Garth Pollonais is a retired Trinidad and Tobago

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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who played professionally in both Trinidad and the United States.

Early career

Pollonais grew up in Trinidad. He attended St. Augustine Senior Secondary High School where he was captain of the boys' soccer team in 1981 and the 1981 Trinidad and Tobago National High School Player of the Year. He also played for a variety of amateur teams including the Maple Soccer Club, Tacarigua United and Malt Carib Soccer Academy. In 1986, Pollonais entered

Erskine College Erskine College is a private Christian college in Due West, South Carolina. It is an undergraduate liberal arts college and a graduate theological seminary. The college was founded in 1839 by the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Its spor ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

where he played four seasons of men's soccer. He was a four-time All-American and scored 88 career goals, adding 40 assists. He graduated in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in behavioural science and was inducted into the Erskine Hall of Fame in 2001. In addition to playing collegiate soccer in the US, Pollonais also played for the St. Petersburg Kickers during the college off season. In 1989, the Kickers won the 1989 National Challenge Cup 2–1 over

Greek American AA NY Greek American Atlas Astoria, commonly known as New York Greek American, is an American soccer team from New York City that currently plays in the Eastern Premier Soccer League and in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League. The club was formed in 194 ...

, with Pollonais scoring the first goal of the game. In 1990, the Kickers won the

National Amateur Cup The National Amateur Cup, also known as the USASA Amateur Cup, is an American soccer competition open to all amateur teams affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation through United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA). In 1923, U.S ...

Professional

In July 1990, the

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

selected Pollonais in the third round of the Major Indoor Soccer League draft. However, the

Atlanta Attack Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

chose him in the first round of the National Professional Soccer League draft and Pollonais chose to sign with Atlanta. Pollonais was forced to wait to play his first game with the Attack as the team had its limit of foreign players. Not until he received his green card in January 1991 was he able to enter a game. In the summer of 1991, he played for the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Champions ...

in the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

. In the fall of 1991, the

Tulsa Ambush Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

selected Pollonais in the NPSL expansion draft. In 1993, he played for the

Malta Carib Alcons Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

where he was the Eastern Region Player of the Year. In 1994, he played for the

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professiona ...

in the

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

. He moved to the

Atlanta Magic The Atlanta Magic were a soccer club that competed in the USISL from 1991 to 1996. The club originally started in 1991/92 in the indoor USISL league. They played in the 1992 USISL outdoor season as the Atlanta Datagraphic Magic, and the 1993 USISL ...

for the 1994–1995 indoor season before signing with the Raleigh Flyers in the spring of 1995.

National team

Pollonais played for the Trinidad and Tobago U-18 national football team in 1981 and 1982. In 1984, he moved up to the U-21 national team. He later played for the full national team.

Coach

Following his graduation from high school in 1981, Pollonais remained at St. Augustine to coach the boys' soccer team, a position he held from 1982 to 1985. During his tenure, the team won the national championship and was a four-time Eastern Regional champion. In 1993, he returned to Trinidad where he was an assistant coach with the

. In 1996 and 1997, Pollonais served as an assistant coach with the University of North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer team. In 1996, Pollonais began coaching at the

Ravenscroft School Ravenscroft School is a coed independent school located in Raleigh, North Carolina. The school enrolls students between PreKindergarten and 12th grade, and serves 1,239 students. The school has three divisions: Lower School, Middle School an ...

. That year, he also became a coach with the

Capital Area Soccer League North Carolina FC Youth (NCFC Youth) is an American soccer club and eponymous league based in Raleigh, North Carolina and serving greater Research Triangle. It is the largest youth-to-professional soccer club in the country. Club NCFC Youth was ...

. In 2000, he left both Ravenscroft and CASL when Erskine College hired him to coach the school's men's soccer team. He was the 2000 Carolinas-Virginia Conference Coach of the Year. In 2001, he became the interim coach for the women's team, a position he held for one season. In 2002, he was hired as the head coach of the

Greenville Lions Greenville Lions were an American soccer team that played in the United Soccer Leagues (USL) D3 Pro League (later known as the ''USL Second Division'') and operated an amateur team, Greenville Lions Premier, in the Premier Development League ...

of the

USL D-3 Pro League The USL Second Division (commonly referred to as USL-2) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It was at the third tier of soccer in the United States, behind Major League Soccer (t ...

. The team folded following the 2003 season.

References

External links

Career overview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollonais, Garth American Professional Soccer League players Atlanta Attack players Atlanta Magic players Charleston Battery players Erskine College alumni North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer coaches National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Raleigh Express players St. Petersburg Kickers players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Trinidad and Tobago men's footballers Trinidad and Tobago men's international footballers Trinidad and Tobago expatriate men's footballers USISL players Living people Men's association football forwards Year of birth missing (living people) Player-coaches Trinidad and Tobago football managers Sportspeople from St. Augustine, Florida Soccer players from Florida