Our next podcast interview is now live! Garrett Scantling was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. After starting track and field in middle school, Garrett pursued a collegiate career at the University of Georgia. From there he placed 4th in the decathlon in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, tried out for the Atlanta Falcons, and even became a financial planner. That was until he realized what he left out on the track and his burning desire brought him back. Hear Garretts story of growth, grit, and a 2021 4th place Olympic finish here on the Grit.org Podcast!
Link to the interview is below so be sure to check it out and let us know your favorite part of the interview.
Garrett Scantling: I was listening to coach and he said, look, I'm sorry but we found someone who has more athletic intangibles than you. I remember sitting there and just being like, what the heck do I do now? That was the toughest thing for me. It was like, “Garrett, why are you doing this? And I'm getting these nerves, anxiety, like I don't want to, almost to the point where it's like, I want to go home like I can't wait till this is over. Having that and knowing if you don't put in the work, you're not going to get the result that you want.
Intro: Welcome to the “Grit.org” Podcast with Colby Harris and Brian Harbin. In these episodes, they speak to top achievers in athletics and business to understand the habits and mindset they apply in order to build more grit.
“I go. I will. I'm going to”.
Colby Harris: Welcome back to The “Grit.org” Podcast. My name is Colby Harris. Alongside me is Brian Harbin and we're here with today's guest Garrett Scantling. Garrett, thank you so much for joining us.
Garrett Scantling: Thank you, guys, for having me. I'm honored to be here, man.
Colby Harris: Absolutely. True star of Jacksonville. Garrett grew up here in Jacksonville attending Episcopal. He's now an Olympic athlete representing the USA. Garrett competes in Decathlon. He finished fourth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and has won multiple national championships. He's won the best in the world of what he does and we have him here today to his story of athletics, growth, and grit. So, you see him here in the Jags sweatshirt. We're really excited to discuss that. Tell us just a little bit about growing up here and what you love about your hometown.
Garrett Scantling: Honestly, I'm born and raised here in Jacksonville, man. I went to, let's see. I went to Episcopal High School. Hendricks Avenue Elementary School. So, I'm a San Marco area guy. Just always love the Jags. Always love sports. Think from a young age. My dad was the one that kind of instilled and to me and my brother. I have a brother who's three years older than me who actually was a baseball player. He played at Florida State and then went on to play in the minor leagues. But sports has been huge for my life and Jacksonville is a very diverse area for sports. I mean you can do whatever you want here, and so it's been a blessing to grow up here and a blessing to be back here too at the same time.
Brian Harbin: Yes, so tell us about some of those early sports you got into what sparked the passion for sports for you.
Garrett Scantling: I think it was so my first love I think as any American quote unquote athlete is football. I think my dad instilled that into me from a very young age. I did pop Warner from 5 years old on. That was always my main sport and I grew up playing baseball. So, baseball was supposed to be my second sport, everything, but they would always throw me in center field and I don't have the attention span for that. So, I'd start doing cartwheels, spinning around, doing whatever I wanted and so 6th grade, my English teacher at Episcopal said, “Hey, I want you to come out here and try pole vaulting.” They put a pole in my hand and it was just something that was different that I think that's where it kind of started that I wanted to do something that wasn't ordinary. I want to do something that was a different path and I knew my brother had baseball. I knew my dad was always a football guy but if I made my own story and track, I think that would make me feel more fulfilled. So, that's exactly what I did.
Colby Harris: Yeah, it's super cool and you said you have a 6, 8 brother who played college baseball. I have two older brothers. So, I know what that whole situation is like what role did that play growing up in your sports and kind of that that rivalry so to say.
Garrett Scantling: Yeah, so that's I mean you understand it. It's a friendly rivalry, but at the same time it was always that way until I got to track. I mean Hunter, Hunter's my brother. He you put him on a track. He wouldn't know what the heck to do. And so that's why he was always my biggest supporter. I say it to this day my brother's my favorite person in the world. Just because of how kind how much of a leader he is and he sets by its example. I mean he actually married a couple weeks ago and I had my best man speech and it was all about that and how he just sets by example without forcing it. So, having that older brother and just being able to see him go through the recruiting process, see how hard it was, going this official visits. It made my process that much easier. Now that's not to say that it wasn't hard, because I signed to go to Georgia May 2nd of my senior year so it was all late and everything was wild. Maybe we could talk about that later, but having a brother to kind of pave the way for you is I mean it's super important.
Colby Harris: I totally agree. Being the youngest too, you're able to pick up a lot of the nuances which I think is huge. Kind of like things that they probably wish they knew when they were your age but like you said, taking a quick backpedal. Talk a little bit more about coming to high school. So, you picked up your first pole vault in sixth grade, I think you said. So, tell us a little bit more about moving into high school and how you kind of shifted your focus and eventually start to get recruited.
Garrett Scantling: So, I'll be honest, I'm going to be completely honest with you here. 9th, 10th grade, I was not serious about athletics. I was always athletic. Don't get me wrong. That was I was very coordinated. I had the background of the pop warner and all the developmental sports but I never really took it seriously. There was always something else that was in the way something that was distracting me and it wasn't until I actually sat down with my brother and he was still at a four state. He was like, ‘Look, we have talent and talent is enough to get you to where you want to go. You have to actually apply yourself and put in the work to get out what you want.’ And from that moment on and that's why I say he's one of the biggest inspirations for me in my sports career. Because it was almost like it flipped the switch, and it was like there are so many people especially nowadays in high school athletics with social media with the access that the coaches have to. It's so hard to get recognized and I was kind of right on that cusp where it wasn't quite so much social media.
So, as long as I put in the work, I actually emailed a bunch of coaches. I actually like just kind of got my name out there and it all worked out just because I kind of took it seriously. And from junior to senior year, it was I'm in the weight room all the time. I'm doing this extra work. I'm seeing trainers and I have a bunch of trainers who are athletes and friends. So, it kind of worked out that way, but it was definitely a process man and always it also took me growing. Like I told you I was 5, 6, and 10th grade and so once you once you start getting the physical attributes behind you, it makes it a lot easier.
Colby Harris: A little luck in your favor right now.
Garrett Scantling: Exactly.
Colby Harris: Thanks Pop. Throw me a little bit.
Garrett Scantling: Exactly.
Brian Harbin: Well, and I love hearing that about your brother and the inspiration he was and it's neat too that you were able to kind of carve your own path through a different sport.
Garrett Scantling: Right.
Brian Harbin: And I know and I want to ask you here in a second about your commitment to Georgia but so you said in high school making that commitment 9th, 10th grade. So, I knew you mentioned pole vaulting in 6th grade, but what were some of the other events you did or what were any highlights of your athletic track career at Episcopal?
