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Under new direction, Barrie has new attitude

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006

Last year, the Barrie School saw a surge in its athletics program. First, the boys basketball team won the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference North Division regular-season crown. Then, the Mustangs golf team won the PVAC title in the spring. Attitudes about sports at the K-12 private school in northern Silver Spring on Layhill Road were changing.

‘‘You could see it in the fan buses we had going to away games and the increased school spirit,” Barrie athletics director Mike Kowalchick said. ‘‘Those championships brought an attitude and energy to the [entire] program.”

As a result of new attitude and energy, Barrie has revamped its fall sports program. Kowalchick sought out coaches with extensive backgrounds in their respective sports. Silvino Gonzalo, the head coach of the Virginia Royals, a semi-professional soccer team, was named boys soccer coach. Caitlin James, a former player at the University of Dayton (Ohio), an NCAA Division I school, was named girls soccer coach. James Chan, who had run several clinics for the Maryland Volleyball Association that included Barrie athletes, was named the girls volleyball coach. Only golf coach Kara Fortunato, and equestrian coach Paige Howe — whose team competes year round and won the Inter-School Horse Show Series last year — were head coaches at the school last fall.

‘‘The coaches we had here did a great job of holding our athletic program together,” Kowalchick said. ‘‘We are in a place where we are ready for something new. We aren’t looking for a cut-throat athletic program, but we want them to be competitive, which is reasonable.”

Part of that shift in the athletic program came with the arrival of head of school Tim Trautman, now entering his third year at Barrie. Looking around the campus, at a new state-of-the-art gymnasium, and at budding middle-school athletes, who chose either physical education or interscholastic sports as part of their everyday curriculum, he made a decision.

‘‘Kids need to go out and do,” Trautman said. ‘‘They can’t sit in the classroom all day long. A lot of the programs we have existed before I got here, but what we have here, we’ll do well. We see the potential, now we just have to build it. I see high participation and championships. More importantly, I see kids discovering different dimensions of their personality.”

In its pursuit of new athletic heights, Barrie is trying to strike a balance. Not to lose sight of its participatory past, athletes at the middle-school level that want to play an interscholastic sport are guaranteed to see the field. Kowalchick added that almost three-quarters of the coaches at the middle-school level are also teachers at the school, lending a familiarity to the sometimes intimidating process of going out for a team in an unfamiliar sport.

‘‘At the middle-school level, every kid that wants to play is provided that opportunity,” Kowalchick said. ‘‘The emphasis is on development. Every kid that wants to will get into the game.”

At the upper-school level, competing against some larger schools in the PVAC, coaches are not required to play every player on the team. However, given the limited number of upper-school students — about 100 according to Kowalchick — finding space for those interested is often not a problem. Only the boys basketball team —the only boys sport offered in the winter — has a varsity and junior-varsity team.

‘‘We don’t have a no-cut policy, but if kids show up, and work hard at practice, and they show they want to play, they are going to have a spot on the team,” Kowalchick said.

What they will also have this season are varsity coaches that have considerable expertise in their chosen sport. James has already seen the difference in her limited time at the school.

‘‘The school is doing it in the right way because they are making sure that the kids are having fun,” she said. ‘‘But, the girls seem to have a new attitude. In all the sports, they seem a little more dedicated, and the freshmen coming up seem a little more skilled. They are excited to have a woman coaching them, and I love to hear that, because it’s important they have someone that they can relate to.”

In fact, the revamped middle-school athletics program has led to some higher skill at the upper-school level. Gonzalo, who coached the boys middle-school soccer team at Barrie last year, now has some of those players on the varsity level. That familiarity paid off, as the Mustangs defeated the McLean (Va.) School in its season opener, 2-1, on Thursday.

‘‘They are definitely more skilled than where they used to be,” Gonzalo said. ‘‘They know what I bring to the program, and they are working hard and taking advantage of it. I am looking forward to the season.”

Trautman is looking forward to the new season as well. In many ways, he views the athletics program as an extension of the educational philosophy of the school.

‘‘The school is very enthusiastic,” Trautman said. ‘‘Athletic programs ought to be serving all kinds of kids, not just the ones who see themselves as athletes. Often, the greatest success stories are from kids who did not see themselves as athletes. It gives them an opportunity to express themselves in a whole new way.”

As athletics director, however, Kowalchick is the one responsible for implementing the changes in the athletics program at Barrie. He has taken the pulse of the community and found it ready for these changes.

‘‘The faculty and staff have been very supportive,” Kowalchick said. ‘‘The parents are ready for this, and the kids are, too. We’re looking to grow and be competitive in our league, which is attainable. That helps our community at Barrie as a whole.”