A select group of boys at Meridian High School have a new face to look up to — even if he is less than two years removed from high school himself.
The hardest part about coaching a freshmen boys basketball team, says 2015 Sequim High grad Alex Barry, is making sure his players are focused.
“Plus, me being just four or five years older than them, they have to realize I’m their coach,” Barry says. “I’m not super strict but if they’re not listening, I may have to yell.”
So it goes in the mini crash course in coaching for Barry, now a sophomore at Western Washington University.
After winning a state 2A title in the javelin as a high school senior, Barry signed on to compete for the Vikings’ track and field team and, in his second season, earned a national meet-qualifying throw and placed 14th overall among Division II men.
But Barry also finished at or near the top in the record books of nearly every SHS statistical category in basketball after a star-studded, four-year varsity career — including an Olympic League MVP honor as a senior.
It was natural, then, that he wanted to continue playing hoops, even if it wasn’t playing for Western. Intramural hoops would suffice. Except, that didn’t sit well with coaches, who held him out of a meet, Barry says.
“I still wanted to be part of the game,” he says.
A friend was coaching a freshman-level volleyball team at nearby Meridian High School, a small, 1A school north of Bellingham proper.
“They really liked me,” Barry says. “I’ve helped out but I’ve never really coached before.”
His introduction to the “profession” of coaching was a swift one: a WWU class in coaching basketball and a couple of days of shadowing Meridian varsity coach Shane Stacy.
Then, it was left to Barry and his nine ninth-graders. None of them are taller than 6 feet, so the 6-foot 4-inch Sequim native has a bit of leverage when he’s coaching.
“They like to compete. I’ll stand near the basket and make them go for hard shots,” he says.
So far? So good. Playing in the tough Northwest Conference, Barry and his freshman Trojans were 5-0 heading into their final two games before the end of winter break. All of the games have been tight, with no game decided by more than eight points.
An early season highlight, Barry says, was a Dec. 19 game against Sedro-Woolley. With transportation issues, the Trojans arrived with just five minutes to warm up and it showed, as Meridian fell behind by 12 points.
At halftime, Barry says, he let them know that “every game matters,” then channeled his inner runner — Barry was a standout runner in high school, helping Sequim High to a 4×400 relay stats title — by quoting racing icon Steve Prefontaine: “To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.” Meridian’s freshman hoopsters responded, winning 47-39.
The experience has left Barry considering coaching somewhere down the line, but for now he’s a busy student-athlete. He attends classes starting at 8 a.m., then hits outdoor track practice at 2 p.m. (including some javelin run-up exercises in the Bellingham snow), a 20-minute meal break, then on to Meridian for 5-7:30 p.m. practice, eat, study, sleep and repeat.
It’s a schedule Barry says he could complete only after deciding not to compete in the track and field indoor season, one that begins Jan. 14.
The coaching and the competing are fun, but Barry says he has eyes on a bigger prize: a career in pediatric therapy, specializing in neurological development. He says he got interested in physical therapy after seeing his father Michael go through surgery and going through rehabilitation for his own knee issues.
“The dream job is to work with babies at Seattle Children’s Hospital,” he says.
Reach Michael Dashiell at editor@sequimgazette.com.
