![Junior Diya Arun stares out a window. For Arun, the winter season brings out the holiday blues. “ I think [the winter] has a negative effect on my mental health because I feel like the cold weather and people around me are also sadder [and] that affects me,” Arun said.](https://theblazerrhs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_8047-1200x800.jpg)
![The Phoenix varsity volleyball team lines up for the national anthem. “We were more communicative [with each other] during this game, and I feel like we kept our energy up, especially after the first set,” senior Jessica Valdov said.](https://theblazerrhs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DSC_0202-1200x800.jpg)
Excited to foster change, Coach Ousmane Barry joined as an assistant coach for the Phoenix football and softball teams this year. In his high school career, Barry was quite the athlete. He played football, baseball, basketball, and soccer. Once his days as a player ended, his passion and love for sports naturally led him to become a coach.
Despite recently joining the Phoenix coaching staff, Barry has already been able to make an impact on many athletes. This past National Signing Day, seniors Darien Ferrell and Demarius Stewart, both of whom Barry coached, signed to go play at their respective colleges. “It was probably one of the single most important things to happen to them in their lives and knowing how much it meant to them filled me with pure joy and excitement,” Barry said.
Barry is very passionate about coaching and is eager to help out all of his players both on the field and off of it. “It’s my biggest wish to be the sort of coach/mentor that I myself never had and needed as a kid, with the goal being to provide kids with opportunities for improvements of themselves and their careers,” Barry said. He views coaching as a way for him to be exactly who he needed when he was a kid.
Barry understands that a good coach has the ability to change a player’s life and be their role model. “I also get to be a huge, and hopefully positive, influence on future generations, providing them with the necessary guidance, reassurance, and love that so many young people need at this certain point in their lives,” Barry said.
Even with all the memorable moments that come with the job, coaching is not as easy as it seems. Through both wins and losses, Barry finds valuable lessons from each experience. “It’s an extremely humbling experience that constantly reminds me of the virtues of empathy, compassion, and patience,” Barry said.
Despite this being Barry’s first year as a coach, he has found a true love for coaching and feels at home in the Phoenix community. “I see myself coaching for a very long time and inshallah (if God wills) it’ll be as a Phoenix,” Barry said.
