By Peter Elacqua
Staff Writer
MARLBORO – David Ryden, who is the supervisor of extra curricular activities at Marlboro High School, has been named Monmouth County Athletic Director of 2017.
Ryden has been in education for more than 20 years and has worked in the Freehold Regional High School District for the past 13 years — the last 11 have been in Marlboro as supervisor of extra curricular activities. Prior to that, he was a health and physical education teacher as well as a coach for football, girls’ basketball, baseball and boys’ lacrosse.
“It’s a tremendous honor, and the fact that it’s voted on by my peers is even better,” Ryden said. “I don’t do the profession to get accolades, but to get recognized is always great. It’s something you look at early on and you see the men and women who have won this award and aspire to be like them, and now I am like them.”
Ryden said he was proud of the overall success of the school’s athletic program during this school year.
“This school year has been very special,” Ryden said. “With the success our teams have had, it’s incredible, from the success of our boys’ soccer team, basketball, track and field, softball and girls’ lacrosse. You hope and pray you’ll have one of those seasons, and that’s what we’ve had. It’s been special, the success we’ve had it’s been the best athletic season combined. Winning this award was the cherry on top, and it shows that this school’s athletic department is going in the right direction.
“I like being the behind-the-scenes guy, and I like watching the kids and seeing them care as much as I do. I’m passionate in what I do, and I try to spill that over to the kids and try to get them as passionate.”
Ryden thanks his family for their support over the years.
“It helps having a tremendous support system at home and my wife, Lauren, and my daughter,” Ryden said. “They know what the job entails and the amount of time I have to put into it. Without them, I would be in a much different situation.”
Ryden serves as the Shore Conference’s web master, the conference’s committee chair for football, the A North Division representative for the Shore Conference Officials Committee and is the tournament director for boys’ and girls’ tennis and boys’ and girls’ volleyball. He was the president of the Shore Conference from 2012 to 2014.
He currently serves on the Director of Athletics Association of New Jersey Executive Board as the Monmouth and Ocean counties representative, the organization’s treasurer and is on the organization’s Strategic Plan committee and Policy Operations Procedures Manual committee.
