Kolby Barrow: North Penn’s new premier athlete
Senior Kolby Barrow is making contributions on the football, basketball, and baseball team as a three-sport athlete.
TOWAMENCIN- Multi-sport athletes are harder to find more than ever now, yet alone a three-sport athlete. Playing three sports, not only takes extreme athletic talent, but also commitment and dedication to making sure you are at your peak physical and mental condition to perform on the field.
“I think kids just focus on one sport. I don’t know, kids are just not signing up for three sports. If you’re athletic, I feel like you should play everything you can until you can’t basically. But kids are mainly focusing on what they are good at, but then they’re kinda getting steady like they don’t keep improving, but if you play three sports, you’re going to keep improving cause you’re staying in shape and you’re doing all those extra things that you wouldn’t do if you’re playing one sport,” senior Kolby Barrow explained.
Barrow looking for a receiver at practice
Even before Barrow got to the high school, everyone knew that he would contribute a lot to North Penn’s athletic program as he made the JV baseball team as a freshman at Pennfield Middle School. Fast-forward one year later, and Barrow was in the starting rotation for the varsity baseball team along with playing JV football and basketball. His junior year, he decided to step away from football, but continued to play varsity baseball and made the jump to varsity basketball as North Penn’s sharpshooting sixth man. This year he made his highly anticipated return to football as the starting quarterback for the Knights and he’ll continue with basketball and baseball as well.
“Growing up I just played all the sports so I just followed through and just kept playing and all the teammates, especially for football, they convinced me to come back and play so that’s why I played football but baseball and basketball, I’ve always played,” Barrow said.
So how does Barrow handle the grind of always being in season without much of a break at all?
Barrow on defense
“I just really focus on in-season, what’s going on there and then I’ll prepare a little bit for the other sports before everything but it’s mainly focus on what you’re doing right now and that’s your main focus and then once you transition, then that’s your next main focus and it’s just a revolving cycle,” Barrow explained.
Barrow grew up with two sisters that were also pretty good athletes themselves. Cassidy Barrow graduated from North Penn in 2013 and was named the MVP for the Knights field hockey squad that year. She went to Albright College to continue her field hockey career. Five years later, Mikayla Barrow graduated in 2018 and went on to play field hockey at Bloomsburg University. So, Barrow was no stranger to life as a North Penn athlete.
“I’ve always watched them play sports and my mom has always taken me to the football, baseball, and basketball games. When I was younger and playing through youth sports, as a team we would always go watch as a team and I would aspire to be on the field and on the court. So, basically growing up and just seeing everyone play here made me want to play,” Barrow described.
Another family member that has been a big influence for Barrow is his Pop-Pop.
Barrow is a two-way player on the baseball team.
“My Pop-Pop comes to every single sporting event ever since I was like six years old. It doesn’t matter if I’m playing, like if I’m injured he’ll still show up and come out and support the team and it’s just good to see him there every game and every time to know he’s there watching me and I look up to him,” Barrow said.
North Penn’s premier athlete is working to come back from a week two ankle injury as the senior gears up for a year full of expectations. He has been talking to schools about playing collegiate baseball but as of right now, Barrow is looking to finish his North Penn career off strong.
“I’m looking to go as far as we can go and I’m looking to win a lot of games and mainly focus on the team and just improve throughout the season. Always want to get better you don’t want to get worse like for basketball last year we started off really good, but then we got worse where as we want to start off good and keep getting better from there. And baseball, we didn’t make playoffs for the first time in a while and we really want to make playoffs and make a deep run,” Barrow said.
Susan Barr-Shepherd • Sep 17, 2019 at 3:19 pm
What a fantastic honor! We are so proud of this young man! He’s not only a great athlete, but he has a heart of gold! Congratulations to him and his wonderful and supportive family! A true gem! May his journey be blessed!
Aunt Sue
Sara Hee • Sep 17, 2019 at 8:51 am
Kolby is my 2nd cousin, his mother is my first cousin. I have always been fascinated with the dedication of the Barrow Family when it comes to sports. Kolby and his sisters were always doing multiple sports growing up and somehow his parents always made it work to get them to their games and cheer them on. I know that Kolby’s grandfather is extremely proud of him, and that his grandmother is cheering him on from Heaven. My son plays sports as well and Kolby always talks to him about it when they see eachother. He truely is a very kind, mature, heart-of-gold gentelman and I have a feeling great things are in his future. I am beyond proud to call Kolby my family!
Kathy Henry • Sep 14, 2019 at 12:28 pm
Kolby is my nephew, as a matter of fact, I was a Labor &Delivery Nurse and delivered him. Watching him grow, you always knew he was going to be someone special. He was always a great athlete at whatever ball you placed in his hand. He has determination and that yearing to always improve himself .
Kolby, in addition to being a wonderful athlete, he is a caring young man. He is courteous and just a good kid.
He has an autistic cousin, my son, and to see the way he interacts with his cousin shows yet another side of Kolby. One that not all kids his age get.