Frederick named Cape’s first athletic administrator

As the Cape Region continues to grow, so too does the population of the Cape Henlopen School District, especially on the athletic fields and courts.

A series of failed referendums and the inability of Sussex County or the beach towns to add school impact fees on developers have forced Cape to get creative in its execution of educational offerings. To that end, the school district has combined two positions to allow for another without adding salary, hiring Fred Thomas Middle School Principal Dave Frederick to be the district’s first athletic administrator.

According to the district, the purpose behind the athletic administrator role is to ensure the effective vision, planning, coordination and oversight of all athletic programs throughout the district. With the growing number of students in Cape’s schools, its athletic programs are expanding as well. Ultimately, this role will provide professional management and leadership to school athletics, making sure programs are safe, inclusive and aligned with the educational goals of the district.

The district combined the supervisors of early learning and elementary education into one position, so as not to create any additional positions.

The Cape Gazette caught up with Frederick to discuss what people can expect from him and the new role.

“When you're running a middle school, you're kind of your own athletic director, if you will,” Frederick said. “I have a background in coaching, I’ve been a member of the Cape Henlopen Athletic Committee since 2003, and I have been on the girls’ lacrosse DIAA committee since 2017.”

Frederick's preference is to make sure things are running as smoothly as possible, no matter the conditions, and he would like to streamline things for all parties involved.

“We've grown so much over the past seven, eight years that our teams have expanded in numbers and offerings,” Frederick said. “There's a lot of logistics to figure out with uniform rotations, locker room space, field usage, game scheduling and transportation.”

Not only will there be a lot of responsibilities, but there will also be a ton of students relying on things to be efficient.

“When you look at just roster spots with the high school and the three middle schools, there are over 2,000 roster spots in the Cape Henlopen School District,” Frederick said. “There are 470 away contests, and we’ve got to make sure that all of our kids are getting what they need in terms of equipment and things like that. “

The experienced administrator said he will be available outside sports too.

“I'll be able to help out in the high school with different student groups and stuff like that, just getting students more involved across the board, not just in athletics, but also in other stuff that could be a one-off from athletics. For example: a mascot, athletic advisory groups or giving students a voice on the athletic committee,” he said.

Frederick believes his strength is connecting with students, and he intends to lean on that the same way he has throughout his decades in the school system.

“Kids need to be happy, they need to be taken care of, they need to feel heard. If you can do those things, you'll have some good outcomes with everybody else too,” Frederick said.

With the emergence of girls’ sports, Frederick also believes there is space for more teams in the school district.

“I think we've got some room to expand our offerings, particularly on the girls’ side,” Frederick said. “Wrestling is now a Tier 2 sport, so it's not an officially sanctioned sport ... and we've got some room to grow there.”

After years of a successful unified flag football team, there is also an appetite for girls’ flag football at Cape and possibly a new season for golf.

“Girls’ flag football is kicking off in New Castle County; I think we can generate some interest in that area,” Frederick said. “I also think girls' golf is an area where we could lead. Right now, it’s a coed sport [in the spring].”

Ultimately, he said the goal is to get more girls involved in general.

Students and parents alike will notice Frederick accessible and on the sidelines.

“I'm around,” he said. “I'm old school; kids are going to see me after practices, after games. I've always done that with the schools I've run. I'm at practices, stopping by after school to see if anybody needs anything, and just so I can get a handle on how things are going to make sure kids are having a good experience.”