Garrett Scantling: So, it was always pole vault. Pole vault was from 6th to 12th grade that was the main event and then junior year when I hit my growth spurt high jump came into play. I actually high jump 6.9 and that was the event that got colleges to really take a look at what I was doing. Because you could be a pole vaulter that jump 16 feet, but if you don't have another intangible that whether you could throw something jump, sprint, then what I wanted to be was at decathlete. I mean you have to have multiple events to showcase to do that. So, I think once I kind of broke into the high jump, then my coach wanted me to do the long jump and he wanted me to do triple jump. At just districts my senior year, I did pole vault high jump, triple jump and long jump and won all four. And that was when I realized that this was something that like I really need to pursue.
Like you said the recruitment process was tough because in track it always is. I mean you don't have, like they get on the inside you get 6 scholarships and you have 50, 60 people to dish it around to and so it's all about performance based. So, percentages and it's kind of like baseball in that sense, but it's really tough. And so, it was all about like even when I got to college I wasn't on a full scholarship. It was 50%, but then once you keep competing and working at it, it got all the way up there. So, that's kind of the way I live my life. It seems is that I don't always get what I want it first but it's always about pushing to get there and I think that's the motto that I take always take with me.
Brian Harbin: Well and it gave you an opportunity to get your foot in the door.
Garrett Scantling: Right.
Brian Harbin: And so, tell us I mean was it you committed relatively early in the beginning of your senior year? Were there other colleges you were looking at or had offers from or how did you make that decision to pull the truth.
Garrett Scantling: This is funny. This is tricky. So, as I told you football was always my sport. So, I was committed to play football at FAU up until three weeks before signing day. I got a call from the coach. I remember I was going over to one of my friend's house to hang out and I sat in the car and I was listening to coach and he said, ‘Look, I'm sorry but we found someone who has more athletic intangibles than you, who has better tape all this stuff and we have to go his way.’ I remember sitting there and just being like what the heck do I do now. So, that was like mid-January of my senior year and I didn't talk to any other colleges because I was so set on where I was going. And so, that's when the teacher who got me into track was like, Garrett, you have a chance with track you have to make this this year count. The next three months I was going, I was trying to get these marks I was sending emails out to all these coaches. And low and behold Georgia Petros Cipriano reached out and said, “Hey, I love these marks. Send me your football tape.” So, I sent him my football tape and he saw how I was athletic, I was big and he said, I think I can do something with this.
Then actually my official visit was I visited Florida, Florida State, and Georgia. Those are my three top schools. Florida, I grew up Florida State fan and I still gave him a chance and it just didn't feel like the right fit for me. Florida State, they offered me books for a semester. That was so I went there and the coach looked me in the eye and I said, “Mom, can we go home?” That's kind of how I felt and then Georgia, they offered me 50, 60% out of State and so, it was on a limb. I knew he had faith in me and it was last minute I like I said I took my official visit it was the day after prom my senior year. I remember falling asleep in the car and he was like, are you not interested in coming here? I was like, no, I promise I'm just exhausted. Like so, the whole process I'll never forget it because I remember how stressed I was during it. But it's all about getting your name out there and just believing in yourself that you know that you can put up the marks that you believe in. So yeah.
Colby Harris: And so, moving on to more about the Decathlon and being a Decathlete. Making that transition from football into that sector, what would you say was your biggest challenge or your hardest event that you had to get used to doing on a regular occasion?
Garrett Scantling: Well, I only knew pole vault high jump and long jump. Well, I wouldn't even say I knew long jumps. I did it once in high school. So, I had to learn eight events from scratch and I think that my college coach always tells me that's the way he likes it. Because it's really easy to teach the habits that he wants you to have. It's really hard to undo the bad habits that someone else did before and so a bit being able to just mold me the way that he wanted me to, it was incredible. I would say that honestly, it wasn't like a single event that was hard. I would say the mental aspect of it was. I think that was something that I never had any experience with in high school was the anxiety of competition, the preparation of it. Just like making a routine for yourself just to calm yourself down kind of thing and in college, I think that was the toughest thing for me.
It was like, “Garrett, why are you doing this?” Because before every competition, I'm getting these nerves, anxiety. Like I don't want to almost. to the point it's like I want to go home like I can't wait till this is over and then after like year, two year three once you get used to your own routine and you understand how to control your nerves and what works for you. That's when you can kind of appreciate it more and it's more fun. So, I would say there wasn't one singular event that was hard other than the mile. I'll give you the mile just because no one likes running the mile.
Colby Harris: Yeah, I was going to say you got 9 other events. I won't even run a mile tomorrow no events.
Garrett Scantling: Exactly. So, but I mean, that's obviously everyone hates that event but I would say the mental part of it was the hardest growth for me.
Brian Harbin: Yeah, and I want to ask about it. It's funny too. I've actually met Petros when I was coaching tennis at Episcopal.
Garrett Scantling: Yeah.
Brian Harbin: I know he actually works there now too. I know he's big on drinking a big glass of water as soon as you wake up. Get those get those muscles loosened up. But so, for those that don't know about the Decathlete, obviously, 10 events give us kind of the bird's eye view because it seems like just logistically it's a challenge trying to manage training for each of those and then making that shift especially in the middle of a competition and forgetting the pass. I know you mentioned the middle part. So, give us kind of the bird's eye view of some of the challenges of being a Decathlete League.
Garrett Scantling: Yeah. So, I'll go through the events. The Decathlon is the 100, the long jump, shot put, high jump, 400. That's day one. Day two is 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and then the mile. So, preparation in a week you're doing something every day Monday through Saturday. That's I mean our practice days are six days a week every week. We do cycles, so three on one off and that one off one is still I'm like Petro's give me some break, I need some time. But just getting used to you're out there 8 hours a day at the least with the same amount of 20 something people and you're all there doing one event at a time. I think that what has prepared me for a lot of adversity in my life is understanding the fact that you have to turn the page.
I think one thing that people don't understand about the Decathlon is let's say, you have the 100 and you run terrible, terrible time. Well, if you don't turn the page and you don't move on, then that long jump it's going to leak into that and then it's going to leak into the shot put. So, I got really and I'm not going to say during college I was not good at it. I think that I used to get down on myself a lot and carry into those next events. Some of my training partners had that issue, they still do to this day. So, when I was probably about 23, 24 something switched and I said, alright I'm just going to control what I can control. And I take it event at a time no matter what happens I move on to the next. If it's terrible, if it's great, if it's incredible, I'll celebrate for a second. I think most of my pictures are outburst me screaming. So, that was also something that I realized that if I let out the energy that I have inside of my body, I can move on from it.
So, screaming, being happy, doing whatever I do, even if it's me getting angry sometimes I'll go into like the mixed room where no one's in and I'll just get mad at myself for like 10 seconds and I'll let it go. So, learning I think just how to manage everything in the Decathlon. There’re so many components of it, has helped me so much in my day-to-day life, coaching, living everything. And so, it's definitely something that people don't think about. They think about Decathlon just, oh wow, you're the greatest athlete. Like you go out there and you compete, you take breaks in between of it. Now it's a running schedule. You're always thinking about something and I think that's what makes it hard. I really think that the mental aspect honestly in any sport. Yeah, physicality is super important, but if you can't handle pressures and you don't know how to cope with certain adversity, then you're done for.
