Matt Garrow is vice president of operations for the National Center of Housing Management and serves in a number of roles with the Ponte Vedra Riptide youth lacrosse program.
Tell us about your business or your organization. What is your position and what are your responsibilities?
While my professional career is with the National Center for Housing Management, where I serve as vice president of operations, the organization that truly defines my involvement in this community is Ponte Vedra Riptide.
Riptide is a nonprofit, community-based youth lacrosse program run almost entirely by volunteer parents. I’ve been involved since my son started playing in 2018 and currently serve as a board member, boys commissioner and director of the 12U girls division. On the boys’ side, I oversee day-to-day operations for approximately 250 players and families. On the girls’ side, our 12U division includes more than 50 players this season. Along with several other volunteer parents who have both boys and girls in the program, we are coaching and supporting teams up to six days a week.
What do you like best about what you do?
What I love most is watching the light go on for these kids. For some, it happens immediately — the moment a stick hits their hands, they’re hooked. For others, it comes more gradually over the course of years. Having been with Riptide long enough to watch many of these players grow from 6-year-old beginners into legitimately some of the best players in the country has been incredibly special.
What makes it even more meaningful is that it happens within a true community program. Riptide exists because parents, coaches and volunteers choose to show up. Our board members, head coaches and assistant coaches give their time simply because they believe in the sport and in the kids. That environment allows players to feel supported, challenged and encouraged — not just as athletes, but as people.
Seeing a player gain confidence not only in their lacrosse skills, but in themselves, is what makes all the hours worth it. When you watch a kid stand a little taller, speak a little louder, or believe a little more in who they are because of something they accomplished on the field, that’s everything. Being a small part of that journey, alongside so many dedicated families, is all the reward I need.
What is a typical day like for you?
There really isn’t a typical day, especially during lacrosse season. My workdays are spent managing operations professionally, but afternoons and evenings quickly turn into lacrosse mode. Practices, games, scheduling, parent communication and problem-solving fill most nights and weekends. Along with my other dedicated volunteer parents, we’re often at the fields six days a week. It’s busy, but it’s the kind of busy that feels meaningful.
Tell us about your background.
I’m a Navy brat and was born in Rota, Spain. We moved around quite a bit when I was young, and this is actually my second stint in the Jacksonville area — my father was stationed at NAS Jacksonville when I was in kindergarten and first grade. By third grade, we settled in Northern Virginia when my father was assigned to the Pentagon.
It was there that I was given my first lacrosse stick and instantly fell in love with the game. I played several sports growing up, but there was something different about lacrosse — the camaraderie, the connection, the sense of belonging. I was hooked. I played through college and, after graduating, returned to the D.C. area and immediately jumped into coaching. I still remember my first team like it was yesterday — the U15A Vienna Vandals. We lost in the semifinals that year, but I knew then that coaching would always be part of my life.
Fast forward to today, I’ve been coaching continuously for nearly 20 years, from recreational to select programs, youth teams to the college level. I’ve traveled the country coaching, and I can say without hesitation that Ponte Vedra Riptide is one of the best-run recreational youth lacrosse programs anywhere, and I am honored to be a part of it.
Are you from this area originally, or did you settle here from somewhere else?
My wife and I are not originally from this area. I consider my hometown to be Vienna, Virginia, and my wife is from Lake Placid, New York. We met in Washington, D.C., more specifically, at the Clarendon Ballroom in Arlington — on a December night in the mid-2000s. After dating for a few years, we decided we had had enough of the D.C. area, sold most of our possessions, loaded what remained into her two-door Honda Civic, and drove to Southwest Florida to start our life together.
We loved Southwest Florida, but in 2013 my company asked me to take over our office in Jacksonville Beach. At first, we weren’t thrilled. But while house hunting, we found Ponte Vedra Beach and we absolutely fell in love. I can’t imagine a better place to raise our children. This community has truly become a part of us, and we’ve become a part of it.
What do you like best about living here?
The people. Sure — the sun, the sand, the schools, the sports, the beaches — all of that helps make Ponte Vedra Beach special. But what really sets this place apart is the people. We’re an incredibly involved group of parents living in what is essentially a small town tucked inside a much larger metro area.
We have everything we could ever want just a few miles away, yet it still feels personal. Everywhere I go, I run into someone I know — at the fields, the grocery store, or the school pickup line. It honestly feels like a throwback to a different era, where community still means something and people genuinely look out for one another.
How do you like to spend your free time?
“Free time” isn’t as common these days as it once was with two kids who seem to be involved in just about everything — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Most of my time is spent supporting them, whether that’s at practices, games or simply being present wherever they need me.
I know there will come a day when I suddenly have more free time than I know what to do with. When that time comes, I imagine I’ll still choose to spend plenty of it around the game of lacrosse, but I’ll probably add a healthy dose of fishing into the mix. If that’s how it plays out, I’ll be as content as can be.
