Many nights, when most of the varsity sports teams at Kingsway are pulling out of the parking lot after a hard day of practice, Dave Dominik can be seen going over from the high school practice over to a town or travel practice. It’s as if he resides on the softball diamond. He is relentless and dedicated.
Day in and day out, for years, he has been a quiet fixture in our local softball community. As an assistant coach for the Kingsway High School softball team, he supports Coach Tony Barchuk in his annual quest for South Jersey and New Jersey softball supremecy.
What many people don’t see is the work that Dominik does behind the scenes early in the lives of our softball players as the manager/coach of many of our local town league and travel softball teams.
He currently is the vice president of softball for the Swedesboro/Woolwich Little League, as well as the softball program director for the majors/minors divisions. He coaches in the league. Last year’s Swedesboro/Woolwich 11-12 year old softball team, which he coached, won the section 4 championship in blowout wins over Salem, showing tremendous power at the plate.
He also coaches the Lower South Liberty 12U Fast Pitch team, where he gets to work with his youngest daughter, Danielle. He trains with many of our local girls the entire year. This year, he also became a full-time faculty member at Kingsway Middle School, teaching math, in addition to his high school coaching duties.
Recent prominent Kingsway softball stars such as Katie Dickson, Becca Barb, Rachel Ippolite, and Kelsey Dominik have come up through some of these tremendous feeder programs to help fuel the Kingsway Regional High School softball machine. They have racked up a slew of South Jersey titles as well as many individual post-season accolades.
Many have moved on to play at the collegiate level, too. After winning the Gatorade New Jersey Softball Player of the Year last year for the South Jersey Group 3 champions, his daughter, Kelsey, moved on to star for the Temple Owls softball program. She has set an all-time Temple mark for home runs (14) and is the ace of the pitching staff.
So why has Dominik given so much of his time and energy to softball?
“When I first got my daughters involved in softball, it was at the town level,” said Dominik. “We then started to see other kids from surrounding programs. They were at a different place, in terms of their preparation. We noticed that they were heavily involved in travel ball. We needed to have something in place to give our kids the same advantages and resources. A group of softball parents decided to do something about it. We instituted travel softball in the area.”
This move seems to have paid huge dividends, in terms of providing a base and consistency for future Dragons. There have been other new travel programs arise, which has provided even more resources for our local girls.
All of these collective efforts, in combination with the work of the high school staff, have resulted in an unparalleled softball tradition for the area. Dominik clearly has had a hand in this current streak of Dragon softball success. He has shown true dedication to all of our local softball girls, regardless of age.
As any good educator does, he remains dedicated to laying a solid foundation in which any good institution is built. He is a true nurturer.
