Amid the chaos of the sidelines, players and coaches pace back and forth while their student managers work behind the scenes to ensure everything from film sessions to game days runs smoothly. While their contributions may go unnoticed, student managers play a pivotal role in assisting various teams on campus.
As a student manager, they are in charge of a range of responsibilities, like analyzing film, scorekeeping, organizing lineups, filming practices, setting up drills, updating GameChanger, doing laundry, wiping the courts, tracking statistics and more.
“I just wanted to make a difference doing something,” Riley Tone (12) said.
After suffering an ACL tear his freshman year, Tone found a new way to remain a part of a team. As the student manager for the boys varsity basketball team (13-5) for the past two seasons, and the boys varsity baseball team (23-11) last season, he became part of a “second family.”
“It’s really one big family, which is something coach Olive, and I think all of us always look for in our program,” Griffin Jimenez, freshman boys basketball head coach, varsity and JV assistant coach said. “They’re just two guys who fit right in, and you know over the years, obviously have grown closer and closer without kids and our coaches.”
Pradnesh Jakkula (11) also serves as the boys varsity basketball team manager this season alongside Tone.
“It has been an honor to be a part of this program and team,” Jakkula said. “I got to meet lots of new people. Also, I get to listen to the lessons we learn as a team, and the changes we make to be the best versions of ourselves.”
Not only can the students benefit from the experience, but it also offers the team a valuable perspective.
“I think it’s really cool to have student input on the team because I think the coaches can be a little bit one sided like they have a vision for the team, but they’re not really seeing how the girls feel and like the athlete side of it,” Rainey Keegan (’25), student manager for the girls varsity tennis team, said. “So I think it’s good to have a student leader, kind of like a captain, but a little different, just to hear both sides of the story.”
After suffering multiple injuries her freshman and sophomore year, Keegan was able to continue her passion for tennis by helping mentor the younger girls and staying connected with the girls she played alongside as an underclassman.
“I was just really grateful … I love the girls on the team,” Keegan said. “So, I really didn’t want to leave because I knew everyone so well, and I was grateful that the coaches let me stay as a manager … I was just happy to be there.”
Similarly, Tone built connections with the players on the team.
“You learn something from each person on the team and you take away these life lessons because you see people at their worst and at their highest,” Tone said. “[When] helping people with their emotions, you just learn a lot about other people and how to work as a team.”
In particular, Tone’s personality helped boost the energy of the boys varsity baseball team last season.
“[Riley] was very reliable and was a big part of you know the chemistry and the morale even though he’s not a player,” boys varsity baseball head coach, Chris Possemato said.
Also a part of a “second family,” Daniel Velasquez (12), student manager for the varsity football team (5-7), agreed.
“[Being a student manager] helped me find my place with the team,” Velasquez said. “[It] helped me make more friendships with people, and experience a lot of new things, and I mean it’s the best thing ever I’ll say that.”
While Velasquez played on the team his freshman and sophomore year, he was able to explore more of the technical aspects of the game by helping analyze the opponents.
“I mean, I love it,” Velasquez said. “Most of the time a lot of people ask me if I get paid, and I just tell them I don’t want to get paid really because I really enjoy it. I see it as a really fun hobby, and I really wouldn’t trade it for anything else.”
While the role offers students the opportunity to explore some of their interests, it comes with great responsibility. By assisting the team, student managers lessen the burden put onto coaches, allowing the coaching staff to focus more on the players rather than what needs to be done behind the scenes.
“We have a bunch of coaches, but we’re pulled in a lot of different directions,” Jimenez said.
Similar to a job, student managers are expected to be at nearly every event in a professional manner.
“[Student managers are] very helpful and I think consistency is very important,” Jimenez said. “Just day-to-day knowing that they’ll be there, very selfless and willing to do whatever it takes to help the team is extremely valuable and you don’t always find the greatest help for it, but they’re two awesome kids to assist you with whatever is needed.”
Through this experience, students learn skills not only specific to the athletic world, but gain universal assets that will benefit them later on in life.
“I think the basketball thing is such a minor if not an important part of it all,” Jimenez said. “It’s the life responsibilities of you being able to work on a team, being able to do tasks of things that you maybe don’t want to do some days … So it’s a lot of life skills that they get to learn, and hopefully, they take those skills and what they’ve learned through to college then to life.”
Football coach, track and field coach and business teacher, Jake Ashby (‘13) agreed.
“The team manager role, however it is shaped, allows students to learn about their passions through real hands-on application of material and training,” Ashby said. “I would encourage anyone interested in videography, sports, event management and more to reach out and see what we can do.”
