During this winter sports season over one hundred and fifty sporting events have taken place home and away, there to make this possible are our assistant athletic directors. Events this year could not have been possible without our three Assistant Athletic Directors: Coach David Bailey, Coach Fredrick German, and Coach Alexandria Clarke.

Coach Bailey has worked at the Benjamin for more than twenty years starting as just a volunteer, to full director of sports performance here at the upper school. Coach Bailey helps create rosters, manage teams, mentor coaches, order and prepare equipment, etc. Bailey expresses his favorite part of working at Benjamin and how his career began here.

“I started off volunteering for the school in 1991 and then in 1998 Coach Ream invited me to begin working full-time at the school,” Bailey said. “My favorite part of working here at the Benjamin School is honestly talking to students, it’s the best part, it’s what makes my job so easy and fun to get to interact with such great kids every day,” Bailey added.

The next Coach is Coach Clarke who has been working with the school for over fourteen years, starting as an Assistant Volleyball Coach at Benjamin while she was in college. Coach Clarke explains what goes on in her position and some of her responsibilities as US Assistant Sports Director. 

“So in our office, we do a lot of scheduling of teams, organizing of teams, helping coaches, ordering equipment, and making sure that our teams have everything they need,” Clarke said. “We want to ensure that our teams can put their best foot forward and will be as successful as they can,” Clarke added.

Coach German is the third assistant athletic director and is also the head coach of the wrestling team. German is the transportation coordinator at the upper school and organizes transportation for each team and ensures that they get where they need to be. German comments on his role as a transportation coordinator.

“I coordinate all buses, both field trips and all sporting events, I make sure that buses are moving and people are going where they need to go,” German said. “Another function is that I do all setup with fields, I make sure pylons are out, water coolers are filled, sidelines are prepped, not actual field stuff pretty much the intangibles,” German added.

Not only does Coach German make a difference in the preparation for game day and the transportation to get there but he also runs the mats here at Benjamin. Coach German is the head coach of the Middle and Upper School wrestling team, and this season has led their team to one of their best seasons in a while. Coach German adds why he likes having both positions as Wrestling Coach and Assistant Athletic Director.

“I think it’s great to coach the wrestling team, we’ve had a pretty good season this year and I get to relive my high school days on the mats, and both of my positions I enjoy a lot,” German explained.

Ninth Grader Drew Palmer and a member of the wrestling team tell about why he likes Coach German as a coach.

“Coach German coaches wrestling very well and I’ve improved a lot since I started last year and I can tell that because of him our team will have a bright future in the coming years,” Palmer said. “Also I know that he has a lot of responsibilities outside of wrestling because he manages the transportation and has to set up a lot of things for other sports, and because of that I respect him for being able to coach and manage” Palmer adds.

Overall athletics here at the Upper School would not be the same without our three assistant athletic directors. When it comes to supplying and transportation, managing teams, mentoring coaches, or just making games happen, Coach Bailey, Clarke, and German will always be there to run the show on behalf of the school.