.
“I never imagined coaching, honestly,” he said. “I imagined being a doctor. When I was a kid, that was my goal in life. It’s funny how swimming took me another direction, swung me the other way.”
So how, exactly, did his career path veer toward coaching?
“I started working in L.A., doing a little bit of therapy and found one day my love was really coaching and not what I was doing for a living,” Garrison, who had coached some while in college, said. “I loved working with swimming, helping mold kids. When I had that choice, I took that choice, and I don’t plan to retire any time soon.”
And it’s safe to say those plans align with the Barracudas’ hopes.
