When his senior season of football was postponed until the “Fall Sports II” season before the school year started, St. Mary’s senior Zach Barden faced a decision. Should he take what would’ve been a nearly six-month break and not play until football started up again, or should he pick up a new sport in the meantime?
It wasn’t that hard of a decision, and Barden chose the latter. And after completing the fall season with the soccer team, he decided even a three-month break was too much — so he went out and made the Spartans’ boys basketball team.
Barden is just the latest in a series of student-athletes who have decided that 2020 was the perfect time to pick up a new letter (or two) for the varsity jacket, becoming a four-sport athlete in the process.
“I just thought it would be a really cool opportunity to get out there and experience some other sports at the high school level,” said Barden, who transferred to St. Mary’s from Austin Prep following his freshman year. “I love being in that team sport atmosphere and I didn’t want to take any seasons off, so everything just came together from there.”
In a normal year for Barden, he plays football in the fall and then works to gear up for lacrosse in the spring. But last spring he missed his junior season of lacrosse, and he had no senior football season to look forward to this fall. Instead of getting upset about it, he decided to take advantage of his newfound time and jump back into a sport that he hadn’t played in years — soccer.
“The last time I played organized soccer was in fourth grade, and I picked up football after that,” said Barden. “It was a little strange the first week or so, but I had some great teammates who helped along the way and things got easier. It was a really fun opportunity, and playing in the fall is what really made me want to go out for the basketball team in the winter.”
Once the soccer season came to a close in late November, Barden was once again facing a months-long break in play while waiting for football season — which is set to begin in late February. Again, he decided to do something about it by going out for the basketball team, a team that made it all the way to the Division 3 state semifinal last year. Unlike soccer, basketball was a sport that Barden played in high school — as a freshman at Austin Prep.
“Coach (Dave) Brown is always preaching about rebounding and defense, and I feel like that’s something that I can really provide,” said Barden, who stands six feet tall and weighs in around 210 pounds. “We have a great team with a lot of talented players, so whatever I can do to help the team is fine with me.”
Barden hopes that his time with the basketball team this winter will help keep him in top shape for the football season, which he’s been looking forward to for months.
“I think football is one of the best team sports you can play, hands down,” said Barden. “It’s going to be a little strange that we’ll be playing in the middle of winter, but everything’s changed this year so you just have to go with it. We’ll have a great team this year and I’m excited to get back out there.”
And all of that just leads up to Barden’s sport of choice for the future — lacrosse. Having committed to Assumption University for lacrosse, Barden can’t wait to get back out on the field after missing his junior season last spring.
“It was tough missing last year, so we’re all really hoping that things go as planned and we can get out there for my last year of high school lacrosse,” said Barden, who plans to study accounting at Assumption.
In a year that has taken so much away from so many student-athletes, Barden has found a way to have as full a schedule as anyone. And if things go as planned, that schedule will be booked up through June.