Two students, Alayna Dickerson (12) and Haley Hughes (11), found themselves unexpectedly thrust into the role of football managers this year. With no prior experience, they faced an interesting challenge for the fall season.

“I think there are the seniors who are leaders that make sure the younger classmen are doing their job, but there’s also some things the seniors don’t know, so that’s where me and Haley fall in and help them out, especially with the freshman to help them out…” Dickerson said.

The struggles of balancing schoolwork and extracurricular activities can be challenging. That is when it might be better to show perseverance and see the positive in situations.

“It’s kind of difficult finding the time to do my schoolwork because with football, we’re constantly doing something, so I can’t sit down and take a break from it, but also it’s just fun to be there,” Hughes said. “Usually Thursdays are kind of like my reset days because they do morning practices…” 

Dickerson believed that becoming a manager has helped her become more extroverted and able to socialize with different groups of people by constantly bringing her out of her comfort zone. 

 “…It has forced me to be more social and talk to kids, especially freshmen that I wouldn’t ever normally talk to,” Dickerson said. “Because I am a manager, it forces me to go ask them if they need anything or if they come up to me and need this, so I have to work with them to figure out what’s best for them and stuff like that.”

Hughes agreed that being a manager has helped her socially.

“I’ve definitely become a lot more socialized, even with the coaches, because they are kind of like my school dads,” Hughes said. “Even the football players. I’ve gotten to know a lot of freshmen because of it. I also tutor them now because they need to fix their grades. I’ve just gotten to know a lot of different groups in our school.”

Dickerson also believed that this role will give her insight and experience for her upcoming basketball season in the winter.

“I think it (managing) will impact the way that I look at it since I’m going into the team as a leader for basketball, but I will have more experience on how to help the underclassmen when they don’t know what to do,” Dickerson said. “Yes [it impacts me as an athlete], seeing what the coaches go through…on a day-to-day basis, especially while trying to manage an entire team. It just gives me a better idea on how they work through that.”

Coach Michael Genge felt the managers were a breath of fresh air for the chaos that came along with high school football.

“They are tremendous managers. They do so many things for us to align with Matt, our other manager. They take care of our water, hanging the uniforms up, fold the pants, make sure we get everything we need during the game, help during practice, and they even learned how to fly the drone,” Genge said. “They are a huge asset to what we do. They really take a lot off the coaches’ plate by making sure things run smoothly.”

The coaching staff agreed that having the managers allowed them to focus on their main goal.

“It’s a lot. Then as coaches, you’re worrying about organization — that means I have to find coaches to help me fold stuff and put stuff away. Even during practice, we have platoons that are in charge of things, and a lot of the time the managers are taking care of that stuff,” Genge said. “They allow us to focus on football, and it allows us to focus on what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Additionally, football player Joshua Williams (12) felt that the new football managers turned things around for the team.

“I think it’s made us more open and interactive. We talk to everybody on the team now, and in previous years when we didn’t have managers, we were in our own groups,” Williams said. “So no one was really talking to each other, so we weren’t really a team, I would say, and now I feel like our team is becoming more bonded and we feel like teammates now.”