Track athletes share their journeys with family, coaches
The good ain’t so bad - Andy Brzoska smiles with her dad, Wayne, after the Division I discus competition. Andy placed second, 4 feet off the lead, with a chuck of 107 feet. She is coming back from a fractured radial head after slipping and falling in the circle at Polytech. Wayne is a former state champion and state record holder in the discus at William Penn High School in 1972, when he threw the plate 173-feet-10-inches as a junior. A good day, but a little disappointing for Andy, but she didn't show it, as she was the first to congratulate Myrissa McFolling-Young from Smyrna. She said to me later, "My injury is not an excuse, just something that happened." A better dad and daughter moment to savor forever.
Related coach and athlete - After I saw Myrissa McFolling-Young crank a throw of 111 feet and hug a man with the same broad shoulders, I assumed it was her dad. Afterward, I snapped their photo and asked how they were related and Stanley Burris said, “Yes, I’m her coach.” Myrissa is just a sophomore, so clear the section and look out. “Incoming!”
Energy for everybody - I snapped a photo of Coach Mike Denny of Dover - used to be Cape guy - with his two shot put studs Deontray Hickman (49-feet-10-inches) and Nick Glover (48-feet-4-inches). Hickman won and Glover finished third. Denny is a former coach at Cape and was in the tight end pipeline during his UD days. Some of the Cape kids thought he looked like “that Bill Clinton dude.” Coach Denny as a personality type is always up and out, stays fit himself, and if his enthusiasm isn’t contagious it’s impossible to go to sleep on it. Mike was so happy his throwers exceeded expectations in the Division I shot put and together the three men reflect on a moment only coaches and athletes can comprehend.
Great coaching jobs - The Milford lacrosse boys were coached up this season, led by head coach Blake Faulkner. I looked down their sidelines Friday night and saw Malik Lopez and Kyle Betts, former Cape players who serve as assistants. I heard all the right stuff coming from enthusiastic and knowledgeable coaches. Their lax players are in good hands. Their website didn’t list the assistants and I have no clue why. The Sussex Central track program led by Jen Cawthern, with Wes Townsend and Brad Morris as assistants, has also made great strides on becoming a player on the conference and state levels of competition.
Walk together forever - Carlyn Bailey walks the De-Feet Breast Cancer 5K and she wins the long-and-slow journey representing 23 years of survival. Pictured to Carlyn’s left are her daughter Erin Bailey, Beth Basara Bader and Ruth Barkley.
Tracks of my tears - Through all the smiles and frivolous silliness at races of recovery and survival are the faces easily read of those who walked the journey who stared down their own mortality who were punished physically by poisonous treatment and exotic surgeries. I saw it last Sunday and it overpowered me by revelation that we all want to stay here in this world in perfect physical condition to enjoy our family and friends. Maybe the only upside of cancer is it sends a message that we are together alone and all together as one.
Snippets - A student at Cape once asked me, “What’s it like to live in the twilight zone? Every year you get one year older, but the people in front of you stay the same year?” My first year teaching, 1970, I read my driver's license information to a class of seventh-graders. I said, "6-foot-1-inch, 220 pounds" and a girl shouted, “220 pounds? Boy, are you old!" Grandmom Rose, “High school graduation is only notable if you don’t. When’s the party?" Brady and the Patriots remind me of high school kids who refuse to admit guilt in any classroom conspiracy until the power-playings adults finally shrug and say, "Forget about it!" Go on now, git!