Colby Harris: Yeah, it's a lot like I mean golf isn't necessarily a super physical sport yet.
Garrett Scantling: Golf's the hardest part. It's hard.
Colby Harris: Go give it a try. If you don't, like just once I got into it, it was one of those things where I mean you would think it's just lift club hit ball, ball fly and just not that easy. That's the whole thing too is you have that mental aspect. And when I was doing my due diligence before we got to meet today, that was one of my favorite parts about you is I was watching all these highlight clips and every time it was either like a fist bump, go scream, something of that nature. So, looking back at your time at UGA, what would you say was maybe like a peak moment or a time where you had that passion and just a real highlight from your career there?
Garrett Scantling: I can pinpoint it now. My freshman year in at UGA, I kind of carried that I remember when I told you that my high school mentality freshman junior year where I felt like I was a good enough athlete to get away with stuff. And yeah, I was learning a bunch of stuff from, but I still felt like I had the coordination and I was good enough to get away with it. So, sophomore year guy named Michael Weibo, he is Estonian. So, European came in completely change the culture, I mean I'm a very competitive person and so we're doing the same thing. He's my, the same age just one year younger than me in school, and so I felt like I needed to be as good if not better than he was. He came in from the first day and Europeans they have a different type of work ethic when it comes to like the details. And he was in there, extra work, always doing it and it started to show that he was getting better than me.
Like on the track I could see it, and so that's when I was like look, I need to step my game up and that completely change the culture for me. It change the culture for Georgia Decathlon as a whole. Because me and Michael were the first ones to kind of create a culture where you come in here, you know what's expected of you. I mean you're the best of the best. You work like the best of the best and I think we won 9 SEC Championships in a row and that was after I graduated. So, even the people that came in created that culture. So, Michael is definitely I owe a lot to him for my career and kind of stepping myself up and stepping my game up. So yeah, that'll be my pinpoint.
Brian Harbin: Can you share with us a couple of those ingredients you feel like you guys did to change that culture?
Garrett Scantling: It was, honestly, it's nothing that like I can pinpoint. It's honestly something that Like I said, that can my competitive nature and me understanding that I could visual, I'm a very visual learner. Whenever I see something, it always clicks in my head. So, when I saw him throwing further than me, when he's not as big as I am, when I saw him jumping higher than me, when he's not as powerful on the legs as I am. I knew that he was doing something different and that's something different was when I was at home on the sticks playing Call of Duty, when I was hanging out with my friends, going places. He was in the gym, even if he was at home he was watching videos he was doing all these intangible stuff that you're supposed to do to be the best of the best. I'll admit it clicked in college but when I took the three years off to after Olympic trials in 2016 to come back here and just be an adviser and be me as a person, that's when it really clicked that like this is how you become who you want to be is by that extra work. Like that's as cliche as it sounds. I mean I understand you hear that so much but it really once I started to implement that, that's when I became so much better.
Brian Harbin: Yeah, and I love you saying that too because it's Jason Bevin was sitting in your sheet and said the exact same thing where college coach said, hey, it's time to step up your game. And he remembers exactly where he was in the elevator and it was from that point forward that the decision was made. I love what you said earlier too about just how you use expression and for you excitement to kind of hit the reset button. Because one of the things that when I was at Georgia during the summers to pay for Squad Soul Bookstore. So, it's a little very mentally challenging and just dealing with adversity in different part of the country all that kind of stuff. But one of the things was it was action cures fear. And how much the way that you use expression can actually affect emotions. So, it seems like you applied that with sports. So, tell us OKAY, so you graduated Georgia and tell us about that next step because obviously you wanted to go to the Olympics. Tell us about that
Garrett Scantling: Yeah, so I graduated and I had one more year. I had my red shirt, so it was like I graduated and I still had outdoor season left and then Olympic Trials for Rio. Looking back on it and I bring it up again the excuses that I had in that moment. I did not compare to the way I trained for the 2021 Olympics and the 2016 Olympics. They are night and day. I think it was one of those things where I think I can skate by; I think I can do this. Like yeah, this is my dream, I want to do this everyone's going to be watching but I think I can do it. Instead of going like Gary you got to get there, like to put in the work you got to do it. So, heading into it, started off decent. My first like two events were fine, actually three. I PRed in the shot put, then I got to the high jump. High jump was shaky and then I got to the event of the 400, which is all about how you train for it and I paid the price.
I mean I got halfway around the track and the monkey hopped on my back and I was running backwards. I mean it was bad and so it was actually the worst time to this day that I've run. From that moment, it was like that event almost lost. I think that's what like kind of lost me my chance at the Olympics and actually I retired from track. I think, so I came in fourth, they take the top three to Rio and I came in fourth by 40 points. I think is what it was, so that's about 6 seconds in the mile and it hurt. I mean it hurt, but my whole family was there it was devastating and it drove me away from the sport. I quit for three years. I actually something that something that people don't know about me.
I tried to play football. I was with the Falcons. I actually somehow got signed on the Falcons through their off-season program up to preseason. Came to the Jaguars and had a three-day training camp and then got cut from there and from that moment on, I was like sports no more. I'm done with it. I need to find something else for myself and I was financial advisor here with principal financial group for three years. I was sitting behind the desk one day and I would work out like every day and I felt my strength was there, my speed was there. And I was sitting there I was like, Garrett, you're good at this, but I feel like I left so much stuff out there and so much opportunity. I went on a whim. I mean I met with my coach when he came here, I was like, “Look I want to come back man”. and he was like, finally. Like this is something I've been waiting on and I want you to give it a shot. So, it's a very unorthodox path to where I got back to the sport, but I think it taught me a lot about going in, and if you don't put in the work. I mean this goes with football; this goes with financial advising. If you don't put in the work, you're not going to get the result that you want. And with football if I didn't go in and if I didn't put in the work that I knew had to be done, someone was just going to come in and take my job from me and that's exactly what happened.
So, learning from those experiences and how devastating they were in the moment, years down the line I still hold them with me and they still mean the world to me. So, it's all about learning things.
Colby Harris: Yeah, to just kind of go a little bit deeper into that. I mean, I feel that most people especially up until a college athlete stage, you tie so heavily what you do and your worth and all of your decisions really to being an athlete and to being the best you can be. So, to dive more into your mindset change, what did you see differently for yourself as a person and as an athlete, as you went from full-time training for the Olympics to then having a JOB, working every day, a completely disconnected from sports to then coming back as I would see almost like a new version of yourself and maybe an empowered athlete. But tell us more about that as you know you kind of had a shift in identity as you went through that.
Garrett Scantling: Honestly, I would say that the confidence part of it was huge. Because at first, I had all the confidence in the world going into the Olympic trials, like I think that I'm going to get away with this, I don't. Then, all that confidence goes out the window. Then, I start training for football and I get signed to a team and I'm like, oh my goodness, this might work out. Like you sign down on that contract, you see all those numbers and you're like, holy crap this is awesome.
