Garifalon, balances coaching, teaching and being a father and husband
BY JAYLON BOYD, Sophomore
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| COACH G VIDEO FEATURE |
BLYTHEWOOD--Tim Garifalon stands on the sideline telling the coaches about the next play and what he wants them to do with his players by his side waiting to go in.
Coach G is the Head Football Coach of Blythewood 9th grade B-Team.
Other coaches and student athletes say Coach G is as outstanding coach and person. He has been coaching for over 27 years. Coach G has been a head football coach, assistant head coach, defensive and offensive coach for many teams. He has had the opportunity to be apart of many championship teams.
“Coach G was a great football coach to me. He demanded excellence, he wanted us not only to be good football players but he wanted us to focus on school work and classwork before football,” Kamani Springs said.
“When I was in college I was taking a coaching theory class with head baseball coach at East Carolina. Some of the things he you use to talk to me about and that something I decided to go into. This is my 27th year coaching. I've coached various sports. Believe or not i’ve coached soccer before didn’t know a whole lot about it but I was kinda given that responsibility. Head AD and Head football coach said if I wanted to coach football I had to coach soccer. I’ve coach football, baseball, basketball, I’ve coached soccer and that I’ve been doing this for 27 years,” Coach G said.
Coach Donald Robinson has known Coach G for 10 years. He explains what type of man he is.
“He’s an excellent dad you know. You look at his sons you can tell he’s an great parent. He’s a awesome husband. He’s very loving towards his wife he’s a family man. You know he’s a great family man,” Coach Rob said.
Coach Rob really admires Coach G’s passion
“I think in the office area or somewhere coach g came up to me and introduce himself to me. Immediately I liked him and he liked me. Coach G has big passion. He’s a passionate guy. “He wears his heart on his sleeve” so him and I hit it off real good being social studies teachers and coaches,” Coach Rob said.
Coach G deals with many aspects of life not only as a coach but as a father and a husband.
“You deal with a lot. Not only are you dealing with your players; your dealing with parents, you’re dealing with faculty members, you're dealing with administration. You’re dealing with a whole lot of people in the realm of coaching. You’re dealing with staying away from your family long hours a lot of times. I get or it can be tiresome after a while but you miss your family. I love my family you know. I hate to say it like this but sometimes I rather be with them my family. You know it’s what I do they know I love doing it and how I want to make a difference and try to make a difference in people's lives. It that and you’re kinda a father figure sometimes. You’re a role model for some who might not have a strong home. They look at you and we’re under a microscope a lot of times and a lot of times we don’t realize that. I try to be a role model for each student-athletes not even just athletes but in my classroom and so forth. Thats some of the things those roles entail,” Coach G said.
Coach G has been coaching for 27 years and has learned a lot over that time.
“The approach I take is to just try to be myself. You can’t fake it. Teenagers know when you’re faking it and when you’re full of it and I’m just myself. The biggest thing is I don’t necessarily have like a coaching style I’m just myself. I think the players know I’m sincere. I might not be right all the time but I think they understand that I’m as fair as I can be. I think that goes a long way. I think as a coach you learn from year to year. When I first started coaching until now there has been a progression one in knowledge honestly one in experience on how to handle athletes, even how to handle your classroom. I really believe what goes on on the field is what you do in the classroom. If you’re a good classroom teacher you can teach on the field. You’re always learning as a coach. You learn new techniques new types of things that are being implemented in whether it be professional college ranks a lot of that filters on down into the high schools. If you want to stay on your craft or stay good with your craft you gotta learn,” Coach G said.
Coach G has experienced many memorable moments throughout his journey as a coach.
“Of course in 2006 when we were fortunate enough to win the state championship here at blythewood that’s a special moment. Every year is special is a special moment whether it be on the 9th grade level JV level whatever level you coach at each year is special because there’s always something that you’ll always remember whether it be good or bad because you can always learn from it. Those were some of the special moments but one of the things about all of those is I pretty much stayed in contact with most of the coaches I’ve worked with over the years which makes even more special,” Coach G said.
Coach G is a really great coach and when you think of how a coach should be or act or conduct himself on the field and off Coach G is a great example. “Reporting for BHS Roar Nation, I’m Jaylon Boyd.”
