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Schools

Don Brocklebank Court named in honor of retiring Maple Place teacher

Brocklebank taught Physical Education at the school for 32 years.

Don Brocklebank, a Physical Education teacher at Maple Place School, will be retiring at the end of the current school year. This will conclude a remarkable span of 32 years at the school as a teacher. To honor his time there, the school has dedicated their basketball court in his name.

“On Jan. 3, the first day back from break, we held an assembly in the gymnasium for the whole school. Mr. Brocklebank thought it was just going to be a typical ‘back in the groove’ assembly from me to the student body. However, he was incredibly surprised when we introduced his parents, his wife, his son and daughter-in-law and three former colleagues from years past,” Maple Place Principal Cory Radisch said.

Andrew Orefice, Oceanport’s Superintendent of Schools, read a speech to commemorate the event. “After the speech, Mr. Brocklebank and his wife, [along with his son and daughter-in-law], peeled back the protective paper to reveal Don Brocklebank Court. It was a great tribute and celebration,” Radisch said.

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 “[I feel] incredibly honored. It was totally, completely awesome,” Brocklebank said of the dedication. “They got me.”

The school in Oceanport has been the only one where he has served as a teacher. “Mr. Brocklebank has spent more than half of his life as an educator for the students of Oceanport,” said Radisch. “He was integral in creating the sports programs we have today. He was also instrumental in the development of various interscholastic middle school leagues around Monmouth County.”

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Brocklebank is proud of his efforts to expand the scope of the sports program in the school. “When I first came here, there were no fall sports, no spring sports, only Basketball.”

Brocklebank said, of being a teacher of Physical Education as well as his coaching efforts, “I love seeing the light bulb go on [in the minds of students], I love teaching them life-skills and watching as they keep moving forward, to set challenges and accept the challenges in front of them.”

In his years as a coach, he has racked up over 600 wins for Oceanport. He has coached many Division I athletes and has been directly involved with sports programs throughout the county. Brocklebank is currently the President of the Monmouth County Intermediate School Soccer League and League President of the Shore Intermediate Basketball League.

Brocklebank’s coaching record boasts 15 league and 19 divisional championships in Boys Soccer, Boys Basketball and Girls Softball, with an overall winning percentage of 67.9%.

“The gymnasium was already named for somebody,” said Radisch, referencing Larry Boreson, who served as member, Vice-President and President of the Oceanport Board of Education, as well as President of the Oceanport Basketball Association. “I thought it would be a great honor if we dedicated and named the gym floor after Mr. Brocklebank.” 

Thomas Tvrdik, of TnT Hardwood Floors, donated the time, labor and materials for the dedication project.

Brocklebank’s time in the Oceanport education system has seen its share of challenges, but he is complimentary of it, especially in light of recent budgetary constrictions. “We’ve been very fortunate. The administration and Board of Education are really committed to educating the whole child, and it is more than just putting in the time from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.”

Aside from the sports activities, he credited the other programs within the school system, including arts and skills-based education. “There have been challenging times…challenging, but rewarding.”

Although he will no longer be a teacher, Brocklebank will not be leaving behind the activity of teaching. Instead, he plans to work with the Monmouth County Park System, supervising activities such as canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing and holding archery clinics.

A new activity, one that combines the physical effort of a scavenger hunt with modern technology, will be GPS “Geocaching.” In this, participants will be given coordinates, a GPS tracker and a stamp. They will use the coordinates in conjunction with the GPS to seek out hidden Tupperware cases, and in each case there will be a pad, which they will stamp as proof that they found it. These activities will be park of the Outdoor Adventures Program.

Brocklebank will also be volunteering with the National Park system in demonstrations of historic woodworking. “These were things that were done from Pioneer days, pre-Revolutionary War up to the Civil War.” He will demonstrate period woodworking, using the tools of the day to make items that would have been necessary. “These weren’t necessarily craftsmen, but farmers that said, ‘I need something, I have to make it.’ They didn’t have the luxury of going to Home Depot to pick things up – they had to make them themselves.”

Brocklebank will show how tool handles, bowls and utensils were carved from wood. “There are even wooden pitchforks that would be carved from a whole log,” he said.

Other demonstrations he will participate in are related to blacksmithing, making apple butter and tapping trees for maple products. In regard to these new prospects, Brocklebank added, “I still love that light-bulb moment.”

Summing up 32 years of teaching is a difficult task, considering the variables that happen from school year to school year. Still, Brocklebank offers his take on the profession to interested parties. “I run into a lot of former students, some of them are now in education, and some of them I actually coach against now. Sometimes they’ll come up to me and say, ‘You were right.’ [Teaching is] a challenge, but it is also rewarding and a lot of fun.”

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