Colby Harris: Yeah. Go and play in a stadium of 100,000 people.
Garrett Scantling: This is incredible and then, you get shut down again and then, there goes that confidence boost. And then, for the next 2 years, I don't know if I found it. I don't know if I found it the same. I definitely found my confidence again, but I don't know if it was the same as when I was doing sports. So, like I always had that in the back of my head like I don't feel as fulfilled as I should be. So, when I came back to track and I the second time and I started preparing. I think it was more so of the preparation that made me so confident in myself. I knew that there were people that were better than me just because they had kept, they were still doing track and I took time off and my body had to get adjusted to it again, but the preparation that I put into it. The first three months of coming back, my coach made me practice on my own. No one else out there, just me, gave me all the workouts. He said, “Garrett, if you're going to do it this time, you're going to do it right”.
So, having that and knowing that I could do it on my own without anyone around and finish every single piece of that workout. It gave me the confidence back that I needed. And then, once I started going to these meets and I started seeing the results and I started seeing how much I did differentiate myself from the other field just because of how hard I worked the confidence that I had was above. I mean it was great.
Colby Harris: Yeah, no I mean that's that I was just going to say, the first thing that that stuck with me when discussing confidence now someone once told me a story, kind of the difference of arrogance and confidence and he was talking about how everyone he watched whether they were 5 steps ahead of him or 10 steps ahead of him. He would say, well, if you can do it, I know I can do it. Not because I'm being arrogant but because I will outwork you. My values are stronger than yours, I'm going to show up when you don't. And it seems like that was kind of the shift you had, not to say you were arrogant moving up, not taking shots here at all, not taking shots at you. But that's exactly what seems like it's not you saying that I know I'm better than you. It's I'm going to put the work in to pass you when we're on that next race, Imma jump a little higher, Imma do what it takes to win when it's time to do that.
Garrett Scantling: Right, and I'm not going to sit here and say that the screaming and the isn't a little bit of my arrogance coming to, I'm going to say that when I scream and when I am very energetic and, in a competition, people do see that as arrogance sometimes. They do, I mean that's just how it is. If I throw really far and throw further than people and I'm sitting there screaming, I'll turn around and some people in the crowd are just like looking at me like that. But then others are screaming with me. So, it just kind of depends on how you look at it, and the way I explained it to you in my head it's all about it's personal for me. It has nothing to do with I'm trying to get in your head, I'm trying to get in your head, show you that I'm the man. No, it's all about regulating my emotions, because I am a very, like I have ADHD, I'm very energetic all the time.
Actually, that's one thing that I wanted to bring up was the ADHD in preparation for meats is huge, because I'm able to not only just preparation but when I'm in the starting blocks, I don't get nervous anymore. That's something that I'm really like proud of myself of getting to is because many people when they're in the blocks are shaking. I'll turn to the right, the left, and you can hear people breathing shaking, but what I do is I hyper focus on something which is an ADHD component. I hyper focus on the preparation of everything knowing that I already did this and the only thing I can do now is execute. So, if I overthink, if I try to freak out about something, it's going to mess it up and so, the first time I implemented that was actually at Olympic Trials and after that, it's magic. I mean, absolutely magic and so.
Brian Harbin: Yeah, trust the work, right?
Garrett Scantling: Yeah, I know I'm giving my secrets away
Brian Harbin: Well, no and I think one of the secret ingredients of you coming back, I feel like is just the burning desire of that's what it takes that when things get really, really hard, you have to have that burning desire. I think probably what helped fuel that for you too was the chances that you had barely missed, and it helped kind of kindle that fire. So, and getting ready for the Tokyo Olympics, obviously you qualified. But can you tell us more about how much time you had or anything else with your preparation that you feel like kind of help set you up for that?
Garrett Scantling: So, the way that it was set up was not very friendly for multi events, are USA champs or Olympic trials was right at the end of June, and we competed the first week of August. So, we had one month and usually you probably want 2, 2 & ½ between Decathlon just, because it's so much on your body and you want to be able to pee at the right time. So, it was really hard for, and in United States we're the only country that makes you go through Olympic trials. So, like if I competed for Canada or if I competed for any other country, I hit the standard in March. I would have automatically been qualified. I would have gone. I wouldn't have had to compete Olympic trials. So, that's why I mean it's the hardest team to make in the world that's why they always say it, but it also isn't advantageous for the. So, we had a month to get ready. I came back here and since Tokyo is so humid, it was the climate was just like Jacksonville is actually a lot more humid. But still I trained at UNF for a couple weeks and my family, they had a bunch of going away parties for me and just tried to show me that just show how much support I had here because couldn't bring them with me. No one was in Tokyo with me. So, but yeah, the preparation it was hard because after a Decathlon for me I take like two weeks and I need to lay on my butt. I need to do whatever the heck I want to do and just decompress, but I didn't have that time this time. So, it was definitely different but we made it work. We made it work.
Colby Harris: Yeah, talking more about the prep as well as battling COVID. Kind of pair those up real quick. Tell us a little bit about a day in the life of prep. Maybe what you eat, how many hours you're training, where you get your rest, and then also how that paralleled into dealing with COVID as well as you went into your traveling and the trials and things like that.
Garrett Scantling: Yeah, so I know people probably think that I'm sitting here training all day long. I think that's the consensus when I get wow how many times? How many practices a day do you have? Most of the time we will have two practices a day. One will be so I'll lay it out. Monday, Wednesday, Friday is on track jump days. So, either Monday, we're sprinting and we're long jumping. Tuesday, we're hurdling and we're pole vaulting. Friday, we're hurdling and we're doing one of the throws or on the track doing it a long-distance workout. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, weightlifting in the mornings and then in the afternoon we'll do our throws. So, we'll do shot put Tuesday, discus Wednesday javelin on Saturday. So, there's a lot that goes into it. But at the same time, I think that the fact that You're out there doing events, get putting in the work, getting ready. I think that's the most important part of it. I mean, it's really hard to do ten events and get ready for it if you don't practice like you're ready for it.
So, I know it's different. It's not necessarily what even I expected going into it. I thought when I got to college, I thought I was going to be like, you know, running maybe twice, two, three times a week, not doing something every single day. I mean, it's a grind every day and when I tell you that the rest weeks when they pop up, it's something that you forward to. It's like Petros. Please just give me some rest. He's like, man, well I'm going to make it easier. I'm not going to put some rest on you. But it prepares you for everything that you have to expect. And go back to it again. The harder you prepare the better it is when you start. So yeah.
Brian Harbin: So, tell us about Tokyo. I mean obviously you're going out there. Didn't have your family with you but tell us about the other being Olympian being out there as an American. Obviously, I think it was a little bit different with the COVID protocols that year but Olympic Village anything about just the whole environment around the Olympics.
