Chad Garvis takes coaching reins of Cardinal boys’ track program

Being able to present positive opportunities for youth to grow as people in many ways was a strong pull toward coaching for Chad Garvis. Garvis seized an opportunity earlier this school year to accept the head coaching position for the Newton High boys’ track program.

“My starting goal is to get more kids involved in track and with the more kids we have involved, the more success we will have,” Garvis said. “I believe there are opportunities for Newton to do well in track and I want to have kids come out, enjoy the sport and have success.”

He said he has been reaching out to kids to encourage them to come out for the sport. Track practices began on Feb. 11 and Garvis said he has had 30 showing up for practices.

“It’s been tough with the weather we’ve had since we started practicing. We haven’t had a lot of opportunities to be outside yet,” Garvis said.

Garvis will coach his first meet on Tuesday as the Cardinal boys — about 20 athletes — will compete in the annual University of Northern Iowa’s A.D. Dickinson Relays in Cedar Falls. The UNI indoor meet starts Newton’s short indoor track season. The first outdoor track meet is March 30 at Knoxville.

“Track is the best sport in high school because it makes you better in everything. With that said, I want to work with our coaches of other sports to encourage kids to come out for track to help prepare those athletes for sports like football, wrestling, basketball or whatever,” Garvis said.

Garvis said he tells kids the benefits of track, which is a builder sport for other sports. He said any sport they participate in deals with speed, agility and jumping ability.

College coaches are always looking for multi-sport athletes to sign to come into their programs, Garvis said speed is a component to all sports and track is a good way to help develop skills which will help kids become better athletes no matter which sport they participate in.

“I start each practice with a fun activity for the guys as a warmup. Track practices are about running so I come up with something fun to open practice and then we get to work,” Garvis said. “Right now, I have optional early morning and Saturday practices for the kids to participate in.”

Garvis was born in Iowa but grew up in southwest Minnesota. He competed in high school track and wrestling. He was a runner for his high school track team.

“I have a firm grasp of all the track and field events but I gravitate to the running events more. We have a strong throwing coach here at Newton,” he said. “As a track coach, you shift from year to year what events to coach determined by the talent we have.”

Garvis is looking to contact any area Newton High alumnus who participated in track to contact him and come talk to his athletes. He said it’s always good to have alumni sharing their experiences with current students.

Garvis is his fourth year in the Newton school district. He said he worked with the students who are this year’s juniors, sophomores and freshmen at the middle school the past three years.

“I want to change the thinking about track. In every other sport, running is a punishment. Running and jumping are what make you the athlete you are. I want kids to refocus on the benefits of the sport,”

Garvis attended college at Minnesota West and William Penn University in Oskaloosa, where he earned his degree in psychology and criminology. He is the behavior interventionist at Newton High School.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com