Coach Dan Rigby interacts with Cape athletes at Morgan’s Message assembly

Morgan's Message - Coach Kate Austin invited me to a Morgan's Message 45-minute assembly last week at the high school. Morgan’s Message is a program that strives to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health within the student-athlete community. Athletes from across all sports were in attendance. Coach Dan Rigby, a retired Caesar Rodney wrestling coach, was the featured and only speaker. He brought along some CR students, saying Cape was the model for Morgan’s Message involvement, and they wanted to learn from Cape. Coach Rigby's presentation was a question-and-answer format. The Cape students were not shy about asking questions related to their lives as athletes. Questions asked pertained to load management, anxiety during games, playing time, sleeplessness and many other stressors as they relate to athletes playing in programs and on teams with a history of winning. Afterward, some young athletes asked me to take their photos. I asked them, “Do you know who I am?” And it was mostly, “No, sorry.” Now if that isn’t a message for athletes to ponder, I don’t know what is.

Tone it down - Don’t play up Cape intra-district competitions – now three middle schools – with talk of Cape Cups; just allow the athletes to play and journey on. Most will spend four high school years as teammates inside the same program. I’ve been following Fred Thomas field hockey for many reasons, including my granddaughter Meredith – last of five Fred girls – who is on the team. I took a group photo Monday afternoon of all three teams together. There are about 80 total players across the three programs. Looking at the Henlopen Conference power grid, I see Fred Thomas at 10-0-1, Milford Central Academy at 8-0-1, Selbyville at 9-0-2 and Smyrna at 7-2. The Henlopen Conference is a hockey hotbed, and the mission of high school programs is to keep, then develop the talented players who show up the first day of practice and are still there for the Sept. 30 unit count. 

Travels with Fredman - Forty-two years ago, I toyed with naming my column “Travels with Fredman” but erred in deciding on “People in Sports.” I often hear comments like, “I enjoy reading your column because it isn’t always about sports,” or the more snippy, “What do your dog and Grandma Rose have to do with sports?” I track the sports journeys of local kids – now over three generations – and most certainly my own extended family. I make no excuses about where I’m not and don’t consider myself above any assignment; however, I only show up where and when I want. In 2024, everyone has a camera (phone) and commentary, and I don’t consider myself in competition with any of them. Middle school games are my new sweet spot. It’s all futuristic with the past looking on, mostly happy to share moments with a child and grandchild.

Don’t downtown - I don’t downtown coaches I cover or players I write about. If there is negative stuff I should know, feel free to tell someone else. I told an athlete in front of his classmates 30 years ago, “I will not care about you more than you care about yourself.” The class responded, “Yes you will, Fredman, because that boy, he don’t care bout nothin’.” I hear refracted stories of prime-time athletes who are not good teammates and not good schoolmates when they come to school. The expression, “You can’t save them all” is absolutely true. Some young athletes reach a crossroad at age 15, and if they choose the wrong direction, the rest of their lives will be an endless series of roundabouts and four-way stops, sort of like driving around eastern Sussex County.   

Fat Joe - Fat Joe went over like “Fat Joe” before Game 3 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, while Ice Cube in LA was cool. You just can’t mess with Ice Cube, and wearing Timberlands on the bump is way off base. Play to the demographic – I get that, but don’t create one that isn’t there; it's called pandering. “Put me in, coach!” 

Blade Runner - Jeremy Brockway, Cape Class of 1995, didn’t have a ticket for the 2 p.m. school day state tournament boys’ lacrosse game 30 years ago. The ticket was the get-out-of-class pass. Jeremy lobbied his English teacher, Miz Fred, “C’mon, don’t you want me out there to support your boys, Tom and Jack?” But teacher “team mom” did not relent, so when she turned her back, J-Dogg  jumped out the narrow second-story window and I guess snuck into the game like a mythical trickster, treating himself to a sunny and funny story that endures well beyond the game. Catch Jeremy at Greenman for his own soft-landing version of the story. 

Snippets - Football Senior Night is Friday, Nov. 1, when Cape hosts the Dover Senators. There are 13 seniors on this year’s team, including many charter members of the Linemen for Life Club. “You only lose if you don’t learn,” Chicago Bears safety Kevin Byard said after teammate Tyrique Stevenson lost his focus and made a serious mistake on a Hail Mary play. Football has more philosophers than the ancient Greeks. Go on now, git!