Garrett Scantling: So, that's kind of, I love the Olympics. I had a great time just because how everything was going on and with the COVID thing like even when I was training in college that's why it was so easy for me to keep going. And while everyone else was shut down, I was in a college system. So, they had to get their practices in, and so, I was coaching like I mean I wasn't in college. I was coaching at Georgia. So, I was able to practice. I was able to have access to everything that I needed so I could prepare for that. But when I got to Tokyo Mass everywhere which was fine. I mean the village was huge. So, it took like 20 minutes to walk from one side to the other. So, it wasn't like you felt like you were in a box. It was different because everyone was wearing a mask. There wasn't like everyone thinks, oh, everyone has a big party when they go to the Olympics. The Olympic village is just partying. No, it was quiet. Everyone was pretty focused on their events.
I think that's why it was such the results at that Olympics were so high and quality, was because everyone was so focused. They had a huge dining hall that was, I mean it was crazy. The people that I saw there Luka Doncic walking pass me, I didn't expect him to be 6.9 and be a point guard. Like I'm like, bro, what is going on or like the Chinese volleyball team walking pass me and they're all 6.10 or higher. I'm just like these are the largest women I've seen in my life, and I feel like a shrimp here. I actually walk past Yao Ming; Yao Ming was there because he was a coach for the Chinese basketball team. And when I tell you that's biggest human being I've seen in my life, I try to get a picture with him and he just kept walking. He wasn't even everyone was trying to get pictures with him and he just didn't even acknowledge anything, but it was just cool to be around. It kind of made you feel like I was in the right spot, just because of how much work I put in and how much sacrifice I had to get or had to make to get to that point. I felt like I was in the right spot and that was the first time I really felt like an elite athlete So, yeah, it was cool.
Colby Harris: And getting back into the competition and the conversation there of what it's like to actually show up and do the events. I mean, you touched on slightly that the mental aspect of it was the hardest part for you. So, again, as I picture these two Garretts of like you coming into college and then you coming back after you spent some time working again. It's just these two different people almost in my head because I can understand that when you kind of take yourself away from something you love or something you was your path but you were deterred from it for a bit. You come back with a new found fire, new found understanding. So, tell us more about overcoming that mental aspect through those 12-hour days, and how you did that or what were some of the keys as you went into that Tokyo Olympics?
Garrett Scantling: Yeah. Honestly, so the Olympics didn't start very well for me. The whole first day was bad. No, I would say not the whole first, the first four events were bad. So, that's kind of, I think I got to a point after the high jump I actually called my parents and my mom was sitting at home. They were watching, it was I don't know it was like 1 AM, but they were on the couch watching and I said, mom, I don't know what to do. Like I don't know what's going on. Like I feel fine I go into these events. Like I'm not nervous, but like I just don't feel like I had that sense of like that extra step that I always had like I had at Olympic Trials. My uncle actually got on the phone. He was like, “Look dude, you're there. I mean you made it there, you did that you wanted to do. You are an Olympian. Just go out there and do what you want and have fun with it”. It was going into the 400and that's when I said, “Alright, I'm just going to run this. I don't care if I die. I don't care about the monkey on my back. I'm going to go out. I had lane 9”.
So, I didn't get to see anyone the whole race and usually that's like everyone hates lane 9. But when I tell you I got shot out of a cannon and yeah, the last 75 meters I paid for it. But that kind of switch something in my head to where like, okay, you're fine, just go out there and do what you need to do. That whole second day I took that into. It's the best second day I've ever had and that was the reason why I got so close to meddling and so close to doing well. So, just mental preparation was I tried not to make it any different than any other competition.
I think before I compete, I'll give you one more like secret that I do so that I don't give everything away. But I like to put on my uniform and stand in front of the mirror. Turn on some blasting EDM music, whatever it is on my genres all over the place, but I'll sit there and I will visualize every event. So, I'll go through it. The first time I'll go through it with some of the best marks I've ever had. So, thinking about, wow, I just ran 10, 50 in the 100, like after the hundred, I scream. So, like I picture myself screaming. Well, I'll go through all 10 events and then I'll go through all 10 events if something bad were to happen and so seeing how I would cope with it. So, I really once I started doing that, I never did that in college. And once I started doing that I think it was just something where the first competition back in 2020, I was nervous, I was really nervous. I was like, alright, Imma put on everything because I'm so excited to go and I'm just going to look at myself and I'm going to tell myself what's going to happen and it worked out. So, I do that, that's part of my routine all the time now.
Colby Harris: That's a huge one when I first started learning more about the mental game I'd still compete as a surfer sometimes, not the Olympic level of course. But Brian introduced me to it and it changed the game for me as I started doing more events this past year. Just a visualization of what I want to do if a good wave comes or what I would do if I'm 15 minutes into a heat and I haven't caught a wave yet. So, I could totally understand that just trying to see yourself in that position before it presents itself.
Garrett Scantling: Absolutely. So yeah, that was a game changer for me man.
Brian Harbin: Yeah, and the biggest thing too with that is you're really using the conscious mind to influence the subconscious mind.
Garrett Scantling: Right.
Brian Harbin: And preparing yourself for the good situations and the bad situations whatever happens you're as cool calm collected as.
Garrett Scantling: Yeah, and I think that so I'm actually reading a book it's called Genius of Athletes and it's about like the mental preparation of world-class athletes. I'm on a chapter about Michael Phelps, and his coach stepped on his goggles to crack.
Brian Harbin: I've read that.
Garrett Scantling: Before a world championship. So, when he dove in the pool his goggles filled up with water and he didn't he couldn't see. So, he started counting his strokes and he knew that it took him strokes to get to the end of the pool end up breaking the world record and winning the meet. But it just shows you that anything can happen in those situations, but it's about trusting in your preparation and understanding that the mental aspect is huge.
Brian Harbin: Exactly, and I remember watching that too and you could see when he took his goggles off the water coming out of the goggles, you're like wait is that just happened.
Garrett Scantling: How did you just win?
Brian Harbin: Yeah. So, and you finished fourth in Tokyo out of how many total athletes that competed.
Garrett Scantling: 24.
Brian Harbin: 24. So, tell us that kind of reflecting back. How do you kind of think about your experience there? Any nuggets or takeaways that you have from that experience?
Garrett Scantling: Yeah, I always hindsight's 2020. I always wish that those first four events I would have just calmed down and just done what I prepared myself to do and done what I know I could have. Because if I would've, that's an extra 150 points and an extra 150 points is second place. And so, like I said, hindsight's 2020. That's always what happens and you always look back and know what you could have done. But I am proud of myself with the way that I responded because after four events I was in 14th place. And so, knowing that I had to turn it on or I was not going to do be anywhere near what I thought or knew I could do. That was huge. I think that just going into the second day so first of all, I only got like 4 or 5 hours in between days. So, we started got to the track at 7 AM, our first event was at 9. Our last, I ran the 400 at 9:30 at night and then got to the Olympic Village to go to sleep at like 11:45 after I ate. Fell asleep in my Norma Tech boots and then woke up at like 5 to do over again. But it was just constant, the whole competition was constant.
