|
|
Family support aids coach, athletic director
|
|
|
Kari McBride (left), athletic director at The Catholic High School of Baltimore, enjoys spending time with her husband, Rob, strength and conditioning coach at Archbishop Spalding High School, Severn. (CR Staff/Owen Sweeney III)
|
By Sue Thompson
The Catholic Review
Married seven years in August, Rob and Kari McBride have created a life surrounded by sports and two beautiful children.
Rob, a full-time strength and conditioning coach at Archbishop Spalding High School, Severn, and Kari, a full-time athletic director at The Catholic High School of Baltimore, have learned how to effectively and efficiently juggle their demanding schedules while fostering a dynamic family life.
“We have a lot of family help and support,” said Mrs. McBride.
Once the academic year kicks back into gear, the family carpool will pull out at 6:45 a.m. and head to grandma’s house. From there, the two young McBride children, Riley, 4, and Ally, 2, will head home at 3:30 p.m. to be watched by a neighbor until Rob or Kari return home, 12 hours from when their day started.
“We have the energy to make this work, but some days are just crazy,” Mrs. McBride said. “Sometimes I cannot believe all that I have accomplished in a two-hour span of time.”
Despite long nights at school, “home game” responsibilities at Catholic High and late evenings at Spalding, both parents remain committed to spending quality time, every evening, with their two children.
“It’s all about them right now, and we want to spend as much time with them as we can,” said Mrs. McBride, as Riley and Ally ran around her chair for a hug in their Anne Arundel County home July 17.
Rob and Kari met at what is now McDaniel College. Both were majoring in physical education. Both played sports at the Division III level, as Rob quarterbacked the football team and Kari played soccer and softball.
They are both competitive to a certain degree, but they value the love of the game and the relationships built over the competitive nature of sports.
The McBrides play on a co-ed softball team through the Baltimore Sports Social Club. Rob, 30, continues to play football each Sunday.
Their backyard serves as a sports haven, with frisbees, t-ball, footballs and various other sports equipment.
A love of sports runs in the family. Riley, a preschooler, played soccer and t-ball this year and looks to enroll in a flag football program. Coached by his father growing up, Mr. McBride now coaches his son, and loves the bond that connection forms.
Both Mr. and Mrs. McBride agree that they want sports to be a part of their children’s lives, but for all the right reasons. In fact, they have seen the over-involved parents on the sidelines.
“Believe me, we’ve seen it all,” said Mr. McBride. “We just want to be the kind of parents that stand away from the crowd, on a hill somewhere, and watch our kids.”
Working such long hours is often difficult for Mrs. McBride, who feels that, at times, she misses out on Riley and Ally’s daily activities. “Sometimes I feel like I am getting information second-hand about school and it’s really hard.”
Both Rob and Kari attended Catholic schools and look forward to their children continuing in that path.
“We attend St. Philip Neri Church as often as we can with the kids,” said Mrs. McBride. “We say our prayers with our children every night, and we look forward to sending our children to Catholic elementary and high schools.”
Rob and Kari McBride embrace their hectic schedules and truly love their life.
“I love my family, my two kids, and I want Kari and I to raise them the way we were raised,” Mr. McBride said.
Mrs. McBride chimed in, saying, “We love what we do, and we make it work. We take things day by day and that works best for us.”
|
|
|
|
When it comes to sports, Dabrowski loves them all
|
|
|
Loyola College in Maryland graduate Tricia Dabrowski (left) works with Melissa Biggs during the Between the Pipes lacrosse goalie camp at McDonogh School, Owings Mills, July 9. (CR Staff/Owen Sweeney III)
|
By Sue Thompson
The Catholic Review
Like many children in her Highlandtown community, Tricia Dabrowski began playing soccer at age 2. The sport became part of who the Our Lady of Pompei parishioner was.
Her parents, Bernie and Joyce, were also up to their elbows in soccer while at the helm of the St. Elizabeth Catholic Youth Organization soccer program for more than 15 years. Soccer became a way of life for the family.
Then the Dabrowskis moved to Timonium, where Tricia Dabrowski attended Dulaney High School. Suddenly, lacrosse became equally as addictive as soccer had been.
After an opponent swung her stick right at her head, Dabrowski decided that was it for field play – she headed to the goalie cage.
Before graduating from high school, Dabrowski was recognized as a High School All-American and was recruited by Loyola College in Maryland to stabilize its program.
Dabrowski has a number of fond memories of her four years as a Greyhound, but none more exhilarating than two trips to the NCAA Division I Final Four, defeating the likes of North Carolina and Duke to get there.
It was in college, and all of those summer camps that she worked, where Dabrowski knew that she wanted to become a lacrosse coach. Dabrowski graduated from Loyola College in 2002 with a degree in communication in advertising, but was quickly hired by The Johns Hopkins University, where she served the last six seasons as assistant women’s lacrosse coach.
“I love working with goalkeepers because they hold the momentum of the game in their hands,” said Dabrowski.
For the hundreds of goalies that Dabrowski works with throughout the year, through camps, clubs and team-level competition, she knows that the physical element is important, but the mental piece, the focus and reaction time, is what’s most critical.
“I tell them, there are 11 other people in front of you,” Dabrowski said. “Great goalkeepers know how to separate their mistakes from those mistakes made in the field.”
On a rainy afternoon in July, Dabrowski was working the “Between the Pipes” goalie camp at McDonogh School, something she has done for the past eight years. With 57 young, eager athletes on hand for the three-day goalie camp, Dabrowski focused on breaking old habits, improving technique and teaching strategy.
“I love working with the kids,” she said.
When Dabrowski isn’t picking up the lacrosse balls around the cage, she’s parked on first or third base at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Yes, Dabrowski was selected as an Oriole Ball Girl for the 2008 season.
Dabrowski is assigned four games a month, rotates in with seven others who were chosen through an interview process, and provides in-game and pre-game entertainment for the fans.
In addition, Dabrowski will escort folks to the mound for “first pitches,” help in preparations for the national anthem, and work with honorary bat boys and bat girls for the day.
There’s no doubt that Dabrowski’s busy while holding down the fort at either of the corners during the game. In fact, with her glove in hand, Dabrowski made her first catch of the season when a stinging line-drive came her way down the right field line. Dabrowski jumped up, leaned in, and made a beautiful catch that was replayed on the stadium’s big screen for fans to enjoy.
With a great love for sports, Dabrowski reminds anyone and everyone that sports should be fun.
|
|
|
|
|