This week, CAA is extremely pleased to highlight Justin Walters from Desert Garden Montessori. This is the school’s first season participating in organized sports now that they have joined our CAA family. For those of you who aren’t familiar with DGM, take a minute to learn more about their school and get to know Coach Walters.
Desert Garden Montessori’s mission is to create an environment for children in which they are encouraged to explore, create, learn, socialize, and celebrate their unique talents. Their expanded campus serves children, from ages 6 weeks to 18 years. They also offer programs including art, music, theater, Spanish, organic gardening and an organic kitchen, all of which are extremely important areas in offering a child a well-rounded education.”
Coach Walters
Which sports do you coach and how long have you been coaching?
Over the years I’ve been involved with different sports programs but this will be my first official year coaching. As of now, I coach flag football, Spartan, and I assist with soccer.
Which athlete inspired you growing up?
The inspirational athletes in my life were always close to home. My father and his brothers were very active when they were younger. I loved listening to their sports stories growing up, they always motivated me to try my best and never quit.
Tell us about your first ever DGM flag football season?
It was exciting to see the students experience the thrill of playing a competitive team sport. While both programs didn’t make it into the playoffs, the real win for our program was learning to play as a team, win as a team, and most importantly, lose as a team. I coach an amazing bunch of kids, most of whom have never played football in their life, and each one of them stuck it out the whole season, pushing themselves to new heights and doing it while having fun.
What are your goals for next season?
Next season, I would like to build the junior high program up so we have talent coming into our high school program who are seasoned and have the fundamental skills necessary to compete at the high school level.
For high school, I’d love for us to make playoffs. We were one game outside the bracket and I feel like with an adjusted practice schedule, some summer ball, and a bit of weights, we will be a serious contender.
What’s the best piece of advice you can give your athletes?
Poise. Never give up. Even when you try your best and things don’t work out, never give up on yourself or your team. You never know when things might turn around.