 |
Edition:
September 02, 2010
|
|
SCHOOL/SPORTS
|
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Frazee High School students learn management of sports teams
• by Barbie Porter
Managing a sports team is no easy task, there are always athletes and coaches who need an extra hand. Luckily for most of Frazee High School programs there are students who've stepped up to the plate.
Wrestling
Erica Ratz, a senior, has a longstanding passion for wrestling, as do her counterparts, senior Danika Tate, Chelsie Sanders and Samantha Pickrain, both freshman.
Erica has been the team's manager since her freshman year, but has been an avid fan since she was a child.
Her job duties include keeping stats and entering them into a computer tracking program, preparations for tournaments, such as taping the wrestlers, and checking uniforms in and out to the athletes.
"I also do odd jobs for all the teams, from the Mat Rats to the varsity," she added.
While it's a lot of work, she loves her job.
"All the meets and tourneys are always fun," she said. "But I especially love the state competitions. I love the intense atmosphere!"
Danika began her third year as the team manager this year. She shares many of the same job duties with Erica, but also videotapes the matches.
"The most difficult thing is making sure everything is put into the computer correctly," she said. "And, not missing a match when more than one guy is wrestling at one time."
With two seniors nearing graduation the wrestling program brought in two more longtime fans with Chelsie and Sam to learn from the veteran team managers.
Chelsie said managing the team was a natural fit for her, as her family are all huge fans of the sport and attend almost all the matches and tournaments.
But she's quickly learned the job involves a great deal of multitasking and is more difficult than her senior counterparts make it look.
"There are so many ways for wrestlers to get points," she explained. "Most of the time there's more than one match to keep track of, so that's been a difficult thing to learn."
Girls basketball
While sophomore Amber Oelfke and junior Anastasia De Nio won't be seen dribbling, passing or shooting during girls basketball games they are working hard behind the scenes as the team's managers.
Both have a variety of tasks, from keeping players hydrated to recording games and tracking stats.
"Those little things the girls do are big for me and the team," Head Coach Dave Conzemius said. "They are good all-around kids and I'm glad they're with us."
Anastasia joined the team as a manager last season, at the request of Conzemius.
"We were looking for someone who had friends on the team, so we asked Anastasia if she was interested," he recalled.
Anastasia revealed she wasn't certain at first, as she was contemplating joining gymnastics.
"But I don't have balance or agility so I decided being a team manager was (more suitable)," she said, adding one of her best friends, Suzanne Vetter, is also on the team.
Amber approached Conzemius at the beginning of the season, and asked if a second set of helping hands were needed.
"Anyone wanting to be part of the team is always welcome," Conzemius said.
Both ladies reported that statement couldn't be more true
"When I joined I became part of the family," Anastasia said. "I've made friends I never thought I would make."
Fly Girls
Carissa Woods, a senior, is the Frazee Fly Girl's veteran manager and a big reason the new managers, Tabiatha Hart and Amanda Quittschreiber, both seniors, joined.
"Carissa asked me to join and I thought it would be fun," Amanda said. "It has been a lot of fun, too. We're like a big family that laughs a lot."
The managers have multiple duties, including designing hair and make-up to compliment the outfits, videotaping performances and keeping the team focused on dancing by taking care of issues that might arise.
Amanda reported the three managers compliment each other with each focusing on different aspects of the job.
"My main job is to videotape competitions," she said. "They study the videos and from that decide what they need to work on."
Tabiatha, who works at the Frazee Care Center as a CNA, plans to have a career in cosmetology after her high school career.
"I enjoy the experience I'm getting," she said. "I get to prepare costumes and do the girls' make-up and hair for competitions. It's really been a good, fun way to spend time."
Tabiatha's sister, Tori, graduated last year and was a longtime manager for the team.
"She's given me some pointers," Tabiatha said, noting the most important nugget was to always keep a smile on her face.
When the team piles on the bus at the crack of dawn to travel to competition, she divulged it can be hard to smile at first.
"But it's such a happy atmosphere, it doesn't take long before everyone is smiling," she said.
Gymnastics and boys basketball
The gymnastics team doesn't currently have an official team manager. Anyone interested should contact Amie Erickson.
The boys basketball team was contacted, but didn't reply by press time.
|
Article Comment Form
|
|
|
|
Print this Article
Email this Article