For many sports, the staff who look after the athletes are the coaches, assistant coaches, and athletic trainers. However, some sports are fortunate enough to also have a team manager. 

A team manager is someone who helps a respective team with the equipment, coaches, and overall providing an extra hand out there to the coaches and players support. Three students who’ve held down these jobs are Miguel Garcia, Julissa Rivas-Ibarra, and Lucy Peinado.   

Having a huge roster, football needed a manager and senior Miguel Garcia was ready for the job.

Garcia had been playing football since his freshman year, but started helping the varsity football team going into his sophomore year.

Knowing he wasn’t going to get much playing time, he decided to take on the manager role. “It’s been really good for me because you know I still get to stick around the team and help,” he said.

Not only do team managers take care of things during the game, but also before the game. “For example, when we played against North High the coach wasn’t there because his son was born, but he left me in charge of preparing everything,” Garcia said. “The computers, the water bottles, where they would write the plays, all of that.” 

Being a team manager, you get a full perspective into the sport and what goes on behind the scenes of the sport in particular. It also applies to the technology aspect with film and computers that help coaches with the analytics and video which help give insight to helping our athletes give their best performance on the field. 

Along with assisting the coaches and the players comes the experience to be a part of a team. Managers have the access to be on the sideline, a point of view not everyone gets to see from the game. 

Garcia has had many fun experiences and opportunities from his job as the varsity team manager for football, but this year one game stood out. “Beating North Salinas in the last 6 minutes of the game,” Garcia said. 

More important than the job itself is the skills our managers build from their experiences. “I think it helps me that I can come back to be a coach’s assistant, after I graduate,” Garcia said. 

For the girls’ soccer team, senior Julissa Rivas-Ibarra has been helping with the varsity team for the past two seasons.   

She chose to become a team manager to see other sports coming from her background of cheerleading, which is her main sport. “I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, just because I’ve done cheer for basketball my freshman and sophomore year,” Rivas said. 

Initially she wanted to join the soccer team, but changed her mind and talked with the coach, who gave her the opportunity to contribute to the team as a manager.

She takes care of the basic things in being a team manager, “I kept track of the roster, the girl’s attendance, the equipment, and if a girl is not here I go and check up on them,” Rivas said. 

She said her experience was really eye opening and beneficial, as she has developed new friendships. “I think what I love most is being able to connect with each girl individually,” she said. “And make new friendships because I made a lot of new friendships out of the soccer team.” 

For Rivas, working as a manager fit in with wanting to go into the health field, as it was an opportunity to work on her communication, organization, and people skills, which can contribute to her future career. “This incredible experience has prepared me for my future, especially going into the health field by strengthening my ability to stay calm under pressure, pay attention to detail, and work with a team,” she said. “It’s also helped me develop strong social skills which is important when in the health field working with patients and professionals.”

To the players, team managers are as important as their connection with the team. “One of the most important qualities is how she interacts with the players,” senior Anahi Jacobo said. 

The chemistry and bonding aspect helps players stay motivated and hungry to give their best effort. “She would bring the team’s spirit up when we would lose a game with her friendly smile and positive attitude,” Jacobo said. “And we had a LOT of losses this season, which meant she was a significant factor that kept us united as a team.”

Senior Lucy Peinado returned for her second year as manager of the varsity boys’ baseball team. “I decided to become the manager for baseball last year when I had 0 community hours and was trying to find a way to come out of my comfort zone and start to make more friends and build more as a person,” she said.  

The job brings out a way for students to be more connected with their school’s community. Every manager has a duty they have to do that contributes to the team. “I helped carry whatever I could, kept the scoreboard and stats, and I talked to the boys when they were down on themselves or simply just having a bad game day or bad day,” she said. 

Peinado also played an additional role. “Not only was I the manager, but the athletic trainer as well,” she said. “I treated the boys when they needed it, taped ankles before games – fingers, wrists – to make sure they were ready and comfortable to play.” 

Over the last couple of years, Peinado has had a great time being the team’s assistant/manager. “Doing this helps me a lot with talking skills,” she said. “Such as being comfortable with talking to other people that are older than me and just help develop me into the person that I grew into.” 

Peinado has made many memories over the last couple years helping with baseball, and has made many new friendships. “I will miss it because it was fun and it is where I met my boyfriend,” she said.

Utility man Gianperre Serrato-Quintero knows the difference having an assistant makes to the team.  “I appreciate having one [manager] as I knew what inning it was, the lineup, and the [number of] outs,” he said. “It makes a difference, as the team was more organized and no one on the bench was struggling to see who would do the duties she did. The team would’ve been less organized as the bench players would’ve been doing other things than focusing on the game.” 

Regardless of the sport, team managers make a difference by helping both the coaches and the players focus on their jobs, which is made easier when the managers do theirs.