An entire wall challenges the refrigerator on sports status ladder

The big refrigerator - The home refrigerator will always be the primo place for in-house family status, never to be matched. But being a focal point of a picture covering an entire locker room wall at Temple University on North Broad Street is a close second. Anna Frederick is the player being congratulated by her teammates after scoring a goal. The Temple lacrosse team GPA is 3.5. Coach Bonnie Rosen runs not a “win at all cost” program, but one that emphasizes academics, responsibility and comradeship ... and lots of lifting at 6 a.m.

Two sides to a story - The impasse between the volleyball officials and the Delaware Association of Athletic Directors was never about money, more about principles. They didn’t want future rate increases tied to raises for state employees because they are not state employees. I totally get that, and just like coaches, the officials are closer to people of principle than doing it for the money; although, the money ain’t bad in a chump change sort of way – $125 dollars for JV and varsity games. I know when I came to Sussex County I was introduced to the concept of secret stash, but it’s money you got that is not talked about or asked about; it’s the bedrock of trust in a relationship. “But seriously, honey bun or do you prefer ding-dong, how much money do you have in your secret account?” If it’s six figures, better start lying, because “not that much” may not be a satisfactory answer.

Own it - When your student-athlete gets jammed up on or off the field, as the cliche goes, the best advice for a parent is not quick intervention, but telling them to own it. Let the kid negotiate the dissonance and turbulence in their lives; this goes quadruple for a college athlete. That is the hardest thing for many parents who go gunning for explanations from coaches and teachers. The kid needs to own their own big world. I remember when my mom was called to Bishop Egan to face a conference table of Franciscans clad in black dresses with white knotted ropes tied around waists. They were concerned with an essay I wrote in detention, concluding I was possibly possessed. “Relax, he just thinks it’s funny, and so do I,” she said. That was the only time she ever stepped in. Otherwise, I was on my own, a free spirit with confidence.  

Cross country kids - I am a champion of runners, from cross country to road races. I find it the purest of sports. It’s just colorful people moving healthfully through whatever nature has offered up that day. But I’m not putting myself in Newark on a Friday afternoon then driving back to the beach, that’s why I live here. Best of luck to the harriers at the White Clay Creek Invitational Friday afternoon. 

Harriers and thinclads - Monikers for runners, thinly clad, it’s easy to follow the derivation of that word, but where did the term harriers come from? According to runnersworld.com, it goes back to the 1830s in England, where the hounds would chase the hares in a running game; otherwise, running would be just running. Since then, the term has been a nickname for cross country runners, also popularized by the Hash House Harriers, the “drinking club with a running problem.” I know a local cub called Certified Running Nuts that very much has a Hash House Harriers approach to running.    

Snippets - Carly Dmiterchik, a freshman at Arcadia, got her first collegiate field hockey start for the Knights Sept. 13 at midfield. Arcadia lost 1-0 to William Paterson College. Arcadia is located in Glenside, Pa. Four thousand students get up for class every day; well, most of them do. It was formerly Beaver College, and Barbara “Cookie” Dougherty went there. Carey Karl is a freshman at Queens University in Charlotte, a Division II school, playing field hockey and she has started three of four games for the 2-2 Royals. Carey’s dad Ralph Karl was a starting defensive end on Cape’s 1979 state championship football team. Queens has 1,900 students. Jack Ashby, a freshman at Lynchburg, scored his first collegiate point, a left-footed backward over the shoulder pass that resulted in the goal in a 3-1 win over Greensboro. Elana Montejo is the senior field hockey goalie for the Smyrna Eagles. She had 17 saves in a 4-0 loss versus Cape. Eric Gooch and Ruth Skoglund know Elana from Delaware Shore and rave about what a great person and player she is. “You should meet her. She’ll be your friend forever, Fredman,” Eric Gooch said moments before I saw Katie Frederick knocked backward off her feet and the goalie was the only “innocent” in the area code. By the way, my column, my stories, my people. If you don’t like it, go read the Sussex Guide. Go on now, git!