October 17, 2007
Walking away was tough decision for Kristie Fenton
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Through the years, a number of Ocean City High School graduates have return to
their alma mater to coach. Among the first were John and Fenton Carey. Since then
the lineup has included head coaches Matt Oster, Bud Rinck, Chris Armstrong, Tony
Galante, Sandy Corson Beyel, Bob Young, Bill Nickles, Trish Hopson Henry, Mark
Impagliazzo and Bryan Chojnacki. And there have been dozens and dozens of
assistants.
None more than in field hockey, where Trish LeFever's staff includes three
outstanding players from her program - Mikenzie Custer Helphenstine, Tracey
LeFever-Amstutz and Cory Picketts. And, until this year, that group also included
Kristie Miller Fenton.
Fenton retired this year and was honored with a special surprise ceremony last
week following a game with Mainland.
"I found about it when I arrived at the field," said Fenton. "They told me they
needed our public address system. My daughter was going to sing the national
anthem and I thought that was the only reason. But, when I arrived, everybody
started congratulating me. It was an emotional experience but a very nice one."
Fenton was one of the best field hockey and softball players at Ocean City High
School, winning a scholarship to Rutgers University where she was a successful
field hockey player. But her sports career actually started with soccer.
"Mrs. (Barbara) Hensil started a field hockey program at the Intermediate School
when I was in the eighth grade," she said, "and I decided to give it a try.
Position-wise, it was a lot like soccer. You just had to get used to using the
sticks."
She got used to it. As a sophomore, she scored 21 goals, sharing the team lead
with Klaudia Gorman. She led the team as a junior with 24 goals and again her
senior year with 25. No other player in the illustrious history of Raiders field
hockey has led the team in scoring three straight seasons. Her 71 career goals
stood as the school record for 13 years until Picketts and Jenee Doto came along.
After a successful career at Rutgers, she returned to Ocean City where she became
sports director for the recreation department. And she joined the OCHS staff as
an assistant coach.
"It is here where she made her greatest contributions," said LeFever. "I was
thrilled to have a young, knowledgeable coach join our staff. Kristie was an
offense mastermind where my focus was defense. She was creative, hard working,
loyal and committed to developing Ocean City into one of the elite programs in
the state. She was a huge part of all six state championships and seven South
Jersey titles. I absolutely believe we would not have been successful without
her."
Fenton was just as grateful. "It was a great experience to coach with Mrs.
LeFever," she said. "She is so well respected and brought respect to the program.
Field hockey means a lot to me - it put me through college - and it was nice to
have the opportunity to give back to the sport and give back to the program."
In her role as junior varsity coach, LeFever said, Kristie worked tirelessly to
develop the younger players and her teams were extremely successful with several
undefeated JV seasons to her credit. "I could not have asked for a better person
for our players to look up to and emulate," LeFever said. "She carried herself
with class and distinction. She was the ultimate representative for our program."
With two young daughters, a full-time job directing the city's recreation
programs and a husband who is a sports legend himself, Fenton found herself
needing more time for her family. She decided that it was time to give up the
field hockey coaching position that she loved.
"It was hard," she said. "For 15 years I have devoted time to the field hockey
program for most of the year. I'd been thinking about it for a couple of years,
as my girls were growing. And I finally realized it was time to move on.
"It was emotional and it was very difficult," she said. "Field hockey changed my
life."
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