The Independent – Sept. 17, 2015
By William Geoghegan
NORTH KINGSTOWN — Brian Garrepy, Kevin Harrington and Corey Maack were at the helm for some big years with the North Kingstown High School girls volleyball program, when victories piled up and championships were within reach. Maack coached from 1999 to 2002, Harrington in 2003 and 2004 and Garrepy from the fall of 2004 to 2008.
They eventually moved on to other endeavors but kept a hand in the volleyball world. When the Skippers head coaching job came open after last season, people asked if they’d be interested.
At first, the answer was no. Families, jobs, busy schedules – it was too much.
Then came an idea.
“We said at the beginning we wanted to do it,” Maack said, “but we probably weren’t going to be able to do it if we weren’t together.”
If they were together, they could pick up the slack and split some of the time demands. There was also the lure of building something special. They could get back to the high school ranks, reconnect with their alma mater and team up with a great group of players.
“Helping out at the NK camp every summer, and getting to know these kids – it made me want to get involved again,” Harrington said.
They sent in their applications and put their plan on the table.
“We went to the interview and said, ‘We’d like to do it together,’” Garrepy said.
Not surprisingly, that was just fine with the school. A proven, experienced, high-level coach? How about three?
Officially, Garrepy is listed as head coach and Maack as an assistant. They pushed for Harrington to get the nod as head junior varsity coach. When school department approval came through, the Skippers had their trio. The titles didn’t matter to them.
With the season underway now, it’s been a perfect fit, just as that trio expected. For some coaches, the arrangement wouldn’t work. But Garrepy, Harrington and Maack all grew up playing volleyball under the same coaches. In their first stints as coaches, they used similar philosophies. With the benefit of perspective, they’re even better equipped to embrace a common goal. They’re friends and, on the question of power struggles, they break into laughter.
“Most people would think having three coaches together is weird but their dynamic is actually incredible, and I think we all feed off it,” senior Giuliana Mancini said. “We feel like we’ve improved a lot as players and as a team.”
The Skippers went 6-11 last year, but they had a strong group coming back and were eager to embrace their new mentors.
“Coming into the season, we didn’t know what to expect, but they’ve been great about making us feel prepared for whatever challenges we would face,” senior Amelia Oates said. “We were open to whatever they had to offer us, and they’ve been great the entire time.”
For the coaches, the return to the gym has brought back memories while also highlighting all that’s changed. They were just breaking into coaching the first time around, not much older than their players. Now, Garrepy and Maack each have two children. Garrepy is the associate head coach for the men’s volleyball program at Johnson & Wales. Harrington was also on staff there for several years.
“We’ve all grown and matured – or some of us have matured,” Maack says, joking that Harrington hasn’t and touching off a back-and-forth with his fellow coach. In the meantime, as practice comes to a close, the team winds down after a busy week with a game resembling ultimate frisbee. There’s occasional arm-wrestling and a lot of laughs.
“We have a lot of fun,” Garrepy says.
But there’s plenty of business, too. The Skippers believe they have a lot of potential, and they’ve flashed it in a 3-2 start. They took defending state champ EWG to five games in their opener and also own a victory over perennial powerhouse Coventry.
“We have a good time, and I think that reflects on the girls,” Maack said. “They realize, if they work hard, good things are going to come. We’ve asked these girls to work hard and they haven’t complained a bit. They’re giving us everything they have.”
And they’re happy to.
“We want to work hard for them,” senior Daniella Went said.
Practices are intense and detail-oriented. There’s much more to volleyball than hitting the ball over the net. Every coach knows that. Three coaches with years of experience among them know plenty more.
“It’s hard not to come to practice and learn something, when you have three such experienced coaches,” senior Tracy Kurdziel said. “I come home and I know that I’m better than I was the day before. They have so much guidance.”
“They’re really supportive and it’s a really good environment,” added senior Abby Moretti. “You don’t have to feel bad about making mistakes.”
The preparation carries into matches, where the Skippers have excelled in big moments thus far.
“The other night, all three of us are up and constantly talking the kids through everything. That part of teaching is something we all have – that’s kind of the binding thing,” Garrepy said.
It connects their different personalities and unites their approach.
“There’s never any mixed messages, because they work so well together,” senior Rachel Warner said.
Josefina Sundblad, an exchange student from Argentina, might be floundering without enough guidance somewhere else. Instead, she’s fitting right in.
“They’re very positive and try to help in every way they can,” she said. “They are very specific about the kind of stuff they want to see.”
Challenges will come, of course, but the Skippers expect to be up to the task. They’re feeling good, and the coaches are having a blast. Maack’s and Gareppy’s children are regulars at practices and games, adding to the fun. The schedule is hectic, as they expected, but with each other to lean on, it’s working.
Maack had to miss a recent match for a business trip. In the pregame huddle, the players were asking about him. Garrepy smiled.
“I said, ‘Hey, I miss him too. I want to laugh at something he’s doing and he wants to laugh at me.’ But I said this is exactly why we said we would do this,” Garrepy said. “There are going to be a few times when one of us can’t be here. When we’re all here, you get the full package.”