Kayla Barone: Pushed to the Limit
10/26/2018 12:11:00 PM | Water Polo, Features
Growing up in a military family helped University of Michigan freshman water polo player Kayla Barone push herself to be the best she can be.
Her father, Steve, was a decorated colonel in the United States Army and played college football at Bloomsburg University. He was a Green Beret, serving in the Delta Force for 10 years with five years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her mother, Lisa, was a captain in the army and a standout basketball player at Fairmont University as she is in the school's Hall of Fame.
Steve and Lisa met at the officer's club while stationed in Fort Hood, Texas, and Kayla was born after they moved to Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Her family moved to Alabama three years later and then back to North Carolina before settling in Pennsylvania after her parents retired from the military.
Kayla tried a lot of different sports and activities and was pushed to reach her full potential in everything she tried to do.
"We always tried to teach the intangibles that are hard to measure to our kids," said Steve. "Hard work, dedication, being coachable, attitude, mental toughness, self-motivation, consistency and poise are all things we tried to instill in them to help them achieve success in life."
Those values helped Kayla strive to be the best. She started taekwondo shortly after the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting and became the fastest in her dojang to become a first-degree black belt. She earned the Silver Award in Girl Scouts, the second-highest award in the program.Â
Around the time Kayla was in fifth grade, Steve noticed her standout athleticism, something he credited to her mother's genes. She was a swimmer and Steve started to help train her.
Barone with her parents, Lisa and Steve
"I remember in seventh grade my dad would pick me up from swim practice and take me to the YMCA," said Kayla. "I would do swim sets then go upstairs and max out on every single machine before doing a mile run. I did that several times and that was when I first realized how hard I could push myself and how hard he could push me."
The workouts were hard but Kayla fed off of it and became even more focused and determined. She began to understand what Steve said, "Strive for perfection in everything you do. Perfect practice makes perfect."
Kayla wasn't only motivated by her father's work ethic. She found other ways to motivate her as well, including having her mom pushing her to excel also.
"Whenever I had a bad day at school or got a bad grade my mom would push me academically," said Kayla. "When she could tell I wasn't giving it my all she would talk to me and push me to find my motivation."
She was introduced to water polo in sixth grade. She was swimming and was friends with a girl on the high school team who invited her to come to one of their practices. She played around with them, passing the ball around and ended up liking it. Her freshman year of high school she joined the team and got more serious about the sport. Â
In high school, Kayla got her motivation from competing against the boy's team in practice. She found them to be stronger and faster. Their strength made it hard for her to release and get shots off.
"We scrimmaged against the boys and I wanted to beat them, score on them," said Kayla. "I always wanted to keep up with them so I got faster. I wanted to learn how to release with more power so that helped me. Working out with them helped my technique with my shot and made it more powerful. It was a really good experience."
Her hard work in the pool paid off as Kayla was invited to the 2017 USA Water Polo Youth National Team selection camp. She was a two-time NISCA/Speedo third team All-American and was the only female in her state to earn first team all-state honors in 2015 and 2016.
Kayla came to Michigan's camp with her team in her sophomore year and was invited to the Wolverines' Junior Day the next season and received an offer to come to school in Ann Arbor.
"At Junior Day I had a chance to watch the team and the band was playing," said Kayla. "I decided that this was home and this was going to be my school."
Michigan head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi recalls seeing something special in Kayla at camp.
"In all my years of coaching national team and international players, Kayla's fluidity in the water is second to none," said Leonardi. "I haven't seen someone move like that in the water. She is fast and athletic but her mobility and ability to change direction allows her to cover water like no other."
Prior to coming to Michigan, Barone also picked up boxing and crossfit training. She said crossfit teaches you how to push yourself without anybody pushing you and boxing was really good for her endurance and arm strength. She is always finding different ways to improve and now she has found a new reason to push.
"I have to find motivation myself in order to help out the team," said Kayla. "I want to do anything I can for the team. I am motivated to be my best self and that is all I can do."
Being her best self has helped her get to this point. Whether it was taekwondo, the Girl Scouts, swim practice, weight sessions or competing against boys, it has helped her get to the point where she is now putting herself in position to make a difference as a freshman for the Wolverines water polo team.Â
