By Day, DeKalb Car Technician, By Night, Tucker High Soccer Coach

DECATUR, GA. – By day, Daymeon Corrie works with the DeKalb County Fleet Maintenance team as a technician. By night, he coaches various soccer teams, including girls’ soccer at Tucker High School.

“I love fixing cars. That’s a joy of mine,” said Corrie, a 10-year DeKalb County Fleet Maintenance technician with certifications in emissions, brakes and electrical certifications. “It’s work, but I love doing it.

“Teaching kids is the next best thing,” Corrie said. “To watch them blossom into people you thought they would never be—that’s the joy that I get out of it.”

Corrie’s soccer career began as a high school student in Kingston, Jamaica. After graduating in 1992 he was asked to try out for Jamaica’s U21 National team. However, deciding to further his education, he accepted an academic scholarship at DeKalb College, where he continued to play soccer for two years.

Daymeon Corrie coaches soccer nearly yearround.

While playing on the college level, Corrie began to develop his coaching talent.

“I was just playing around at the park one day when a lady drove up and asked if I coached or played,” Corrie said. When he said he played but had never coached, the woman asked him to help out with a recreation league team.

“A week before the season started, the coach and his son decided not be a part of the club that I was going to be helping,” Corrie said. “That left me alone as the coach and ever since then, I’ve been coaching.”

Corrie volunteered as a coach for the Stone Mountain Youth Soccer Association’s Boys U12 recreation team from 1992 to 1994. He also volunteered with the “Soccer in the Streets” program for under privileged children for three years, and the “All In Girls Program,” a U12 Recreational Girls Team.

After gaining valuable knowledge and experience as a volunteer, Corrie began coaching professionally at Stone Mountain Youth Soccer Association in the “Girls Select Program.”

From 1994 to 2008, he coached several teams ranging from U10 Select Girls to Division 1 Women’s teams. Under his leadership, those teams won three Atlanta Kohl’s Cups, three Sugar & Spice Tournaments, two Adidas Invitationals and two Challenge Cups. They also attended the Coca-Cola Classic in Georgia and Washington, D.C., and countless other finals.

It was his hopes of playing college soccer that brought Daymeon Corrie to America from Jamaica.

In 2008, Corrie started coaching the U12 Academy, U16 Girls and U18 Girls teams at Tucker Youth Association.

Since 2013 Corrie has been the head coach of Tucker High School’s girls’ varsity and junior varsity soccer teams, which progressed to the finals in 2014 and 2015.

Corrie said he enjoys coaching because he is able to shape youth into better athletes and improve their sef-esteem.

“You can take the youth that people give up on and put them in the best position for their skill level and give them the chance to feel good about themselves,” Corrie said.

“Coach D,” as he is affectionately known, has had at least 20 players advance to DeKalb County’s All Star Teams. Additionally, six of his team members were listed as DeKalb County’s Top 10 goal scorers. In one year, five of Corrie’s players were designated as Top 10 players.

As a college graduate and holder of an NSCAA National Diploma and U.S. Soccer National “C” License, Corrie encourages those he coaches to prepare for their futures. During his career, approximately 70 players have received soccer scholarships to attend Division 1 universities or two-year colleges.

“I’ve always loved to see kids grow and to be able to give them a life after high school,” Corrie said.