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Bolt is a crowd-pleasing champion and role model for fitness and fun

Some athletes take step two of the personal journey
August 19, 2016

Running with curvature - Usain Bolt runs the curve hard in the 200 meters, then lines up the field and blows them away. And the fastest man in the world has scoliosis - curvature of the spine. He compensates for that with rigid core body workouts with weights and straight adherence to diet to stay lean. Bolt trains hard, among other things, employing the bunny hop, hands behind his head, doing five sets of 20 repetitions. But how about your name is Bolt, you are a sportsman, yet outgoing, and you come up with that lightning bolt pose? Usain Bolt is a great role model for all athletes to work hard, pay attention, diet, be respectful of others and have fun out there.

Limber liftoff - School-aged athletes are loose and limber. They have strength and stamina and move about practices like teenage Gumbys after a six-pack of Red Bull. But under weather extremes, they are not so good, like the rest of us, only worse. The first three days of sports practices have been brutally hot and humid. Being in shape is not a hedge against heat exhaustion. Modern-day coaches are smart about safety. So far, from what I’ve seen, coaches have been backing it down, which is great. Football will host a Friday scrimmage at noon - doesn’t sound smart, does it? - featuring the Vikings along with Delaware Military Academy, McKean and Seaford. The format will be 10-on-10 with no special teams play. Field hockey will host a Saturday play day with 18 teams and four fields. Some teams competing include Caesar Rodney, Appoquinimink, Caravel, Padua, Paint Branch, South County, Kent Island, Conrad, DMA and Indian River. All games are running clock and start on a common horn. The soccer team will host an 18-team play day Monday, Aug. 22, beginning at 8 a.m. Teams include Appoquinimink, Avon Grove, Caravel, Charter, Crisfield, Indian River, Mt. St Joseph, Newark, Severn School, St. Michaels, Sts. Peter and Paul, Sussex Tech  and Worcester Prep. 

Cool when it works - Let’s face it, all of us were coached by our moms, and the head life coach in most households is mom, but how many people get to be a head coach of a high school team and bring mom along as an assistant? Cape field hockey has won four straight state titles under the reign of Kate Windett Austin with her mom Debbie as an assistant. And make no mistake, “Windy” runs the show, but Momma Windett with her depth of experience is no joke. The arrangement works, just ask the players. All of my three granddaughters say the same thing, “I love the Windetts.” Tyler Coupe is just into his second year as Cape’s volleyball coach, a thoroughly organized and enthusiastic young person by way of Salesianum who came as a package deal with his mother Pam, who serves as assistant and head JV coach. Pam is the real deal too, with depth of experience, and the Cape players benefit by getting the Coupes.

Equilateral and equidistant - When Cape High Two opened in 1976, I wondered why the school wasn’t built in the middle of the Great Marsh with windows surrounding it. Students would be able to watch the changing seasons and colors and migration of waterfowl, and why Cape’s mascot wasn’t the Ducks so we could have a “quack attack” like Oregon.  I was told the chosen site was equidistant from the three towns of Milton, Lewes and Rehoboth. You don’t have to be Euclid to know that equilateral triangle doesn’t work. This was the summer of the 684, it was brought to focus by the ballers of summer, the 9-10 and 11-12 all-stars, both state champions and eastern regional competitors who proved they could hang. Milton doesn’t need to be discovered; the culture doesn’t need any more Milton migration, the character of the town should not be for sale. Everybody had Milton jokes back in the day - friendly yet funny - but the 684 has become the landing zone for interconnected families.

Step two - Many athletes head from high school to college not foreseeing a quick transfer, but often there is a second step to self-correct for a myriad of reasons. Sammy Mohr, who started at Wesley, and Jason Wiberg, who worked his way through DelTech, are now both on the football roster at Delaware Valley College, so good luck to those young men. And first cousins Shamar Moore (Maryland) and Jevon Currie (Lycoming) have transferred to Full Sail University in Orange County, Fla.  

Snippets - Jacki Coveleski will be a volunteer assistant field hockey coach this fall at the University of Delaware. Brandon Nixon and Brent Reed are both listed on the roster of the University of Delaware football team. Devin Miller out of Cape is listed at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds on the Wesley football roster, and the inside word is that Devin is ready to play. Jenna Steele of Lewes by way of Mary Washington College and Cape Henlopen has been named an assistant field hockey coach at Randolph-Macon University. Dominique Scott, former Cape and East Stroudsburg field hockey player, is the new field hockey coach at Beacon Middle School. Go on now, git!

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