I’ve managed two teams throughout my high school career. I managed the boys basketball team all four years of high school and the football team my senior year of high school. Being a manager is such a fun experience and I recommend it to you if the idea of helping out a team interests you. It is an extremely time consuming role. Let me give you a bit of personal insight on both.

Managing the Boys Basketball team is much less time consuming than managing the football team. Basketball game days begin right after school and end around 9:00 pm. I was managing all three levels of the basketball team. Home game days meant you had to be the official scorekeeper of the game. Meaning, you’d sit at the table with the person who controls the scoreboard and shot clock. Being an official book means the referees come to you with the calls they make. I would mainly do the score book. As a manager you are expected to attend every game. There are always at least two managers. Being a manager, you get to travel with the team to their away games. As a manager, you interact with a lot of people. A great sum of these people are adults. You are expected to be respectful because although you are not a student athlete, you represent Lompoc High School. Managing allows you to make friends and is overall a good environment. Some of the funniest moments were on the road with the basketball team. I’d recommend becoming a manager to the people who are social, responsible, and overall like sports. 

Now, managing the football team is a whole different story. Because football is such a big thing here at Lompoc High, it is a much more time consuming role. If you agree to manage the football team your role begins in the summer. There are four managers. And all four managers are necessary. As a football manager you are expected to attend all games, some managers attend practices, and all managers are expected to get their tasks done. These tasks include laundering the uniforms, handing out football gear to players, organizing and keeping track of uniforms, setting up the field and handling all of the other sports equipment as well. Football game days are much longer. Home games means you are needed right after school ends and don’t go home until around 10:00 pm. Away game days were even longer. The teams we played were far away. But, it is also such a fun experience. I began managing because I had friends on the football team and it just looked like so much fun. Being able to interact with my friends during games and having fun on the sideline made the job so much easier. Football management is very time consuming, but if you like the sport, the people, and are responsible then I’d recommend it to you. 

Overall, managing is such a fun thing to do in high school. You establish friendships, experience a sense of responsibility, and you also get to feel what it’s like to be part of a team. Being a manager is a huge privilege, and one that I’d recommend to anyone.