It was always a battle in my mind and I think looking back on it that the way I responded day two was probably the most proud I've ever been of myself in a competition. Just because I knew how far behind, I was, going into the 1500 to the last event, I had to beat the guy behind me by 4 seconds and I had to beat the guy in front of me by 13 in order to medal. So, the guy in front, or the guy behind me, he took off he PR in the event I think he PRed by 10 seconds in the mile and so I had to go I had to chase him down. The guy behind me, he ended up PR him by like 8 seconds, but the fact that I had to chase someone and someone was chasing me I think was huge for me. And I end up PR by 9 seconds at the Olympics, the best and the easiest 1500 I've ever run, which makes no sense. But I think that that just seeing the way that I pushed through adversity, that's the big thing I take from the Olympics. Because there were so many times that I could've just stopped. I mean I could've fold there were so many, I think we had like three or four people who dropped out.
I think so there was, let me bring up a story there's one part of the Olympics during the pole vault. I was talking to the Australian guy who actually ended up beating me by, he came in third, he medaled. But I was talking to him and usually at track meets they call your name when you're up. Well, at the Olympics a board that just flashed your name up. They didn't say anything and so I'm in mid conversation with this guy talking about my financial advising life. Like he's like, what you do before this? I'm like, oh man, listen to this, and they call my name up and I miss my attempt. So, I missed my first attempt. Thank goodness I made it the second time, but right when I got back in the locker room, my dad's blowing up my phone. ‘What are you doing? Like, what's going on?’ I'm like, dad, ‘I'm just having fun. I'm trying to stay relaxed.’ And that was what put it, that's what it for me. When I was relaxed, when I was having fun, my marks were incredible and so that that's the biggest takeaway is that relax, have fun, you'll do fine.
Colby Harris: That's really cool to hear too. It's not the first time I've heard that, I mean when you guys there's 24 of you guys you said but you are regardless the best athletes in the world, in your country, even on your continent, whatever it might be. So, I've heard that there's a certain level of respect amongst you guys so that's always really cool to hear. Talk a little bit more about what followed that. I mean, nowadays, you'd are out of Georgia obviously, but there's been all the NIL stuff happening all the way down to high school kids. Social media's played a huge part in the growth of athletes over the last couple years. So, now you are on the world stage which I'm sure was huge for just the Garrett Scantling brand as a whole not just as an athlete. So, tell us a little bit more about that and kind of maybe some of the benefits you've seen outside of competition as you've just kind of grown as a person.
Garrett Scantling: Yeah, now the support that I've gotten after the Olympics has been incredible. I mean even to this day people, when I'm at Episcopal they all come up to me congratulate me ask me for advice. 'll say that so I had about on social media I had probably 6,000 followers before the Olympics, and then I don't know if you know who Leslie Jones is. But she's the Saturday night live lady who she's a comedian. But she was doing all of the, like she was filming the events and doing commentating and posting it on Twitter. Well, I had my long jump and she did something about like how, like she was calling me like good looking and how did he get on this track wearing this unitard whatever I had on and it blew up.
So, I got like 20,000 followers off of, it was insane. So, the outpouring of support was incredible at the Olympics. And the fact that I didn't have anyone there and the fact there was no one in the stands, but knowing that when I got back home my family and all my friends were just as tired as I was because they were up at 3 AM, 4 AM watching me run. So, that was, I'd say that was probably the best part about it was just feeling the support that I had from back home. And not just from strangers not from, but it was just from people who I hadn't talked to since elementary school, middle school. I mean even Hendrix. My elementary school put up on their thing, ‘Good luck Garrett Scantling at the Olympics.’ Like just that kind of just knowing that I had that kind of love and support from the people of Jacksonville, it's unmatched. Because it kind of segue me into what I'm doing with the coaching thing now and understanding that I love giving back and I love feeling the appreciation from other people of knowing that what I'm doing for them is benefiting them. So, it's been, I think that I don't know where you say it nowadays. The clout from the Olympics.
Colby Harris: Yeah.
Garrett Scantling: But it's been overwhelming at some points just because of the people that I don't know that are reaching out. But for the most part it's been incredible.
Colby Harris: Jacksonville's like the biggest small town ever.
Garrett Scantling: Oh my gosh. You walk in somewhere. “Garrett”. I'm like, “Oh hey. How are you? You remember me?”
Colby Harris: I can't imagine being in your shoes because there’s enough people I meet regularly and then I'm like, oh, I remember you 6 months later. Nonetheless they're talking about like oh I walked by him in a grocery store one time, I like he said, hey, tell him congrats he doesn't remember my name. what?
Garrett Scantling: Yeah, so my family actually held a watch party at Bono's. My aunt owns Bono's Barbecue and out in Bartram Park and they had about 220 people out there watching the 100 in the long jump. So, I got a huge like signed, it was my Olympic picture and everyone signed it and it's hanging up in my house so.
Brian Harbin: Oh nice.
Garrett Scantling: So yeah, there Definitely a lot of people supporting man.
Brian Harbin: And I'm sure coming back, I mean just the sheer mental emotional exhaustion of just the buildup, the stress of how you going to do and then coming back. Sure, the relief of that but then you kind of had new things. So, tell us about kind of how you figured out, obviously you had some time to kind of recoup and regenerate. But how did you kind of figure out what was next for you after that?
Garrett Scantling: Yeah, so that's something that people don't talk about is that last…
Brian Harbin: Purpose after.
Garrett Scantling: Month after the Olympics was so hard for me, just because it was like I was on such a high here and everyone's all eyes are on you. You're doing what you love you're feeling so euphoric while you do it, and then you get home and you don't know what you're doing. Like I mean so I moved from Georgia to Jacksonville at that point. I was still living in Georgia while I was at the Olympics, and so I live with my brother for a month before I got my place. So, I was sleeping at his house. I'd wake up, I'd sit on the couch and I TV. I'd hang out with his dog. I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I'd well go on walks to just do something, but it was almost like when one of my really, really good friends that I met actually at the Olympics. We knew of each other before but she competed for team Canada and she had the same issue. It was just like what do I do now? Like it' I wasn't supposed to make the Olympics like and it was the pinnacle of my athletic dream.
Well, it's all about just everything in life so far for me has been about taking that next step. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and something's going to figure itself out. And if you are true to yourself and you understand that you have all this talent and you have all the stuff that you can bring to the table, something's going to find you. So, I just kind of kept my head down and training started up again, and when it did, I think that was the best training that I've ever had in my life. I think that that was when I knew, the Olympics gave me all the validation I needed to understand that I am a world-class and I belong where I'm at. So, up until I got hurt this year. It was the best season I've ever had. So, I tore my internal oblique. It was throwing the javelin, complete tear all the way up my side. So, that's what kind of derailed my season and derailed everything that I've been working on. But up until that point I felt incredible and mentally my confidence was up, my just happiness everything. And still to this day I still feel the residual of that.
