Student managers are crucial to the success of programs. They are the behind-the-scenes guys in sports that no one talks about. They go to practices, games, workouts and run the whole operation. Who are a few of these guys in St. X sports and what do they do?
The sole manager of the varsity baseball team is junior Pete Hartlage. His duties consist of organizing the field for practice, getting the bases out, setting up batting practice, painting the bases, loading equipment/uniforms, distributing lineup cards to the press box, and much more. Mainly, Pete is the stats guy. He is responsible for recording the team’s stats on the GameChanger app.
“The coaches really lean on Pete to give us vital in-game stats to help us make offensive and defensive adjustments on the fly,” says coach Andy Porta. “He’s a bit like an assistant coach and his work allows us to focus on other details.”
One of the many managers of the basketball team is John Waskey, who considers this as one of the best decisions he has ever made.
Waskey’s role as manager is mostly stat-keeping, music, and working the video board. He makes the playlists for games, controls what goes on the video board (including the National Anthem, player intros, hype videos), and etc.
“Stat-keeping is probably the most labor-intensive because you have to pay attention for the whole game and record everything from points scored, assists, blocks, turnovers, and more,” Waskey says.
Assistant basketball coach Mike Glaser knows just how valuable managers are to the success of a team.
“Student managers are the backbone of the team; they do so many tasks to allow the coaches to coach,” Glaser commented. “If coaches had to do all of the tasks that the managers complete for them, coaches would not have enough time to coach! In basketball: they keep stats which are vital, they help set up practice every day and take care of equipment, they film practices and games, they work camps and help with keeping the gym clean and they run the clock during games and practices. The managers are invaluable to the success of any program!”
Football managers take care of three main parts of the program: video production, equipment, and uniforms.
“Student support staff does a great job of handling the needs of all three of these respective parts of our program,” Coach Wallace said.
Managers film practices, which are then downloaded and used for film and preparation. Managers clean, store, and prep uniforms for games. For road games, they pack equipment for travel.
This experience can be very valuable after high school as well. St. X currently has five players/managers who are working in support staff positions for the football teams at the University of Kentucky and Louisville. Students can even receive scholarship money for work in management.
Students managers’ immeasurable impact on programs often goes unnoticed, but their behind-the-scenes work is mostly what enables the coaches to coach and players to play.
