Kim Barnes Arico is a mother of three, but sometimes it feels like the Michigan women’s basketball coach is also a mother of 15.
Coaches often serve as parental figures in the lives of their young athletes. From teaching lessons on and off the court, to motivating players to become their best selves, to fostering family-like team culture, the two roles — coach and parent — often intertwine.
For Barnes Arico, her experience as a mother has certainly impacted her mindset as a coach.
“I would say there’s no greater gift than being a mother,” Barnes Arico told The Michigan Daily. “And I think that that has really helped me become a better coach through the years as well, because it gives me an opportunity to see how I would like for people to mentor and role model my children, how I would like for them to speak to them and treat them and coach them and be demanding but also be loving at the same time.”
Of course, having a coach who might serve as a parental figure in no way replaces the importance of an athlete’s actual parents or family — rather, it often adds another meaningful role model and mentor.
And in Barnes Arico’s case, she doesn’t take that role lightly.
“As a mom and a coach, I think it’s so important for me to say man, I get to be a role model,” Barnes Arico said. “I get to be a mentor and how would I like if this was my child? How would I like them to be coached? And how would I like them to be talked to and how would I like them to be pushed and challenged to be the best that they can be?”
Using what she’s learned as a mother, Barnes Arico understands and implements the balance between challenging her players while continuing to offer thoughtful guidance and encouragement when needed.
“To be that demanding coach, but at the same time, understand that at the end of the day, they might need someone to put their arm around them and tell them it’s going to be okay,” Barnes Arico said. “… It’s about basketball, but really it’s about so much more than basketball. You need to have people around you that care about you as a person, first and foremost.”
Barnes Arico has three children — a son, Trevor, and two daughters, Emma and Cece. Trevor, her oldest, plays basketball at Emerson College and loves to write. Emma, a junior in high school, is committed to play lacrosse at Michigan. And Cece, the youngest of the bunch, also shares the family-wide passion for basketball.
This past season, Cece went to nearly every Michigan women’s basketball game — at home or on the road. With flexibility in her schedule as an eighth grader, she even traveled with the Wolverines down to Baton Rouge for the NCAA Tournament.
Although Trevor and Emma didn’t have the same flexibility in their schedules this past year, all three children grew up around their mom’s teams. And as such, Barnes Arico’s entwining roles of mother and coach have not only impacted her — but also Trevor, Emma and Cece.
“It has a tremendous impact (on) my children,” Barnes Arico said. “For them to see these young, strong women, college athletes, and the sacrifices and the dedication and the discipline that it takes for them to play at this level, to be a student at the University of Michigan as well as to be an athlete at the highest level.”
Reflecting on what Mother’s Day means to her, Barnes Arico became emotional. Talking about celebrating with her children while also thinking about her mom, along with the moms — and parents in general — of her players, she reminisced on the challenges and rewards of being an athlete’s mother.
“I just know the sacrifices that they all have made to give their children the opportunity to be at the University of Michigan and to compete at the highest level,” Barnes Arico said. “… I think about my mom and the things that she did for me to help me get to the University of Michigan and (I’m) just thankful.”
For Barnes Arico, her journey through motherhood has opened her eyes to new perspectives as a coach.
And in addition to impacting Trevor, Emma and Cece through exposing them to strong women, it also impacts the Michigan women’s basketball team as a whole — the 15 young athletes that have another guiding hand, within the game of basketball and beyond.
