Many do not realize the integral tasks a team manager might do, like collecting stats during games, taking care or and assisting the coaches to ensure that team dynamics are happy and healthy.  

Junior Grace Meyer and senior Claire Keener became the cross country managers last year and have continued into the current season. Most of their responsibilities include taking times using high tech timing systems during races, and completing any task girls cross country coach Angie Brass gives them. That can range from making scrapbooks to collecting health paperwork from athletes.

“It’s a great opportunity to be apart of the high school, to meet new people and see a whole other aspect of high school life you wouldn’t see otherwise,” Meyer said.

Meanwhile, volleyball manager Olivia Tucker collects stats during matches. She also makes sure that all the girls are on the same page and team energy is positive and healthy.

“I love being with the girls on the team,” Tucker said. “They are just the best.”

Although managers help sustain a positive team energy,  many people do not see them as part of the team, and may even say they are unnecessary. Keener said that she finds there are certain downfalls to being a manager.

“[There’s a] lack of recognition Grace and I get from the team,” Keener said. “Sometimes people will make jokes about us not even being apart of the team which hurts because we do so much.”

As a manager, Tucker disagrees with that mindset, and feels as though if you make a contribution and are committed to the girls, you are definitely a part of the team. And as she takes stats for games and ensures that the girls are happy and healthy, she considers herself as much of a teammate as the athletes.

“It makes my day when I can make all the players smile on and off the court,” Tucker said.

Although there may be a sense of discrepancy between athletes and managers, Meyer, Keener and Tucker agree that managing has opened a new perspective in the world of sports and they wouldn’t change what they have done.

“I just want to thank my team for always giving me something to look forward to each day and getting the chance to hang out with all the other coaches,” Tucker said. “They’re pretty rad.”