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Tooth Fairy is a champion of children’s choppers

Family connections with Cape coaches
July 29, 2022

Tooth Fairy - Ainsley Schneider came over to the table under the canopy at Champions Field Hockey Camp and told coach Debbie, “I have a loose tooth. I'm afraid it will come out and I won’t be able to find it.” I asked Ainsley, “do you believe in the Tooth Fairy?” “I have $1,500 in the bank,” she said. And then added, “I saw her once, maybe twice.” Only then did I realize I grew up thinking the Tooth Fairy was a guy, you know, a guy guy. I received a Buffalo nickel. Some of them today are worth a $100,000, others worth about 50 cents. Some cultural traditions just stay strong and endure over generations. 

Heads in Helmets - Back in my teaching days, I once had a student leave one blank on a 25-question matching test. “I don’t know that one,” he said. I wished him luck on a life that was sure to be a long, strange trip. Earlier this week, Cape matched heads to helmets for football prospects. “We have 85 heads in helmets with 10 left over,” said coach Mike Frederick. “There are 30 freshmen and a big sophomore class, so that bodes well for the future.” Anyone who ever played football has a helmet story or 10. I remember standing at the equipment window at Temple when nose guard Dave Kraftchek slipped on his size 9 1/4 helmet. I got a concussion just thinking of blocking Cro-Magnon Man. We old guys now field jokes, “Fredman, did you play in a leather helmet? Did they have face masks on them? What does it sound like inside a leather helmet when you get your bell rung?”

Brittney-Bout - The trade winds are blowing, Brittney Griner for Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout with Paul Whalen thrown in to sweeten the deal. Victor Bout was sentenced to 25 years in 2012 for agreeing to sell millions of dollars in weapons to a Colombian terrorist group. Sports and politics seeping into everyday real life. I learned there are some camps in America who don’t like Griner because she has used the national anthem as a forum for personal protest – she stayed in the locker room. I also learned that her dad is a Vietnam vet and they always celebrate the Fourth of July together. There is an irony that Russian “What’s your Vector, Viktor?” is often described as a “very bad man” and yet we sell assault weapons to sociopathic screwballs and fuzz-faced fruit loops here in America. This would make for good high school classroom discussion where students may deduce that in a matching of world events, sometimes you just have to leave one blank. 

Generational talent - Kate Windett Austin and her mom Debbie Windett have been together on the same field hockey staff since 2012. Throw in “Jackson the Distraction” and you have three generations on the hockey sidelines. Tyler Coupe is entering his eighth year as Cape volleyball coach. His mom Pam has been his assistant. Steve Kilby, longtime soccer coach at Dover then Indian River, has been hired by Sussex Consortium and will join the staff of his son Patrick this fall, joining Joe Rupar, Tyler Nichols and Brent Hochrein. Cape football has newly named head coach Mike Frederick with his cousin Jack Frederick on the staff and his son Bodie Frederick, a sophomore, and uncle sportswriter Dave Frederick with no escapability roaming the sidelines in search of a leather helmet.

Snippets - Alia Marshall (Northwestern and Cape) has been named to the USA Field Hockey women's national team. Joining Marshall on the team is Josie Hollomon, a rising senior at Delmar High School, who has signed with the University of Maryland. Annie Judge will return to Temple field hockey for her sixth year. Combining COVID and redshirts, it’s a great opportunity for athletes to keep playing while earning a master’s degree. Dom Scott will return to Sussex Tech as head coach of field hockey. Maxine Fluharty has accepted an assistant field hockey coaching job at Brown University and will be leaving her job as head coach of Sussex Academy field hockey. If interested, email Athletic Director Matt Keen at matthew.keen@saas.k12.de.us. Cape football practice begins Aug. 8, one week early, because of the Thursday night, Sept. 1 opener at Salesianum. Go on now, git! 

 

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