Day in the Life of Mr. Fribush!!!!

You may know Mr. Fribush as the athletic director, or maybe you’ve seen his emails about updating physicals or registering for sports. But did you know that he’s also a painter, webpage designer, and author?

A few days before gameday, Mr. Fribush goes to Sam’s Club to purchase snacks and drinks for the concession stand. He drives the gator or his car down to the stadium and fills up the concession stand. 

During the fall and winter seasons, he spray paints the field with his turf tank robot. Though it paints the field automatically, setting up the machine takes a fairly long time. First, a base station needs to be placed on the field–in a very particular position–to ensure that the robot paints in an accurate manner.

He then goes into the shed and mixes about five gallons of paint–the amount of paint the robot can hold at once. He then filters it so the robot’s skinny tubes don’t get clogged.

After he finishes setting up the robot, he gets his tablet and selects the particular sport line layout he needs to paint. Since some sports, like football, require 15 gallons of paint, Mr. Fribush continuously monitors the robot and refills the paint. The app shows him the estimated amount of paint a sport’s layout will use, the time it will take to complete it, and the speed of the robot. He keeps the robot at its slowest setting so the lines appear darker; the football line layout takes approximately six hours to complete at this setting!

Then, he gets to the best part of this tedious process: driving the robot with a joystick. He drives the robot onto the field and taps the paint button. However, the job is not over yet! As the robot paints the lines, he fills each individual number on the field with spray paint by hand. This means that by himself, he spray paints 36 numbers on the football field. He adds these special touches to the field when Blake plays rival and playoff games. 

After he finishes painting the field, he goes back to his office and begins reading emails and communicating with coaches. He reschedules games, updates the Blake Athletics website, and ensures that all athletic events run smoothly. Mr. Fribush emphasized that one of the biggest challenges he faces as an athletic director is finding “parents who are able to come [to Blake] and help out” with running concessions, the scoreboard, and many other gameday jobs.  

Even on the weekends, Mr. Fribush is working on improving our athletic program. Each Saturday, he writes a newsletter that informs all student-athletes and parents involved with Blake’s athletic program about upcoming games, student-athlete spotlights, volunteer opportunities, and our Blake Athletic Booster Club. The email is sent at 8:00 am each Sunday, so be sure to check it out to stay informed on Blake’s athletics. 

As I spent the day with Mr. Fribush, he shared with me some interesting information regarding Blake athletics. 

Blake is listed as 25th out of 27 schools to get a turf field. This is because we have the most land out of all of the public high schools in the county, so turf isn’t a necessity for us. There are also two more high schools coming to MCPS, one in Gaithersburg and the other in Rockville. 

There are new cameras for game film at the stadium! The cameras now are so clear that you can see each player’s jersey number! There will also be a TV in the concessions area by the gym so volunteers can run the stand, as well as enjoy the game. 

We are officially a 4A school! Our school’s population size grew, so we were able to move from 3A to 4A. Blake’s MPSSAA Regions & Classifications for 2025-2027 are out, so be sure to check out divisions and regions for next year.  

Mr. Fribush is the backbone of our athletic program and does so much to support the well-being and success of our teams, coaches, and players. His efforts are greatly appreciated throughout the school and are reflected in our outstanding athletics program. If you ever want to talk to him, you can find him in his office right by the financial office. Special thanks to Mr. Fribush for giving us a look into a day in his life!