By Andy Walter

DOVER — The last time Madi Cook crossed paths with the Dover High field hockey team as a player was just six years ago.

The Senators upended Cook and her Middletown teammates, 6-0, in the DIAA Division I state tournament in 2015.

“I was talking to one of the coaches about that yesterday,” said Cook. “I was like, my only memory of Dover High School is them beating me in the playoffs my senior year.”

Now that she’s the Senators’ head coach, though, Cook will be just fine to have Dover win some more state tourney games like that in the future.

Just 23, the Middletown High grad was hired in January to replace veteran coach Denise Kimbro, who retired after last season. In her second stint with the Senators, Kimbro had been Dover’s coach since 2007.

With the start of pre-season camp right around the corner in August, Dover’s players are taking part in a couple different summer leagues this month.

Cook said she doesn’t look at her lack of coaching experience as an issue. Her first college head coach at NCAA Division I LIU Brooklyn, Kyle DeSandes-Moyer, was only 24.

“Honestly, I look at it as kind of a challenge, said Cook. “But also I let it be a little bit of a humbler. I know that I have so much more to learn about the game and aspects of coaching that are completely different than playing.

“But I think that I had a really good role model to show me the way. She’s still in my corner. I talk to her about every week.”

Dover athletic director Kevin Turner said Cook’s youth wasn’t a big deal during the interviewing process.

“Madi has had a lot of good field hockey experiences,” said Turner. “She’s able to articulate how each one added to how’s she’s developed into going from a player to a coach.

“It’s very easy to see that she loves the sport. She’s going to continue to learn the game of field hockey but also now how to coach it. ... Her enthusiasm is very engaging.”

In the fall of 2019, Cook played her last season of eligibility at Wesley College. She lined up at both center forward and center midfield during her career.

Cook’s staff will also be made of young coaches with  Isabella Savino (Middletown ‘16) and Tara Daddio (Caesar Rodney ‘16) both joining her as assistants. Dr. Judy Rippert will also be on the staff.

“Especially being younger coaches, I think we’ll be able to connect with them really well,” Cook said about her players. “Field hockey is an evolving game like every other sport. I think we have a really good opportunity to be teaching the newest styles and what coaches are looking for at the next level and to really get the girls playing at a higher level than what they already are.

“Especially because we’re allowed to play in summer leagues again after COVID, it’s huge for the girls to just get back on the field. They can get comfortable with me and their new freshmen teammates and what the team looks like now without the graduated seniors.”

The Senators have reached the DIAA Division I state semifinals in three of the last four seasons and gone to the state tourney in nine of the past 12 seasons. Whether Cook and her staff are young or not, Dover still expects to set the bar high again this season.

The Senators’ list of returning players is led by senior Superia Clark, a first-team Division I All-Stater in the fall.

“In the Henlopen North, you don’t have time to take too many steps backwards,” said Turner. “We just felt that her energy and her knowledge of the game was the closest thing to being able to continue to the success that we’ve had under Coach Kimbro.”

At Middletown, Cook played a number of sports. Along with field hockey, the Townsend native was a multi-year letterwinner in basketball, softball and track & field.

She’s looking forward to being involved in high school athletics again.

“I’m super excited,” she said. “I think that we have a really big opportunity to make a footprint in our conference and continue on what Coach Kimbro has already built.

“Definitely one of our biggest focuses is to match that same energy that they’ve had in the past.”