I mean just understanding that I am and always will be an Olympian no matter what happens, that's something that's a boost of confidence in itself. Just because I can carry that with me for the rest of my life. So, definitely after coming back that transition period was tough but once I got back into track, I was a different animal. I mean the workouts I cranking out. Even my coach was surprised. He's like, I've never seen you work this hard before and I had one competition. Well, I had a couple. I had an indoor season that ended in Serbia with food poisoning and of course, my stomach didn't hold up. But then I had an outdoor competition where I got to kind of showcase everything that I had been working on and that's when things blew up. I was the 7th best score of all time in the history of the Decathlon and.
Brian Harbin: Wow.
Garrett Scantling: And so, I think that going to the Olympics kind of yeah, that's like the pinnacle of sports but it knocked my want and my drive up so much more and changed me into a different person altogether so.
Colby Harris: And I think that's great insight for other people with aspirations and dreams. It's like if you really think once you hit that goal that life is what you might imagine it to be of like this perfect scenario. It's just not true. I mean, I think once you reach that goal, I mean people I would say they have one or two things they either get really excited to go back and keep on the grind or they get completely lost of like, oh well, I did it I don't know what to do
Garrett Scantling: Exactly.
Colby Harris: So, you took the route of really grinding keeping your head down, keep working. You did say you had a small injury. So, I'd imagine you still kind of had to figure out ways that you could honestly keep yourself sane now. So, tell us a little bit about what you enjoy doing outside of sports, and how you kind of make sense of all the mania?
Garrett Scantling: Alright, well I brought it up earlier, I'm a big gamer. I love to play games man. I love Call of Duty. I love, I mean, I'll play sports games too, Madden, FIFA.
Colby Harris: FIFA. That's the one.
Garrett Scantling: There we go.
Colby Harris: Just way better than Netflix or anything. It's like I might as well hold controller and get dialed in.
Garrett Scantling: Exactly, and you're working on your reflex.
Colby Harris: Dexterity, it’s all.
Garrett Scantling: But that's the thing that so in track, my best attribute is my start and my reaction and I used to always, all my teammates would give me so much crap for playing video games all the time. But when you're on the track, you’re exerting all this energy. When you go home, all you want to do is sleep or lay down and relax. So, at least it gives me something to put my mind into and it actually helped. I believe it helps my reaction time, because in Call of Duty, you're always reacting to something. And so, I firmly and I will always stick by it that my video game playing helps with my sports and with my athletic. Obviously, if you're sitting there doing it for hours at a time, it's unhealthy.
Colby Harris: Couple bags of Doritos later.
Speaker2: Exactly, but if you're doing it responsibly and having fun it gives me a chance to unwind gives me a chance to relax and just kind of put my mind somewhere else that isn't so serious and isn't. So, I mean my life is always sports. It's always about this and so when you can change it up that's always beneficial.
Colby Harris: Hop on live, maybe get lit up by a 12-year-old or something.
Garrett Scantling: That never happens man. I'm always lighting them up man, that no. I'm kidding, heck yeah. They got my number nowadays.
Brian Harbin: Yeah, and having that it is huge for sure. So, I'm curious you just with everything that you've been through and seeing what sports and especially being Decathlon’s done for you. Like what is your why and how do you feel like it is directing your life in terms of just your larger purpose?
Garrett Scantling: That's I would say I think while I was competing, my why was always either one of two things, proving people wrong. I was always the small person. I was always the one that was running around that annoying ADHD just could never stop moving, and my brother was always the athlete. He was 6.2 and 6th grade. He was always the one that everyone had their eyes on. So, I think I always actually used to hold that against him. I no longer do because it drove me to be who I am today. But honestly, I would say that just having a sense of drive to push myself to be who I want to be. I think I have dreams of who I picture myself as. I have dreams of what I can do with my body, with my mind, and I really do believe that just my personal drive and those dreams they just drive me to do things that are out of the ordinary.
I'm not an ordinary person. I have a lot of, I'm trying to find the correct word for it. I would say that the work ethic that I have when it comes to chasing after something is very unmatched. Even if it's like I brought something to Episcopal the other day with a counseling position. That's something that that where I would help the athlete who is going to college and help them with their recruitment process, help them with the mental aspect of it. Even when it comes to something like that. I understand that it's a challenge for me and if something is a challenge for me. I for some reason something in my head to where I need to step up my game and I need to put all of my force into it to make it something that I'm proud of. And if it's not something that I'm proud of then what the heck am I doing. I never do anything halfway. So, that's kind of my driving and motivational.
Brian Harbin: Yeah. It's interesting you say that too, because I can definitely relate to when I was a freshman in high school, I was 4.11, 75 pounds. I love sports, but I was always cut from baseball team because I was too short it was like was never quite and then as I get a little bit older it became like seeking approval from other people. Whether it's authority or coaches and then realizing okay well that's not really ever coming. But where I felt like I really kind of unlocked that next level for me was like, okay, I'm at my best when I'm pouring into other people and mentoring them. So, one of the things that I really appreciate about you and what you've done is just seeing you coach my son at track last year and then Episcopal and football and all the things that you've done pouring back into that next generation. I think and you may not have seen the results or feel them, but I can absolutely assure you that what you're doing for young people is changing their life. But it's also really helping you see the larger purpose. So, I appreciate that as a parent, also a person in the community. So, thank you for that.
Brian Harbin: Yeah, it's been really great being back there just because I mean, I obviously went to Episcopal, 7-year survivor but it's a different perspective that you have from it. I mean, all the teachers who I was afraid of when I was in school and now like my best friends. They're great people and they also understand that I mean you're there for the student. So, I'm coaching three sports, football I'm the head coach of weightlifting for women and then I'm going to coach track again. So, just seeing how much they look up to me respect what I tell them is huge. Because like I told you I coached at UGA for two years, and that's a different type of athlete. I mean when you're Especially when it was Petros’s Group, they're always they had the number one recruiting class in the nation. So, it's these high-level athletes who are human beings and of course they always come to me for advice, because I was in their shoes. But it's not the advice like I'm getting nowadays. Like I'm actually telling them and giving them advice on how I live my life, how I cope with certain adversity and it's so much more fulfilling than I expected and it's something that I want to do for a long time for sure.
Colby Harris: I got into coaching, let's see when we start our summer camp in 2020, I guess that was kind of my first introduction to it. I loved every second of it gotten to now coaching flag football alongside Brian too. And I think my favorite part is just getting to see everyone grow, because you see so much yourself. I mean I see myself in all the young people I interact with, athlete or whatever it might be. So, one of the things I want to say one my word for 2023 is perspicacity, which is a knowledge and skills.
Garrett Scantling: Explain that one to me.
Colby Harris: And I think you'll love it because yeah, that was one that I've I heard not too long ago and it's about having knowledge and skill in a lot of different fields which I think is majorly a tactic to be successful in anything.
Garrett Scantling: Yeah, absolutely.
