Beyond the Game: Greg Garza on Gratitude, Responsibility, and the Work That Lasts Longer Than Goals
- Jason Longshore
- 5 minutes ago
- 4 min read
For Greg Garza, the most important work in soccer no longer happens on the field.
It happens in conversations. In listening. In moments when young players are forced to confront not just who they are as athletes, but who they are becoming as people.
Since stepping away from his playing career, Garza has devoted himself to that work through Beyond Goals Mentoring, the player-development and mentorship platform he co-founded with former Atlanta United captain Michael Parkhurst. The organization was built to address a gap both experienced firsthand during their careers: elite players receive constant technical instruction, but very little structured support for the mental, emotional, and ethical demands of the game.
Beyond Goals operates on a simple but demanding premise. Talent may open doors, but mindset, character, and decision-making determine how long those doors stay open.
“I think what I learned most this year,” Garza said on Friday’s SDH AM, “is that our message and our niche are extremely useful for youth sports right now.”
Building Beyond Goals
Launched after their playing days, Beyond Goals Mentoring works with athletes typically ranging from youth players to young professionals, offering one-on-one mentorship, group sessions, and guided conversations focused on confidence, resilience, leadership, and emotional awareness. The goal is not to replace coaches or trainers, but to serve as a trusted, experience-based support system during critical stages of development.
Garza and Parkhurst draw directly from their own journeys through MLS, international leagues, locker rooms, and national team environments. They have lived the pressure, the uncertainty, and the isolation that can accompany elite sport. Beyond Goals exists to help players navigate those realities with greater clarity and intention.
That perspective shaped much of Garza’s reflection on 2025, a year he described as challenging but deeply affirming.
“Coming from a holistic standpoint has allowed us to build some amazing relationships,” he said. “Not just in the United States, but all over the world.”
At the center of that work is a word Garza did not expect to define the year.
Gratitude.
Gratitude as a Practice, Not a Platitude
In Beyond Goals' programming, gratitude is not framed as positivity for its own sake. Garza is explicit about that distinction.
“This isn’t about a feeling,” he said. “It’s an awareness mindset. How you carry yourself every day.”
Working with young players immersed in social media culture and instant feedback loops, Garza sees how often self-worth becomes tied to external validation. Likes, followers, and short-term recognition can distort perspective, particularly for athletes already under pressure to perform.
“Most people base happiness off instant gratification,” he said. “But life is more than that. What do you have around you? Who supports you? How do you take the good out of the bad?”
Gratitude, in this context, is a discipline. Like fitness or technical skill, it must be practiced consistently to have impact. Garza believes it reduces stress and anxiety, improves cooperation, and supports long-term growth, but only when players are willing to engage with it honestly.
That willingness, he said, often reveals who is ready to grow.
Listening, Presence, and Accountability
One of the clearest through-lines in Garza’s mentoring work is the importance of listening. Not passive listening, but presence.
“There’s a difference between listening to someone and listening through them,” he said.
Garza admits he still catches himself mentally drifting, juggling responsibilities and logistics. But as a former player, he understands the consequences of not listening.
“You’re told something once,” he said. “If you don’t listen, you’re probably heading back to the locker room.”
In mentorship sessions, the contrast is stark. Some players absorb information and apply it immediately. Others remain distracted, disengaged, or resistant.
“Talent alone won’t get you anywhere if you don’t have those character traits,” Garza said.
That belief is foundational to Beyond Goals. The organization is less concerned with short-term performance gains than with helping athletes become adaptable, reflective, and accountable people.
Preparing Players for the Reality Ahead
Garza recently spoke at the MLS Rookie Symposium, an experience that reinforced why mentorship matters early. Out of roughly ninety drafted players, only about twenty percent will sign first-team contracts. Many will enter MLS NEXT Pro on non-guaranteed deals. Others will not sign at all.
For Garza, the goal is not to dampen ambition, but to prepare players for reality.
“They’ve been student-athletes their whole lives,” he said. “Now they’re stepping into a business.”
Professional soccer, he noted, can be transactional and unforgiving. Relationships are often shaped by competition for limited opportunities. Careers are short. Stability is rare.
Yet even in that environment, Garza emphasizes gratitude. Gratitude for opportunity. Gratitude for perspective. Gratitude for simply being selected.
“How many kids would love to be in their shoes?” he asked.
Confronting Discrimination Inside the Locker Room
A significant portion of Garza’s current work involves addressing player-on-player discrimination at the professional level. He is candid about the challenge.
“This isn’t something you can snap your fingers and fix,” he said.
Rather than focusing on symbolic gestures, the initiative emphasizes education, accountability, and restorative processes. Garza believes progress happens when players understand the impact of their words and actions, not just the consequences.
The results are measurable. Reported incidents dropped from more than twenty in a single year to two in each of the past two seasons.
“That matters,” Garza said. “And it matters that the message comes from someone who’s been in their shoes.”
He is clear that wearing armbands or issuing statements is not enough. Responsibility requires action, dialogue, and consistency.
“With the platform comes responsibility,” he said. “Why not do good with it?”
More Than a Game
Throughout the conversation, Garza returned to the same core belief that drove the creation of Beyond Goals.
Soccer teaches lessons that extend far beyond the field, but only if those lessons are intentionally reinforced.
“What makes you successful is not the game,” he said. “It’s the person you become.”
That belief continues to guide Beyond Goals as it grows, not as a brand chasing scale, but as a mentorship model rooted in lived experience, trust, and long-term impact.
For Garza, the work is ongoing. Quiet. Demanding. Often unseen.
But it is work that lasts longer than goals.
And work that, in his view, gives the game its meaning.