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Jimbo JarvisColquitt County High SchoolMoultrie, Georgia by Robert Preston Jr. photography by Miki K Photography |
Packer Alum Came Home Looking for Baseball Job, Found Soccer Instead | |
| When Jimbo Jarvis returned home to Moultrie after graduating from Valdosta State University’s music program, he wanted to teach music and coach baseball. Jarvis had played second base for the Packers and wanted to get his foot in the door as a baseball coach. He found a coaching opportunity, but it had nothing to do with baseball. Jeff Morris, the men’s head soccer coach at the time, needed an assistant. He asked Jarvis to help with the men’s varsity team and serve as head coach for the junior varsity soccer team. He agreed – and quickly discovered just how in over his head he was. When Jarvis was a student at Colquitt County High, there was no soccer program. He had never played the game and didn’t know the terminology or positions. He says he didn’t know the difference between a soccer ball and a volleyball. It was a rather inauspicious beginning to what he hoped would be long career at his alma mater. Jarvis left Moultrie with two passions: baseball and music. He didn’t have the opportunity to play baseball in college but his love for the sport never left him. At VSU, Jarvis studied music under Dr. David Lee Johnson, a well-known teacher and performer. Jarvis became interested in music in elementary school and joined the school choir as a sixth-grader. Before long, he knew exactly what he wanted to do in high school – play baseball and sing. He remained active in the choir through his years at Colquitt and added the piano to his repertoire. He managed to turn one of his vocations into an occupation. He now teaches choir at the middle school level. While he was studying music, coaching was always in the back of his mind. “I thought it might be fun. I really loved baseball,” he says. Soccer wasn’t a consideration, until Morris made his offer 15 years ago. Jarvis had been teaching in Moultrie for one year when the soccer offer came up. When he decided to take the position, he knew he had a lot of work to do. “I knew I was going to have to study like crazy. I bought books and videos. I listened to tapes and watched DVDs. I went to coaching clinics. I also learned a lot from Jeff,” Jarvis says. He picked up the game quickly but that first season was still a challenge. “The first year, I had a card in my hand with the players’ names and positions on them. I had no idea where those positions were. A parent came over to me during the first game and asked me if I needed some help. It was a nice gesture but I needed to learn everything on my own,” he laughs. Whatever he did worked, and the junior varsity Packers rolled through the season undefeated. They went unbeaten the next year as well. “I learned a lot those first two years,” chuckles Jarvis. |
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After two years with the JV and working with Morris as men’s varsity assistant, Jarvis was called to the office of then-athletic director Jim Hughes, who told Jarvis that Colquitt was about to begin a women’s soccer team. Hughes knew of Jarvis’s success with the JV and he wanted to know if Jarvis was interested in serving as head women’s soccer coach. “I told him I wanted the job and he gave it to me right there in his office,” says Jarvis.
Hughes and the rest of the Colquitt faithful may not have been expecting immediate success with the new program, but they got it anyway. That first year, 1999, the Lady Packers finished third in the region (then 1-AAAA) with a 10-6 record. They were actually tied for second but lost the tiebreaker to Ware County. Back then, only the top two teams went to the playoffs. Jarvis and his girls had come close to making the playoffs in the first year of the program. In the 2000 season, the Lady Packers went undefeated, won the region and made the state playoffs. They lost in the first round and finished with a 15-1 mark. In 2001, Colquitt went 16-2 and advanced to the second round. Since 1999, the Lady Packers have won 134 games, lost 80 and tied five times. Colquitt went 9-9, finished fourth in the region and made the state playoffs in 2010. Since 2000, the Lady Packers have made the playoffs every year except 2007. Jarvis believes the key to his success lies in administrative and community support. Colquitt also plays in one of the nicest facilities in the region. Packer Park, in which they played for the first time last year, has been a tremendous asset to the program. The team feels appreciated and wants to show it by playing well in its home park. As good as the last few years have been, it’s getting harder and harder to maintain that level of success. Women’s soccer has been around the region for a while now, and the rest of the teams are improving each year. “They’re all getting better. We have to keep up with everyone else in the region. But our girls are very coachable and they will do whatever we ask of them,” Jarvis says. For 2011, Jarvis feels conditioning will put his team over the top. This year’s Lady Packers squad has the talent and the depth to do very well. “I feel like if we can outlast our opponents, we can win,” says Jarvis. The team needs a stronger defense, and to help cut down the number of goals allowed, Jarvis has taken one of his best midfielders and moved her to defender. “She’s played defender on her club team and done very well. I hope she can do the same thing with us,” he says. The Lady Packers have a good goalie. Unfortunately for the soccer program, that goalie is also a good basketball player. “I wish the basketball team all the best but I want my goalie back!” laughs Coach Jarvis. As he looks back over his 12 years coaching women’s soccer, Jarvis concludes that he has the best job in the world. He spends the school day playing music with his middle school students, then he spends the afternoon on the soccer field. “When I started coaching soccer, I thought I would do it for a year or two and that would be it. But I developed a genuine love for the game. I enjoy watching the girls grow from shy, timid underclassmen to leaders by the time they are seniors. I love what I do and I’ll do it as long as they’ll let me,” Jarvis says. Jarvis and his wife, Hayley, have been married for 16 years. They have a daughter, six-year-old Holland, and a son, nine-year-old John Reid. • Worth NotingWhen Jimbo Jarvis isn’t coaching soccer, one can usually find him waterskiing. “I love it. Both my wife and my son can ski, and my daughter will be learning soon,” he says. Jarvis still does a little singing, mainly at weddings. He says he’d rather focus on his students and their performances instead of trying to perform much on his own. “But I still love to sing,” he says. | |
January 2012
Robert Preston Jr. 
Micki K Photography 
