Time management. Appreciation. Empathy. Leadership. What do these traits have in common? These are all characteristics of a sports manager.
Junior Allison Good has been a football manager for three years and has now taken on the job as a wrestling manager for the first time. Good has enjoyed the amount of time she gets to spend with her friends, who are also managers, as well as new ones she has made through the years. Good also realizes most students don’t understand all the work that goes with being a sports manager.
“All I hear from people is that we give the players water during the football season, but our job has so much more to it,” Good said. “Our job isn’t to keep the boys hydrated, but it’s to keep the team and coaches functioning.”
Good and several other football managers spend most of their hours and time, weekdays and weekends, on the field everyday with the team during the season, keeping practices running smoothly is one obstacle the football managers tackle every day of the season.
“We all set up their drills with cones or, if they have circuits, we set the stations up,” Good said. “During the games, we have to film and get whatever a coach asks for.”
With all the confusion on what a manager really does, Good enjoys being a manager for several reasons.
“The best part is the connection I’ve made with the players since I have been with all of them for the past three years,” Good said. “I feel emotionally connected because a loss hurts us as much as it hurts the players and a win makes us more than happy.”
Senior Becca Williams has been a basketball manager for four years now and has appreciated the opportunity it has given her to be involved in the school and make new friends. Williams noticed that most students and faculty members don’t really know how much a manager does. Basketball managers must run the clock, checkout uniforms, complete statistics during the games, film the games, pack extra equipment needed for away games and get water for the players.
“Something most people don’t realize is that we do more than fill up water bottles for players,” Williams said. “We go to every practice, including the 7am practices and every game just like the players do to help the team.”
Being a basketball manager has always been a favorable part of Williams’ high school career. Basketball has been a sport that has brought her family together and she thought it would be a great way to keep her enjoyment alive for the game. Williams said a benefit to being a manager is gaining several new friendships and memories through the last few years.
“I will always remember Coach Rabbitt pretending to be the basketball managers’ dad,” Williams said. “He really enjoys giving us guy advice and tips about relationships.”