Colby Harris: Like you said you're a superb athlete but maybe lack a little bit of the mental side of it or lack the discipline to really show up, yet we can also discuss how video games helped you become an Olympic athlete. And that's just what sounds like you incorporate to an epistle to this day. t's like, hey man, you got this good thing going but like what can we put in there what else could benefit you as another layer of skill. And that kind of leads right into just one of my last questions for you is, if you had a chance to either talk to your younger self or if you have like almost a mission statement for all these other athletes you interact with. What would that be to help them find success?
Garrett Scantling: I always have this conversation with myself because I'm always like what, I mean I know everyone does it what would you do if you could go back. I mean I sit there and I feel like I'm one of those old heads now and I look at my students and I'm like, man, if I was in your shoes, you'd have no idea what would happen. But I really think that honestly, it comes down to the hard work. It’s simple as that sounds. I'm a very simple person and that's how I competed, that's how I do everything in my life. I think the more simple that I made it, the less nervous I got, the more successful I was, and like I'd say like getting up and like I mentioned getting into the blocks getting set up. I'm only thinking about one word whenever I'm in the box. Explosiveness, aggressiveness. 2 words get out, but like I'll let them go through my head and just cycle one word, one word, one word.
So, I try to give these kids that sense of like there are certain mechanisms that you can use to help you. I mean and I'm trying to yeah, they're younger and I have a pole vaulter now and she is an over thinker. I wouldn't say an overthinker. I have red and blue. Those are my, like two things. Red is like, how you breathe. You don't think about you know when your blood pumps. All this stuff. Blue is when you're thinking about what you need to prepare for. What you need to do this. What you need to do that. Her red is fine. When you get too much red, that's when you're too like your fight or flight mode.
Colby Harris: Yeah.
Garrett Scantling: Too much blue is overthinking and really, you're thinking way too much about your steps, your swing up, all this stuff. For me and for helping her, it's all about simplicity. It's all about finding your red blue balance. Finding right in the middle. And so, she'll go up and she'll be like, I don't know I can't plant the pole. I don't know what it is. And I'm just like, just do it. That's it. That's all you can do. Keep it simple. Run down the runway. Stick the pole in the box and swing up. And so, it's really hard to change their mindsets at this young age, but I feel like the more you drill it into them the more that it helps them. I can already see from last year the night and day difference and just her as an example.
So, I would say that I mean looking back on myself in high school, I didn't think at all. I just kind of just went out there and did it and yeah, that helped a lot but it could also be a reason why I wasn't as good as I could have been. So, it’s tricky, it's a balance of everything.
Brian Harbin: Yeah, so I wanted to ask you too about kind of what's next, I know obviously you're coaching three sports. Anything else on the horizon, short medium term?
Garrett Scantling: So tricky, because for this next year, I'm going to take track off. 100%, I think that I'm going to focus on what I want to do here and focus on Episcopal building something there. Obviously, I still have my injury. It was no small, it wasn't a small injury it was very, it got to the point where I couldn't even turn to the left. I couldn't sneeze, couldn't cough, do all that.
Colby Harris: They say, your obliques is everything. I mean like abs this and the other, I mean your core is absolutely everything.
Garrett Scantling: I had no idea you don't know until you heard it. So, what I'm doing now with Scant Athletics which is something that I created that is speed development, strength development, track and field development and it's just it's one-on-one training. It's adopted after my own coach who brought me through college everything. It's a very specific workout regimen. I mean it's from all ages. I'm training a kid who's 6 years old right now and all the way up to my cousin who's 18. So, I think the most important thing for me is if this whole process of going through Olympics not making it being a financial advisor, going back going through all that COVID stuff, making the Olympics becoming an Olympian. If that was what this was for was to have that experience of being an Olympian. and bring it back and give it to the youth of Jacksonville. I can't complain about that.
So, I think that that is whenever I think about it, I feel fulfilled and I feel like that's something I can challenge myself in. And really, it's just giving kids nowadays the access that I didn't have and that extra step that I didn't have.
Brian Harbin: Well, you've got three with my boys. So, looking forward to.
Garrett Scantling: Cannot wait.
Brian Harbin: And how do if people are interested in signing their kids up for that? What's.
Garrett Scantling: Yeah. So, I've got my own website. It's called “ScantAthletics.com”. Just out Sounds “ScantAthletics.com”. You can go in there and its everything's laid out. Has all the information on who I am, what I've done, all my programs. You can go in there. You can schedule workouts. We have packages. You got single session that you can book, and really just my thing is just to get out there and see how it goes. It's all about obviously that first initial workout is the most important seeing if the kid likes the trainer, if the trainer can see himself helping that kid. But at the same time, I have not run into that problem yet. I feel like I am very open and very relatable, and so it is what it is. If you want to come get better and actually learn from someone who's been there and been in the position that lot of people want to be in, then I'm your guy.
Colby Harris: Well, I would definitely be reaching out if I was middle school or high school getting ready to do some. I just want to say man to kind of second what Brian said. I mean, we really appreciate what you're doing again to come back and be inspiring these kids and to just be sharing this game that you've learned. I mean, I think that's the most important part and that's really why we started this show is we wanted to get into those conversations. Everyone sees that you're an Olympian and everyone gets that you work hard and that's just to say that is what every guest that we've had on. We really ask like what do you think was the key?
Garrett Scantling: Yeah.
Colby Harris: It's hard work. It is hard work. 10 out of 10 times, we've never gotten a different answer and I think for you to not just showcase that but then break it down of like, what is hard work look like? What is getting good rest mean? I mean, that is the source stuff that a lot of these young athletes need to be understanding as they're just getting pushed all the time and really finding where their limits at. So, we really, really appreciate you coming back.
Garrett Scantling: Yeah.
Colby Harris: Being on the podcast today. I just got one last question for you. As you know “Grit.org” is really built on 12 life and success principles. It's called our Grit Creed. So, looking at now in front of you, what would you say resonates most with you and why?
Garrett Scantling: Well, I mean I picked this one out immediately just because I saw the word and I would say it, I am mentally, physically, and emotionally resilient, because I've had a lot of adversity in my life. I understand a lot of people do, but when you have all these dreams that you pursue and 2, 3, 4 times they get shut down, what do you do. For me, it's all about being resilient it's all about having that mental fortitude to take that next step, foot in front of the other and keep going forward. So, I honestly think that that's the biggest part for me is having that grit to just move on forward.
Colby Harris: You've earned that for sure. I definitely would love to say grit's one of those things man. It's developed, it's like anything else like a muscle you've got to put yourself in those hardships.
Garrett Scantling: I completely agree with that man. Absolutely.
Colby Harris: Well, been a stellar day having you in. We'll definitely be in touch. We hope to continue this conversation. Thank you again Garrett for being here. That's a wrap for The “Grit.org” Podcast. Please check out our other episodes. Leave us a comment. Tell us something you enjoyed about Garrett's story. Share this with someone you think it would resonate with or impact. As always, we appreciate you tuning in for another episode of The “Grit.org” Podcast.