Sunday Sitdown with ... Kelly Barnett
By KEVIN DRULEY
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kdruley@kcchronicle.com
Kelly Barnett enthusiastically assumed control of the St. Charles East softball team after Eric Ray stepped down following a 15-15-1 season a year ago. She was ready to go then, which only made her antsier once practices started this past week. With energy to spare, the Saints' assistant for two seasons addressed her philosophy, playing days and more with sports reporter Kevin Druley in this week's Sunday Sitdown.
Do you rotate these early practices outside on nice days like [Thursday]?
Absolutely. Without a doubt. It's always interesting to see the fields and the dethawing. You can't be on it when it's first warm. It will either be parking lot ball or we'll find some grass somewhere.
You take it as it comes, then?
You have to. The best teams are the ones that can adapt to making the most of their indoor practice time. So, for us, that's what the goal is.
You're jumping right in with what you normally do in these early practices?
Absolutely. We had cuts [Wednesday] and I told all the kids the work begins [Thursday]. So we're going to go at it and we're going to go work as hard as we can whether it's inside or outside. It's go time now.
Tell me about the improvements to the facility.
The booster club has been an instrumental part on the redesign of the field. We've got new backstops and new dugouts on the varsity field. Backstops are also in on the freshman and junior varsity fields, and quite a bit of fencing has been replaced, as well. Really to just make it a safe place for the girls to play in. The school district has helped out a little bit, but really the boosters have done nothing but work hard to get the facility up to par with the other facilities in this town and within the conference and the state.
How is it different to go from assistant to running the show?
It's a nice change. I really appreciated and I learned a lot from my previous years of being an assistant coach, but it's exciting to be implementing my own vision. Yeah, the responsibility goes up and the teaching goes up, but hopefully the reward will also be increased when the end of the year comes around.
What is your own vision?
Well, I believe that no matter what we're doing you have to work hard and you have to have big dreams. So I tell the kids you just need to dream a little bit and then we're going to work hard to accomplish your dreams. I think any problem can be solved if you work hard. If you think you can do something and you work hard to get it, you're going to go a lot of places in life. And so I really think that softball is just a small corner of learning these lessons that help these young women successful later. I know that was the case for me, that sure I'm definitely not a professional softball player, but a lot of lessons I learned on the field I've taken into my own life. You can't replace that.
When did you realize that you weren't going to be a professional softball player and thus wanted to coach?
I'll answer it the opposite way. As soon as I was in high school, as soon as I was in middle school, I had two fantastic coaches. Jim Schaudt, who's now retired from West Chicago and Lee Maciejewski, the old Glenbard West coach who now coaches at Hinsdale Central. Both of them were instrumental in my development as a player but instrumental in my development as a person. So I always knew that that's a job I wanted someday. I wanted to be that person. I always wanted to be a coach. Pro fastpitch came a little too late in my college career for that to even register as a dream in the picture. I'm envious of the girls today, though, because they have that league to look and strive for if they want to.
Could you hit Jennie Finch?
I was a freshman and Jennie Finch, I believe, was a senior at the University of Arizona. And I don't think they even pitched her against us. I would say no, probably not.
So you played them?
Yeah. Western Michigan went everywhere across the country. But we went out to their facility two of my four years [Barnett graduated in 2005] and played against them and in tournaments that they were in. So yeah, I've been lucky enough to see her in real life.
Considering how recently you had played, are you pretty well hands-on?
Absolutely. I don't know if for my entire life I'll be able to show the kids the skills I want them to perform, but at this stage, yeah. My assistant [Jarod Gutesha] and I are both younger and able to move and demonstrate. I think that helps with us, I think that really helps.
How's your chatter looking? I know that's a big part of softball.
That's a huge part, for me. When I remember playing in college, there wasn't one pitch, there wasn't once second where the field was quiet. Every fielder has got something to say, and they have to. So hopefully, that's one of the first changes. I think it'll be one of the toughest to catch on, but we're going to talk and talk with a purpose every single pitch. Because that builds the energy, that builds enthusiasm, and that's what can hopefully take us over the edge.
You've just made cuts, I know, and there are still three weeks to the first game, but how do you size up the season?
We should be competitive. There are 11 girls returning, and I told them that nothing is guaranteed. I believe in a lot of good, healthy competition, and we'll definitely have that. That will only make us stronger.
