The winter season of sports and the new spring season starts on February 28th, which includes] Baseball, Softball, Boy’s and Girl’s Tennis, Boy’s and Girl’s Golf, and Track and Field. 

Baseball tryouts will be starting on February 28th on the baseball field. This season, they plan on making it to the playoffs and they hope to show consistent improvement throughout so that they are playing the best ball when the playoffs begin. The team has to come in prepared and ready to put in lots of work into the season. They have all worked hard on and off the field and are ready to start playing again.

Brady Burdick, the baseball coach, is excited to see the 2022 team identity will be and this season they have a great senior class who are very excited to lead their younger players. 

Junior, Sam Weber, has been playing baseball for as long as he can remember. This year, he is looking forward to meeting new coaches and is excited to get a full season with games to play since they didn’t get the opportunity last year. One of Weber’s goals for this season is to be a top team in the Mt. Hood Conference. 

“I like baseball mostly because of the community and relationships that have made and will continue to make in this sport. I love this sport and can’t wait to get to work this season,” mentions Weber. 

Senior, Zach Maynard, has been playing baseball for 13 years. He is looking forward to building a family environment back with the team and being able to have a full season to prove what they weren’t able to show last year. 

“One of my goals is to be able to help the team prosper and to be able to make it as far as we can for our senior season and possibly win the championship,” explains Maynard. Maynard likes that baseball is a family environment where they get to build bonds with everyone. 

Senior, Yamato Uptegrove, has been playing baseball for 11 years. Uptegrove is looking forward to having a full season that allows the team to grow as they play more games. 

Uptegrove says, “I hope to lead Mt. Hood Conference in batting average, on base average and also earning first team all league honors.” Baseball can be an extremely challenging sport, and it’s hard to stay positive. For Uptegrove, baseball is the ultimate clubhouse sport where the love of the game means more than wins or losses. 

“I can be a bit of a clown sometimes, but that’s the glory of baseball, it’s filled with the funniest and wild athletes out there,” states Uptegrove. 

Burdick is looking for players that are coachable, who are looking to improve and that are capable of understanding that when you put on your Barlow baseball uniform you’re representing your school, your teammates and your family as well. Burdick wants to stay with his team, “give the effort your teammates, coaches and families deserve when you step between the foul lines. If you continue to do this, the game will reward you.” 

Boys Tennis tryouts will be held on February 28th. Andrew Pate, boy’s tennis coach, has a goal for this season to win the Mt. Hood Conference and send some players to the state tournament. 

“I am excited for returning players who are great to work with, hard working and just great guys to be around. They have worked hard off season and I’m excited to see how they’ll do this season,” says Pate. 

Jake Stump, a junior, is a returning varsity player who has been playing tennis since his freshman year. Stump is excited to get to play with a partner and is excited to play a good league this season. 

“My goal for this season is to try to make the first double with conference as a team.” Stump went on to say, “the coaching is amazing and Pate is an amazing guy which is what I like the most about playing tennis.” 

Joel Moffat, another returning varsity tennis player has also been playing since his freshman year. He is really excited to be playing again this season and he hopes to do well in the district tournament and to just have a lot of fun. Every boy in the tennis team is excited to start playing tennis again. 

Senior, Ken Wilson, is excited to get to play a full season and not have to wear masks. “My goal for this season is to win districts,” mentions Wilson. The whole boy’s tennis team is very excited to play this season. Pate says, “I am excited to see what the team’s hard work, mental toughness and great attitude will continue this season.” 

Girl’s Tennis practices will be starting on February 28th with Eric Strandberg, who has been coaching for eight years. Strandberg wants his girl’s to play as hard as they can, to improve and have fun. Tennis is all about having fun and working hard to get to where they want to go. Most girls will continue playing tennis in college which is an amazing thing to Strandberg. 

The girl’s in the team are one of the nicest kids, for Strandberg they are great to hang around with at practices and during matches. “I am looking for players that are willing to work hard, encourage, be good teammates and have great skills,” mentions Strandberg. Even if you’re not good at tennis Strandberg is accepting everyone to come and play tennis with the team. 

Sophie Bier, a senior, has been playing tennis for five years. This season she is looking forward to having fun at practices with the team. “My goals for the season are to have fun and go as far as I can in the district tournament,” says Bier. She really enjoys the strategy of the game and her teammates. Tennis is a competitive sport but it’s also really fun and that’s why they enjoy it. 

Natalie Budge,a senior, has been playing tennis since 5th grade and is looking forward to getting the chance to improve everyday and make it to state. She mentions, “I like the connections I have made through it and it is a great stress relief for me.”  Budge is overall excited to start playing again and being able to see her teammates again. 

The girl’s tennis team is excited to start playing again and so is Strandberg. Strandberg says, “their value comes from who they are as young women, not on what they do on the tennis court.” 

Boy’s Golf will be starting on February 28th at the Gresham Golf Course. The team accepts and includes all that want to be involved and participate so there will be no tryouts and there will be no cuts. Coach, Mark Quinn, plans for this season are to help each of his players get what they want from this season. He hopes for the competitive aspect of the season to win the conference and place in the top ten in state. They will all be working hard this season, but still be having fun to get to where they want to be, which is in state. 

Carter Fox, a senior, has been playing golf for six years and is looking forward to making memories with some of the best people he has met in high school. “I hope to take home a championship this season,” Fox says. Quinn is looking forward to this season for three main reasons. One of them is to get to spend time with his best students and parents of any sport. Two, he has a very competitive, highly skilled core of a group that he believes are ready to shine in the matches and he can’t wait to see what they can do, and three he is hoping to record numbers of Bruins to turn out for the sport to keep the program running. Quinn says, “I really like that coaching golf is helping players that really want to play well and are willing to work hard at it. It’s great to see improvement throughout the season and it feels good to know that I was a part of that result.” 

Track and Field will not begin having tryouts they accept all, but the practice will be starting on February 28th. Coach Scott Jones is very excited to start the new season. He is looking forward to a more normal full season. Jones is looking for a player that loves to run and compete. People who are team players but individually can compete well and desire for each event and want to push themselves. Jones wants to think big this year and is excited to see the new freshman class. Everyone in the team is all excited to get to see the family they all created. Girl’s Golf will be starting on February 28 at the Gresham Golf Course. This season, coach David Spirlin, wants all his players to enjoy their time practicing and playing and work hard on their skills to get better each day. Spirlin is looking forward to getting to know his players and their families since he is the new coach. Spirlin would like to see players that are motivated to get better at golf and to compete. Spirlin would like to say to his team, “find it and hit it.”

Senior, Parker Waugh, has been doing Track and Field since 6th grade. Waugh is looking forward to competing at the highest level with all the competitive meets this season. He hopes to win a state championship in the 800, break the school record in the 800 and run sub 4:00 in the 1500. Waugh likes that you can compete at a high level and the friendships that you make while doing track and field. All coaches this year have talked about having a motto which is to accomplish good things. All coaches are willing to do anything to get their teams to get to the championships, and to win the Mt Hood Conference, but for them their kids’ education comes first and they want to see that you’re doing good in school before you start competing. 

Barlow Track and Field has had some of the highest GPA in the states during parole. Jones says, “To accomplish something extraordinary, one must have an extraordinary dream, a goal so high, a journey so demanding that its achievement to others might seem impossible. There are some in this world that wake up and search for the impossible to become one of them.” 

Everyone is excited to be starting the new spring sports and all coaches are excited to see the new people that will be joining this season, and they are all hoping to see you there.