Burnsky: Fear the Beard

by Kara Thompson ’20 and Conall Sahler ’20

Last year, Sherwood’s social studies department welcomed a new member to their team: Ryan Burnksy. A Sherwood graduate (’05) Burnsky was already familiar with the Sherwood community due to his role as JV boys lacrosse coach. This year, Burnsky is expanding his impact on the school by taking over as the varsity swim and dive coach. 

This position was previously held by engineering teacher Brendan Lees, who stepped down after his 16th year as coach just last season. Burnsky will have large shoes to fill, as the team has just moved up to Division 1, and the girls varsity team has years of winning regionals, divisionals, and states under their belt. Nevertheless, Burnsky isn’t too intimidated by the stakes.  “In order to be the best, you have to compete with the best,” said Burnsky. 

Although this legacy is daunting, Burnsky has many new ideas to bring to the team. As per county rule, high school swim teams are only allowed 2 hours of practice time in the water each week. The other days of the week, Burnsky has been working with Athletic Director Woodward in hopes of having dryland cardio and weight training workouts here at Sherwood. 

As a result of these collaborations, every Wednesday, the swim and dive team will have the opportunity to do hour long workouts alongside the lacrosse team, allowing Burnsky to combine both coaching positions into one. These optional drylands include cardio such as running around the track, and using the weight room here at Sherwood, in order to crosstrain. 

Bursky has put an emphasis on team bonding and collaboration, both in and out of the pool.  “To know that your team or even one person on your team has your back and is rooting for you is huge.”

 When it comes to practice, Bursky manages to balance individual and team based work, with half of the workout usually consisting of intense individual based drills and the other half focused on partner bonding and teamwork. “ When a team is tight-knit, you compete for each other, cheer each other on, get loud for big swims or dives, pick each other up after a tough loss,” said Burnsky.

This season is already starting to prove to be a challenge for both the boys and girls team. After a victory against Poolesville in a scrimmage, the reigning girls state champions suffered a tough loss against Churchill. Regardless of this defeat, the team is eager to prove that they belong among the talent in Division 1.