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Triple Play Triple Threat -- Michael Barnes, Sussex Hamilton

01/15/2015, 10:15am CST
By Mark Miller

Name: Michael Barnes

School: Sussex Hamilton High School

Grade: Senior

Football Honors: As a three-year varsity letter winner for coach John Damato ... Starting quarterback and punter as a junior and senior ... Honorable mention all-Greater Metro Conference for punting as a junior and second-team all-league punter as a senior ... Selected as the Player of the Week for Sussex Hamilton seven times, including twice on offense and five times for special teams ... Earned the Greater Metro Conference scholar athlete award by maintaining above a 3.5 grade point average ... Passed for 426 yards as a senior while helping Chargers to a 4-6 record.

Basketball Honors: Two-year varsity performer for coach Andy Cerronni ... A 6-foot-2 forward currently averaging 4.1 points per game for a 7-4 squad ... Made the junior varsity squad as a freshman and sophomore ... Voted team captain by his teammates ... Scored career-high eight points in a game against Wauwatosa East this season.

Baseball Honors: Three-year varsity performer for coach Mike Schramek ... Voted Newcomer of the Year by his teammates as a freshman ... Helped team advance to sectional finals as a junior ... Voted captain of the team ... Selected as the team Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year as a junior ...  Starting catcher for the Chargers who threw out 70 percent of the of runners attempting to steal ... Second on the team in assists with 28 ... Unanimous first-team all-conference pick and honorable mention all-state selection as a junior ... In 31 games, batted .350 with 31 runs batted in and a .475 on-base percentage.

Track Honors: Three-year varsity member for coach Andy Bosley ... Competes in the jumps and hurdles for the Chargers ... Member of the first-place 300-meter hurdling relay crew at the Greater Metro Conference Meet as a junior. 

Favorite Sport: "Baseball has always been my favorite sport. I have been playing it the longest, developed the best relationships with my teammates growing up and the weather is usually very good. On every single pitch, something could happen and that’s why people who say baseball is boring are simply wrong. Also, being a catcher, I get to call the pitches and am involved in every single pitch."

Best Advice From a High School Coach: "Coach Damato would always give us real-life stories that would relate to football, or vise versa. One thing that he would say again and again was we need to knock the toughness out of our opponent, wear them down physically and mentally. I can’t remember who had told me this, but a coach once told me that sometimes in order to win, you need to ‘play smarter, not harder.’ "

Best Part of High School Sports:  "By being involved in several sports, there is always something to do. There’s a different group of guys for each sport with some certain guys overlapping. I get along well with all my teammates, but it’s nice to always have several groups of guys that have your back, on and off the field."

Most Memorable Moment in High School Sports: "As a junior in baseball, we started the season 2-9. We thought it was going downhill and fast. However, we turned it around and got hot at the right time. We strung some wins together and won three playoff games in a row on the road to make the sectional finals. Those are some games I will never forget because people didn’t believe that we would make it that far, especially after the start we had. Also, playing varsity baseball as a freshman was a unique experience, and the seniors on the team were very good role models, and hilarious to be around."

Best Part of Participating in Four Sports: "There’s never a dull moment in my life. There’s one week after baseball ends, before football starts that there is absolutely nothing going on. I get to go up north and relax, but get sort of bored by the end of the trip. I couldn’t imagine not having something to do every single night. I love the constant moving and competing."

Toughest Part of Playing Four Sports: "The toughest part of playing four sports is not being able to do a lot of the offseason things. I couldn’t be a part of a travel baseball team, missed a lot of summer basketball games, and couldn’t attend a lot of football weightlifting and speed training. However, I would always attend as much as I could, and the coaches were very understanding."

Favorite Opponent: "Brookfield Central is always a very tough opponent, no matter what sport. In baseball, they had some very talented pitching, and hitters that were always a good test for ourselves. Their field is very nice and I enjoy playing there each year. In football, they always had some monsters on the line, but our football team always prevailed. In basketball, they’ve had some extremely talented players come through and we’ve been competing against the same guys in my grade since we were young. Overall, they are very tough in every sport and match up well with us."

Favorite Professional Teams: "I like the local teams, of course. I love the Brewers, Packers and Bucks. For each sport, I like a different team as well. I like watching and following the Atlanta Hawks, Seattle Seahawks, and Tampa Bay Rays. I have liked these teams for a majority of my life, and nothing makes me more angry than being called a bandwagoner."

Favorite Professional Athletes: "In baseball, I have liked Carl Crawford from when he played for Tampa Bay. I also liked Mike Matheny, my inspiration to become a catcher, who I got to know while he played for the Brewers. In the NFL, I liked watching Shaun Alexander growing up. Carl and Shaun were why I began liking the Rays and Seahawks. My favorite current day athlete is Kyle Korver, sharp shooter for the Atlanta Hawks.  Not only is he a standout person off the court, but is extremely fun to watch. Also, there’s no better feeling than torching my friends with him while playing basketball video games."

Favorite College Teams: "Again, I like the local team, Wisconsin. I'm not too much into college football, but TCU is my team when it comes to football. Aside of the Badgers and Horned Frogs, I enjoy the Villanova Wildcats, but not for any specific reason."

GPA: "My cumulative GPA is a 3.8 with honors and AP courses taken. I’m very proud of my GPA but am more proud of the fact I have not missed a day of school in seven years, despite playing the sports."

Toughest Individual You've Competed Against: "Luke Sommerfeld and Parker Sniatynski are two current day SLU players I competed against for three years. Both were phenomenal hitters as well as very good pitchers. There was a challenge to see how well my hitting matched up with top pitching."

Most Admired Teammate: "Nick Patterson, current running back at University Wisconsin-Whitewater, was always a great role model. He was the last four-sport athlete to go through Hamilton before me. I didn’t get to play football or basketball with him, but in track for all of the grades we did practice together. We were teammates on the baseball field and he was a great leader, as well as a great person."

College Plans: "As of right now, I intend to attend Ripon College and play baseball. I am undecided in my major as of now, but I will go as far as I can in Spanish and plan on minoring in it while learning the language as well as possible."

Activities Outside of Sports: "I am involved in National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society, Spanish Club as a member  as well as being on the executive board. I help teach a church class for my brother’s grade on Sunday nights as well."

I find it Relaxing to: "I find it very relaxing to play video games. I could play for hours and hours and enjoy the variety of games that I play. Believe it or not, I am abosutely terrible at Madden and any baseball video game."

Favorite TV show: "I enjoy watching Hawaii 5-0 with my dad every week. On my own time, South Park never fails to make me laugh."

Favorite Movie: "I cannot pick a single movie from the three Batman movies that Christopher Nolan directed. They are very action-packed and tell such a great story."

Favorite Subject: "My favorite subject by far is Spanish. I find it very cool that some of my thoughts start to appear in Spanish. There isn’t really an end to what I can do with Spanish and am looking forward to travelling abroad at some point in my life."

Favorite Restaurant: "Going to Chancery and having some onion strings and delicious mac and cheese is something I wish I could have more often than the occasional family birthday outing."

Favorite Website: "I enjoy going onto SportsNation and filling out the polls and trying to do the quizzes."

Other Family Members: Robbin (mom), John (dad), Christopher (brother), Grandmother and Grandfather. 

(If you'd like to nominate a senior three-sport athlete from Wisconsin for the Triple Play Triple Threat feature, please contact Mark Miller at wbnews@charter.net).

 

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