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Athletes often Rise to meet the moment without recognition

August 21, 2018

Rise to the occasion - Ryan Peters, in 90 pounds of jump gear, was escorted by his wife Amanda across the finish line at Sunday’s Rehoboth Fire Fightin’ 5K in a time of 35:05. Ryan and Amanda are hands-on owners of Rise Fitness + Adventure, and are involved in many community outreach programs, including a fitness program for people afflicted with Parkinson’s disease. Full disclosure, I am a Rise member, so I have seen fitness work from the inside out at Rise, but since tragedy struck in my personal life, I have gotten away from the gym. I  just needed time to decompress, but I’ll be back, like a pulled hamstring.  Firefighters Joel DeMott and Lauren Pratt also ran in full gear. 

“Mel is a boss.” - Twig Burton. Cape sophomore Melanie Fritchman, a field player, agreed to play goalie for the JV hockey team Aug. 18 (they had nobody), but only if she could take off the equipment between games. Sometimes high school athletes do heroic things without looking for credit, just because it needs to be done. I saw Mel getting goalied up for her second game and said, “Please let me capture this moment. I don’t want it to drift to Cape May like a wave of heat from the west.” Melanie smiled and said, “Thanks, Fredman,” which meant, “Thanks for noticing the little things which are always the biggest things.” My granddaughter Katie, on her way to UD, subbed as JV coach for Jenna Burkhart, who left on a jet plane to attend a wedding. Katie was also awesome making sure that all players got equal minutes.

Tagging grandmom - It’s no secret I snap tons of sports-related photos then post them on a public Facebook page and may use some later in the Cape Gazette. But I’m not walking around with a notebook asking for names – that is old school, like analog or DOS-based computer language. So by all means, tag grandmom, but that doesn’t help me with identifying the person in the photo, especially if Grandma comments, “There’s my little cherubic cheerleader.” An actual name really would be helpful.

Crink of kink - I was blue chairing it under a canopy outside the Champions Stadium chain-link fence Aug. 18, when someone affectionately squeezed my shoulder. I started to purr then rotated my head to the left with a steep angle upward. I processed a familiar face, but it was upside down. “It’s Maren, Fredman,” and I popped up to greet Maren Ford, former Cape all-state field hockey player, state champ in pole vault and stellar softball player. Maren went on to play at Princeton for Beth Bozman, who lives in Bay Vista. Maren was a member of the USA National Indoor team and was in the Olympic pipeline. Maren is married to Ryan Langford, an assistant field hockey coach at Michigan. I asked Maren, “Does Ryan realize when he comes to Lewes he is simply Maren’s husband and the father of your two children?” Speaking of “Family Ties,” Maren is a second cousin to Cape player Anna Harrington.

Filet of soul - I showed up at Legends Stadium at 2 p.m. Friday afternoon for the parent performance, celebrating the conclusion of “band camp.” “They’ve been out there in the heat all week,” said Cape football coach J.D. Maull. “They are tough; you can see how hard they work. I look forward to sharing Friday nights with them.” Just three numbers were played by band members, followed by the alma mater and fight song, then back to the building for an ice cream social. Chris Burkhart, the marching band director of now well over 100, is entering his fifth season. Chris is a Temple grad and Philly sports fan to the core.

Snippets - Cape cross country has big numbers out for the team on both the boys’ and girls’ sides. The girls have depth of talent and, without knowing anything of the competition, I’d think they could contend for a conference title. I won’t mention any names because I only attended one practice for 15 minutes. Matt Lindell, Rob Percival and Rick Brokaw are coaching the team. Beacon and Mariner field hockey will have head coaches and assistants this fall pending approvals at the Aug. 23 school board meeting. I heard stories from old athletes talking about getting injured getting up off the couch, and I’ve heard stories of concussions without contact from younger players. Cape football will scrimmage at Hodgson Thursday, Aug. 23; until I see that, I have no clue how good the Cape football team may be this year. Go on now, git!

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