Welcome to Coach’s Corner!
Coach, official and sports broadcaster Duante` Barnett is moving to the islands. We thought it would be great to have an experienced person across all the facets of sports to be able to bounce questions off of and get some insight on how to handle some of the tough situations that can arise in youth sports.
We have a Q & A form so you can submit your questions. We will have a blog that will highlight solutions to questions and general topics and news going on in youth sports. We welcome ALL of your questions and appreciate the chance to bring a sense of FAMILY and community back to island sports.
Coaching Experience
Coach B has coached at the little league, middle school, high school and semi pro levels. He has coached football, basketball, track and baseball. During his coaching career, he has never been thrown out of a game, given a technical, flagged for a personal foul or been disqualified in any way while coaching. His number one priority as a coach is building player’s confidence with training their basic sports skills and creating a sense a family within the team and league..
In 2018, Coach B had 4 basketball teams at once. He coached a coed kindergarten, a 1st/2nd grade girls, 3rd/4th grade girls and a 7th/8th grade boys teams all at ounce. He coached 36 games with playoffs in just 8 weeks.
Officiating Experience
Coach B started officiating in 1998 as a recreational basketball official for Seattle Parks and Recreation. He kept officiating rec basketball till about 2005. He then started officiating rec ball again from 2016-2018 for Des Moines and Covington Parks and Recreation. He has been officiating semi pro basketball from 2018 until the present.
Coach B started officiating football in 2017 at the high school and middle school levels until 2020. He was one of the coordinating officials for Battle’s 7 on 7 tournament in las Vegas and officiated 7 on 7 for 4 years. He spent 2 seasons as an NFL Flag referee when games and tournaments were played in Seattle.
Broadcasting Experience
Duante got into broadcasting and doing stats in 2017. He started by doing stats for the WIAA state championship games on Fox Sports. He has worked as a Stage Manager, Assistant Director, Utility and Camera man. He has become a staple asset for the Mariners, Kraken, Storm, Seahawks and University of Washington athletics.
Duante has covered baseball, hockey, football, lacrosse, gymnastics, soccer and softball. He has worked for ESPN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Amazon, YouTube, NFL, WNBA, NHL, NCAA, MLB, MLS, PLL and the Little League World Series.
Administration Experience
Coach B graduated with honors when he received his Master’s degree from Central Washington University focusing on Athletic Administration. He interned at Kentwood High School and has worked with Highline, Foster and Kentwood High School athletics. He was a board member for the Tukwila Bulldogs football team and has managed a semi pro football message board. His approach to administration is what he considers family first approach and teaching a sense of community within the program that impacts people outside of just the field of play.
Playing Experience
As a large kid, Duante` was limited to playing baseball as a little kid. In 6th grade he finally picked up a basketball. In middle school he flourished playing flag football, basketball and setting a district record in thee mile in track. 8th grade he skipped to high school and went to AAU nationals with CAYA out of Seattle and took 7th in the nation. In high school, he letter all 3 years in football and 4 years in track, making league 4 years and district 3 years.
Later in life, he decided to play semi professional football. He played a combined 11 years for what was a record of 9 teams when he retired. He even won a national championship.