Pat Brogan is winner of tough guy competition every day
Bouncing back - Pat Brogan, 48, ran the Dewey Beach Liquors 5K with his daughter Kelsey Kman, 24, in 40:01. The two discovered each other in 2014, but that’s a story for another day.
Pat ran the 5K while bouncing a tennis ball from hand to hand and not because he’s a Serena fan. It has to do with the way his brain is wired ... literally.
Pat suffered a traumatic brain injury Sept. 25, 2001 - bike versus car - and was left for dead. He’s had 14 brain surgeries since, the last as recently as a year ago when in his words, “I had to have all the hardware in my head replaced because of an infection.”
I asked him, “Hardware? What hardware?”
“Electrodes,” Pat said. “And there’s a battery in my chest that controls my entire body.”
Pat suffers from dystonia, which is often associated with traumatic brain injuries. It affects the side of the body opposite the trauma and can cause spasms and a host of other movement disorders. The tennis ball bounced from hand to hand while walking/running helps alleviate the symptoms.
I spoke with Pat and Kelsey briefly after the race until I got the feeling Pat was thinking, “I didn’t do a 5K in 40 minutes while bouncing a tennis ball just to talk to this guy. Where’s the light beer?” Inspiration is all around; I don’t provide any, just share what I see in others.
Cape names new basketball coach - Lauren Carra was named the new head coach of girls’ basketball at the July 9 meeting of the Cape Henlopen school board. Lauren, who received her master of education in exceptional children and youth from the University of Delaware in May 2015, was also hired as a special education teacher at the high school. Lauren was a scholarship basketball player at Delaware and started during the recent glory years 2009-13 on the team that advanced to the Sweet 16 with All-American Elena Delle Donne. She was a second team All-Colonial Athletic Association selection. Lauren also did color commentary as a radio broadcaster with 1290 Fox Sports for the University of Delaware basketball team in the 2014-15 season. She has been a volunteer assistant at Ursuline the last two seasons and a camp counselor at the Elena Delle Donne Skills Academy. OK, enough resumé material. “Lauren is a really impressive young teacher and coach. She handled herself great during the interview process, and Cape is lucky to get her,” said Athletic Director Bob Cilento. “I know our girls are really excited.”
No parity equals no comp - It’s happening a lot this summer in sports that travel, and Little League has its fair share as well. Way too many games that are not competitive are shortened by slaughter rule and a look back and your team won all its games by 31 runs to 1, so like what is really up with that? Give me any sport with a team that travels and I can find a tournament where you get smacked down before you get off the bus. But if there is no competition at your tournament, you need to go find another one. Maybe everyone is really that good; we shall see as athletes funnel into high school programs.
Train like a clawed cat - Figure out the type of running done during games in your sport and train accordingly. If your sport involves carrying a stick then carry one during interval runs, from tempo to full blast, and take frequent rests, just like a cat on the prowl. If you play volleyball, get used to having your arms over your head, and soccer requires speed controlled and uncontrolled and head-to-toe total awareness, so have a friend throw balls at you while you’re running fast.
Snippets - The dancing girls of Coastal Dance Academy instructors Terri and Brittany Morris went to Orlando, Fla., July 9 for the Tremaine Nation al Finals. The seniors won first place in tap group, competing against the best dance studios in the nation. Twenty-six girls made the trip. The juniors placed third in ballet, jazz and hip hop. The teens placed third in hip hop and fourth in tap group and lyrical line.
The Mid-Atlantic Field Hockey Camp held on the parade grounds at Cape Henlopen State Park will embark on its 38th season this July with sessions running July 19-23 and July 26-30. Day and resident spaces are available. Contact Camp Director Frannie Slabonik, who is as cool as her name, at mafhc@dejazzd.com. The coaches at this camp have the best pedigrees in the Mid-Atlantic area. If you are hockey networked, you should stop by and just hang for awhile; it’s what athletes and coaches do in July. Tell Frannie Fredman sent you. Go on now, git!
