“Everywhere we went we had two cop cars in front of our bus, two cop cars behind our bus and guys with AK-47s walking around wherever we were. We’d go to the mall and we’d be surrounded by armed guards.”
Welcome to Major League Soccer.
When Dan Gargan (MSB ’05) got drafted by the Colorado Rapids, he knew his life was going to change. He didn’t expect it be drastic so soon though. Drafted on a Friday in early February, Gargan was on a plane to Miami to meet up with his teammates for a trip to Ecuador less than a week later.
“It was like ripping the Band-Aid off quick,” Gargan says of his departure from Georgetown. “I was plucked out so quickly, I didn’t have the chance to say all my goodbyes and be upset about leaving and go through that whole process.”
Once in Ecuador, Gargan got a rude introduction to professional soccer. Aside from the police escorts and armed guards, the team had to deal with hostile crowds of 50,000 people who threw, amongst other things, flares at the team while they were warming up.
“It was a crazy experience,” Gargan laughs, looking back on the trip.
Ecuador did not scare Gargan away from the MLS and now, three short months later, Gargan is a full member of the Rapids.
Gargan was not always certain that he’d end up a soccer player though. A true defender, Gargan is the first to admit he isn’t the flashiest player. Never the guy to score the big goals, Gargan’s talent lies in his ability to work hard and wear other players down to prevent the game-changing plays, a talent that often goes unnoticed.
“People don’t really appreciate my game until they play with me,” Gargan says. “It doesn’t say `Dan Gargan had a good game’ in the scorebox.”
Invited to participate in the MLS Player Combine in Los Angeles in January, Gargan felt he played well and demonstrated to the coaches that he had he had the ability to make it in the MLS, but when draft day came around he still could not bear to listen.
It was not until Georgetown Head Coach Keith Tabatznik called that Gargan found out he had been taken as the 43rd pick by the Rapids.
“It was such a rush of emotions,” Gargan says of finding out about the draft. “Joy, relief, everything.”
But Gargan did not have much time to reflect, leaving Georgetown behind almost immediately to join his new team to train. From Ecuador to Alabama, Barcelona to Houston, Gargan has spent the past few months traveling and playing soccer with some of the best players in the world.
Playing soccer as a profession – which Gargan admits is still weird to think about – has not been all glory and glamour, however, as he has learned the hard way in Colorado.
Alone in Denver, knowing none of his teammates and with family and friends two time zones away, Gargan has had to adjust to life on his own and a new role as a soccer player.
A four-year starter in high school and at Georgetown, Gargan has yet to see any playing time as a Rapid. From a two-time captain to a role player, Gargan is no longer the leader and playmaker that he has always been. The change in responsibility has given Gargan a new perspective and a new focus for his practices.
“I’m seeing what its like to be a practice player,” Gargan says of his role on the Rapids. “I’ve yet to break the lineup, so its more day-in and day-out just trying to prove that I am good enough to be on that field and that’s tough to do mentally, to get up for every practice. It’s a whole different mindset.”
Still, waiting to get on the field has been difficult, especially for someone as competitive as Gargan. With the Rapids at 2-5-1 and near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, Gargan wishes he could be out on the field, contributing to the team effort. But waiting is teaching Gargan patience and, for the first time in his career, is allowing him to really watch soccer, both of which will only help when Gargan finally gets on some minutes.
“To have to wait it out is tough,” Gargan says. “Its one of the harder things I’ve had to deal with. But I’m a rookie and I’ve got to put in my time.”
There is a palpable difference between college and professional soccer, Gargan says, but not in the ways most would expect. Confident in his soccer skills and ability to compete at the same level with the other players on the field, Gargan says it is the off-the-field aspects of being a professional athlete that are the biggest change from playing for a university.
“[In Colorado] it’s not a team working for its school and for pride, it’s a job and you are working for a paycheck,” Gargan says. “A lot of players are playing for the name on the back of their jersey instead of the name that’s on the front of the jersey, which is what you are playing for at Georgetown. . There is something special about playing for the Hoyas as opposed to playing for what you are going to get on Friday.”
Gargan has not forgotten about Georgetown while in Denver, and he hopes that the program that has gotten him where he is today can continue to improve.
“We were the first class that was really something special,” Gargan says of the class of 2005. “The program is 10 times better now than when I got here four years ago. Teams really have to respect Georgetown year in and year out and there is a different emphasis on hard work. I like to think I had some effect in changing that.”
Gargan hopes that in five years he can come back to the Hilltop to watch the Hoyas play in an NCAA tournament game in their own stadium under the lights.
As for himself, Gargan dreams of someday going big time and playing soccer in Europe.
“That’s like going to the NFL,” Gargan says of European soccer. “It’s a whole different lifestyle over there. That’s what you watch and that’s what you do. Playing in Europe would be unbelievable.”
Gargan is pragmatic, however, and knows that even if he makes it as a soccer player it won’t last forever. With a degree in marketing, Gargan says he would love to play soccer into his thirties then design Adidas commercials, but realizes that life doesn’t always work out so simply.
“I don’t get to write the storylines,” Gargan says.
Maybe not, but so far the story is unfolding nicely for Dan Gargan.
