Play Marin

Play Marin Founder & CEO Paul Austin is a longtime Marin City resident who has been a youth advocate for the majority of his professional life. After serving for several years as Director of Recreation for Marin City Community Center, Tamalpais High graduate Mr. Austin, who studied Early Childhood Education at Texas Southern University and holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Dominican University in San Rafael, saw a need to create opportunities for Marin City youth to engage in organized athletics and other extracurricular activities. He founded Play Marin to meet that need, and to intentionally give kids of diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds from the broader Marin community the opportunity to play, learn, and grow together. Starting in 2012 with just one basketball team of nine players, Mr. Austin’s dedicated stewardship of Play Marin brought steady and expansive growth. The organization currently touches approximately 300 kids annually through multiple age group teams in Basketball, Track & Field, Girl’s Volleyball, and Lacrosse, in addition to swim lessons, mountain biking, skateboarding, field trips, summer camps, and sports clinics. Working full time in other professional roles while driving and managing this swift and substantial growth in Play Marin, in 2018 Paul accepted the position of College Completion and Career Advisor for Bridge the Gap College Prep. Here he is responsible for advising and creating college persistence and graduation plans for low-income students, working with them from high school through college graduation and beyond. He guides every aspect of the high school to college to graduation experience for first-generation college students; including identification and application, transitioning from high school, providing motivation and support for student personal health and academic performance, and coaching on the transition from college to career. Additionally, Paul is the Community Liaison for Luminate Capital Partners, a Lulu Lemon Ambassador, and board member of Extra Food. Married to Miller Creek Middle School Principal, Tenisha Tate, and the father of two, Paul Austin’s world is dedicated to the well-being of young people. He is a long-standing advocate for Marin youth, serving as their coach, counselor, and cheerleader, while constantly promoting the invaluable mission of bringing kids of diverse backgrounds together through play.