April 10, 2009

When it’s said that someone has the “Midas touch” you immediately think of a person who is successful in whatever they do. If that’s the case, then Garrett Biel has the “Midas touch” in all 10 fingers and, perhaps more importantly, all 10 toes!

The 17-year-old from Clayton has collected plenty of gold (medals) and silver (ware) as a member of local soccer, football and swim teams. But despite his collection of precious metals Garrett is not often in the spotlight, but rather a key member of a team that achieves its highest goals.

Playing for De La Salle High School’s soccer and football teams Garrett has three North Coast Section titles and one State championship. As a member of the Diablo FC and DVSC Black Pearl 90 soccer team he’s been a part of three State Cup, US Club Soccer Regional and USYSA Far West Regional champions.

About the only time Garrett really stood out as an individual was when he starred in the pool for the Dana Hills Otters, the powerful Clayton recreation swim team, where he still owns four club records. But even there his exploits were muted compared to his older brother Matt who swam for Dana Hills, De La Salle, Concord Terrapins and University of Arizona. Matt Biel was such an outstanding, record-breaking swimmer that he competed in the 2004 and 2008 United States Olympic Trials!

Most of the time, Garrett has played an integral, if largely unsung, role helping his squads accumulate the honors that matter most---team championships.

His Diablo FC club soccer coach of five years, John Badger, perhaps sums it up best: “Simply stated, Garrett has more character than any young man I have had the privilege to spend time with. He will have success in whatever he decides to do, and he will be a very positive influence for others.”

Over the years, Garrett has tried numerous sports, including basketball, track, golf (“I was trying to become the next Tiger Woods”), soccer, swimming and finally football. Ironically, the last sport he took up, football, is the one he’ll be playing in college. Just recently Garrett committed to become a placekicker for Division 3 powerhouse Trinity University of San Antonio, Texas. Trinity sounds like the De La Salle of college football with seven undefeated seasons in the last nine years.

The fact that football is even on his list of sports endeavors is a story in itself. One of his club soccer teammates, Andrew Shapiro, was placekicker at Las Lomas High in Walnut Creek. He talked to Garrett about kicking so the Clayton youngster went to De La Salle assistant football coach Terry Edison during the spring of his sophomore year and inquired about coming out for the Spartans, long regarded as the #1 high school football program in the country.

Edison sent him to DLS kicking coach Don Boyce for an evaluation. Garrett had to fit the audition in around his school and club soccer responsibilities. Boyce was impressed with his accuracy and encouraged him to take part in the Spartans legendary summer workout program that includes work in the weight room as well as running. He also worked out with his fellow club soccer mates Shapiro, now kicking for Fresno State, and Georgio Tevecchio, who is the Cal kicker.

Garrett took up the challenge and when the 2007 high school football season began he had earned the starting role as De La Salle’s placekicker. In the first football game he ever played in, Garrett came on to kick the extra point after a De La Salle touchdown. An onrushing player from Serra High tried to block the kick and landed on Garrett. When he was taken to the sideline it was very apparent he had a broken ankle. As coach Boyce came up to check on his young charge and ask how he was doing, in typical team fashion, Garrett looked up to his coach and asked, “Was the kick good?”

Garrett had to sit out eight weeks for his ankle to mend but got back in the squad in time to help the Spartans win the North Coast Section title and then at the Home Depot Center in Carson they won their first official State CIF championship and Garrett set several State championship game placekicking records.

Back in the workout room between his junior and senior years, Garrett added weight and strength to the extent that as a senior he handled field goals, PATs and kickoffs for the Spartans, who once again won NCS before losing a tight State championship final. “We place a high premium on having our kickoffs reach the end zone so they can’t be returned. Garrett was dedicated to increase his leg strength [between his junior and senior years] and earned the position of handling all our placekicking and kickoff duties,” Boyce added about Biel.

One of Garrett’s athletic highlights was “running on the field every Friday night during football season with a huge crowd”. He also lauded all three of his football coaches: Boyce (“he spent time after practice working with me”), Eidson (“getting yelled at by coach Eidon just about every day is a good memory to laugh at but it really helped me in the long run. He put us in game-like pressure yet always joked around with me”) and head coach Bob Ladouceur (“very inspirational and very wise”).

It was as a soccer player that Biel enjoyed so much team success. He played local recreation soccer for a number of years in Mt. Diablo Soccer Association before joining Diablo Valley Soccer Club Atlas at the under 11 age group. That first year his team reached the State Cup semi-finals in 2002.

During his second year of club soccer John Badger took over the coaching reins. The team earned a berth in the 2005 US Club Soccer National Cup IV at Jacksonville by winning the Regionals in Boise, Idaho. The team made it to the championship game in Florida before losing to a South Carolina team. They were the first team from the local competitive club to ever reach a National Championship game.

That was just the beginning as the Black Pearl 90 team coached by Badger went on to win three consecutive State Cup championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Those titles earned them a berth in the Far West Regionals. The first two times they went to Regionals the team lost at the quarterfinal stage, placing them among the top eight teams in the 14 Western States.

“John Badger is the best soccer coach in California. His techniques are special and his personality is unique. He taught me how to play the game the right way and is a soccer role model,” Biel says about his club coach.

It was the summer of 2008 that the Diablo FC 90 boys finally broke through. The Far West Regionals were in Hawaii and the team went there determined to advance farther than they had in the past. They faced the team which eliminated them the year before in their opening game and came out with a draw versus the Oregon champs. They began winning and reached the semi-finals against the hometown Honolulu team. The game went to overtime and still the tie couldn’t be broken so a place in the finals was determined in a penalty kick shootout. Biel was given the heavy responsibility of taking a pressure-packed kick and, like he so often did, he came through for the team and they made the finals.

Diablo FC 90 won the Far West championship and got to go the USYSA National Final Four in Arkansas last July. Briefly they were rated #1 in the USA prior to the Nationals. The team didn’t perform up to expectations in Arkansas but still had the satisfaction of making club history and being recognized as one of the four best under 17 boys soccer teams in America.

As a high school freshman soccer player, Biel was team caption at De La Salle and then began three years as a varsity starter in his sophomore year. The Spartans advanced to the North Coast Section playoffs all three years and won league championships in Biel’s sophomore and senior seasons.

“Garrett has been instrumental in leading our midfield and offense all season. He has an ability to connect passes and setup sequences to goal. Garrett may not always get the goal or assist, but he is always the one setting up the assist or cross into the box for a goal. Garrett provided composure and a wealth of playing experience for us this year,” his De La Salle coach Brian Voltattorni said.

Such is his nature that each of his coaches talks about Garrett’s character, the intangibles he brings to his teams.

Well for one moment in time, Garrett did step into the glare of the spotlight. In his final high school soccer game, Garrett and his De La Salle team faced San Ramon Valley High for the North Coast Section Championship. The teams battled scoreless through regulation play and into a second overtime, with penalty kicks looming to decide the title. In one stunning move Garrett met a teammate’s flicked-on pass and blasted the ball into the net and scored the winning goal for his team and school. This magic moment is now on YouTube!

And that “Midas touch”? Well you can’t use your hands in soccer and his feet were moving as he ran to meet his teammate’s pass, so Biel used his head to score the winning goal and turn his actions into more gold for his team.

By Jay Bedecarre
Reprinted in part from Clayton Pioneer