Dade's Garrett Selected THSCA 2024 ROCK Mentee
Dade Middle School football and track coach Ki-Janaven Garrett has been selected to participate in the Texas High School Coaches Association’s ROCK Coaches Mentoring Program in 2024.
Created to meet the needs of and retain high school coaches and administrators in the state of Texas, the program is a partnership between the Texas High School Coaches Education Foundation and the Texas A&M University Thornton-McFerrin Coaching Academy. ROCK is an acronym for Rare, Outstanding, Compelled, and Knowledgeable.
Garrett teaches eighth grade math at Dade in addition to his coaching responsibilities. His track & field team won the 2022 Dallas ISD City Championship. On the football field, his teams won district championships in 2022 and 2023 and finished as the city runner up in 2023. Garrett is a 2013 graduate of Center (Texas) High School, where he was a member of the football, track & field, and powerlifting teams. As a running back, he was the Built Ford Tough Player of the week in 2012, the same season he was the district’s most valuable player. He was a member of the school’s 4x200-meter relay at the state meet in 2012 and was an all-regional powerlifter in 2012 and 2013.
He studied mathematics at Texas A&M University-Commerce and received a degree in learning and technology in 2018. He earned honorable mention honors by the Lone Star Conference his freshman football season.
This year’s 74 mentees will join mentors in March at the 2024 ROCK Coaches Mentoring Program Symposium at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas for a two-day workshop with speakers, discussions, and networking opportunities. Mentees also will attend THSCA Coaching School July 21-23 in San Antonio.
After the Symposium, ROCK mentees and mentors will work through a year-long curriculum developed by the TMCA Coaching Academy. This curriculum provides bi-monthly access to virtual learning modules with discussion prompts, activities, situational challenges, and more for each pair to discuss. The ROCK mentees will also volunteer as convention staff for the annual THSCA Coaching School in July.
Data shows many first through fifth year coaches and teachers are leaving the profession. There is a critical need to cultivate and assist these professionals to find their passion and be prepared as coaches, teachers, and leaders in an ever-evolving environment.
THSCA coaches and athletic directors can nominate a coach that meets the following requirements: first- through fifth-year coach, active coach employed by a UIL sanctioned school, willing to commit to the two-year program.
The ROCK mentees are chosen by a committee made up of athletic directors around the state. The ROCK Coaches Mentoring Program will match a new coach with a veteran coach (the ROCK mentor) to gain advice, encouragement, and insights into the profession to help them grow in the mentee’s desired coaching fields.
Previous ROCK mentees from Dallas ISD include Stacey Spencer (Samuell High School), Devin Powell (South Oak Cliff High School), Courtney Macon (Spruce High School) and Jose “Rocky” Reyes (Hillcrest High School).
