Coach Stephen de Garavilla Memorial Scholarship Fund

Stephen de Garavilla, a lifelong Wakefield resident, served as a longtime coach in the Wakefield

Soccer Association (WSA) where he taught, motivated, and inspired soccer players for 35 years.

Established by his family, the Coach Stephen de Garavilla Memorial Scholarship, honors

Stephen’s passion for soccer and his decades-long commitment to coaching.

Stephen began coaching soccer in Wakefield in 1987 and coached at different age and skill

levels in the WSA boys’ travel program. He also coached boys from around the Middlesex

League as a head coach in the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association’s (MYSA) District

Select Program.

Stephen served on the WSA board for a number of years as the rep to the Middlesex Youth

Soccer League.  He was instrumental in founding the town’s kindergarten and first grade

intramural program. As part of this, he worked to institute the small-sided game format and to

instill a love of the game in the youngest players while encouraging families to share their time,

expertise, and perspective to keep the association vibrant, growing, and successful.

As a coach, Stephen’s pride and joy was developing his players on and off the field. He got great

fulfillment following players as they advanced through the soccer ranks, some becoming coaches

themselves. A lifelong student of the game, Stephen was always searching for the secrets to

training soccer players. He was committed to developing his expertise as a coach and enjoyed

mentoring other coaches. His 35-year soccer coaching career is one of his greatest legacies.

In October 2022, Stephen was chosen by MYSA as the recipient of the 2022 Boys Recreational

Soccer Coach of the Year. Stephen went on to be awarded the same honor by United States

Youth Soccer (USYS) for the East Region, and was ultimately honored at a national level.

A 1970 graduate of Wakefield Memorial High School, Stephen received his B.S. from Boston

College and his dental degree from Boston University Dental School. He was commissioned into

the United States Navy as a dental officer and was stationed at Parris Island in Beaufort, South

Carolina. Following his service in the Navy, he returned home and opened his own practice on

Main Street in Melrose where he spent 38 years practicing family dentistry until his retirement in

2019.

Stephen and his wife, Patty, raised three children, Amy, Andrew, and Julie in Wakefield.

He was fondly known as Grampy, to their eight grandchildren and is credited with introducing

them to the beautiful game and teaching them life lessons about hard work, perseverance, and

learning from their mistakes.