 John Barry |
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Years at American:
3rd Year
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Position:
Head Diving Coach
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Coach Barry, in his second year at American, looks to transpose his core diving beliefs of fundamentals, focusing on strong, balanced board-work. That, he believes "is where all great divers begin."
Coach John Barry began his life on the boards in 1970 at the age of seven. During his youth, Coach Barry competed in the Northern Virginia Swimming and Diving League, one of the largest leagues in the country. Throughout his decorated career, he won numerous dual, relay, and divisional titles. In the mid 1980's, Coach John performed in professional diving exhibitions up and down the East Coast of North America, all the from Largo, Maryland up to Toronto, Canada. Coach John's travels as a competitive diver allowed him to absorb the finer points of diving and coaching while working along side some of the great competitive and acrobatic divers of the day.
After a long break from the diving scene while starting a family and working as a Service Manager for Cannon USA, Coach John returned to his diving roots in Arlington, Virginia.
Aside from his work at AU, John coaches several divers competing at the National level under Dominion Dive Club, a U.S. Diving team in Fairfax, Virginia. He also has a "for fun/non-competitive" program in the winter, just to keep interested young divers wet during the colder months. During the summer months Coach John draws some 70 young divers to his program at Overlee Swim Club. He also coaches at an Arlington Public Middle and High School, where his son and daughter now compete.
