One of Leven's senior volleyball players wrote an essay about him for her English class. (See below) I thought this paper was written perfectly for him. I know it made his day when he read it. It doesn't matter how bad your day is something like this makes all the negative go away. If you are reading this and Coach Barker has ever been your coach...leave a comment in our comment box. I'm sure he would love to hear your thoughts.
Happy Friday.
9, 10, Leven Barker
“Oh my gosh, he is so scary!”
“I know! He yells at us for every little thing!”
Coach Barker was the conversation being dispersed throughout the whole gym of volleyball girls. It was the second day of two a days and we were all stretching while we were waiting for him to begin practice.
“THERE SHOULD BE NO TALKING, IF YOU’RE TALKING YOU’RE NOT
STRETCHING!”
The gym immediately quietened. The air conditioning unit and drops of water bounced off the gym floor filling the silent atmosphere. He paced around the gym staring at each volleyball girl with fierce eyes. Coach Barker’s height made him powerful without saying anything. His eyes are like lasers, just looking at them makes you swell up. The feeling of unexpectedness was killing us. However, that is the mind of a freshman. The freshmen year Coach Barker is nothing compared to the senior year role model we all love.
“Atta baby Robey….Nice set….Bam!!”
These are some of the phrases you would hear entering a lady pirate volleyball practice now. His sense of humor enlightens practice to where it is fun and enjoyable but at the same we all have our minds set on volleyball. Along with 7 returning varsity players, Coach Barker is one of the reasons we can achieve our goal of reaching the state tournament this year. Over the years, we have realized his ways of discipline and coaching are making us better athletes and shows that he believes in us. Also, fundamentally he is definitely the best coach in East Texas. He has played volleyball his whole life and knows every aspect of the game, whether it is a certain position, line up, or rotation. Without Coach Barker Pine Tree Volleyball would not be the same. We wouldn’t be able to make fun of his accent, or pick on him for his growing belly. If we did not have him as a coach, we would not be able to win as many games as we have. Coach Barker has made us tougher on the court. He has our mind set to win mentality. Losing is unacceptable. With our kind of mentality we would not have been able to fight through our close games or play to our level in the easy wins. Freshmen year we dreaded being on varsity. Now, we have never loved a coach more in our lives. We have changed him to be a better person, and he has definitely changed us. When this group of seniors leave, it will be a heart break for us and for him.
Lauren Cude
Yes, I am a very proud coaches wife!
1 comment:
You should be a proud coach's wife!!! I am so proud of him!
Ok, since he was my coach- I'll leave a comment :) That paper was good- brought up a LOOOOOOT of memories! He was FAR from having a belly. He was a lanky, skinny (and I mean skinny- could we post some old pictures of him?! lol), punk (haha)!The summer going into my freshman year, he held open gym a few days a week. He had just moved from Crockett. (yuk) ;) I remember all of us playing and he was yelling at me for something- who knows. My approach was probably jacked up. I just remember it ticking me off bc he was rude about it and going home to tell my parents that I did NOT like the new volleyball coach and I didn't know if I wanted to play for him. (Little did I know, he would be one of the BEST coaches I ever played for... and thank God he stayed in Mexia the whole time I was there!) I remember loving volleyball practice- and the one thing we loved the most was him playing with us. (I'm curious how much he plays now since he's getting old ;) Hmmm.... I could probably go on and on! I need to tell Lindsey to come read this blog and add some of her memories of him....... his clip board being thrown was probably his trademark while we were in school. Not sure how many he broke...... the leaper in the weight room- I think that's what it was called. It had death written all over it, but he loved that thing. :/ ...... his "love" for cheerleaders. Unfortunately for him, his volleyball team was full of them :)
This was a fun post Devin! I guess since I went to the homecoming game tonight, I was already thinking about all my high school memories. You married a great man and I hope/KNOW he realizes he married an AWESOME woman. You were perfect for him. I'm so happy for all of his success at PineTree and I hope I can make it to a game this year! Goodnight!
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