There are many reasons group sports appeal to high school athletes. One word used often in describing the connection players have with one another on a team is “family.” The bonding of participants sometimes extends beyond the actual athletes, which is what has happened in the case of Pacelli School senior Olivia Morgan.
Last year Morgan joined the Pacelli Vikings football program as a team manager. A close friend had been one of the managers and talked Morgan into giving the position a try. According to the school’s athletic director, Buster Connelly, team managers are a group of four or five female students who usually undertake those responsibilities as sophomores and continue throughout their senior years.
“The idea is to have someone coming up as a manager with others who have been around a couple of years,” Connelly said. “That way, we have students who take the lead role and teach the new managers what the job entails. It’s work. Most people don’t realize how hard these young people work as managers.”
Morgan was a junior when she became part of the manager team. On-the-job training commenced immediately, and there was one main surprise for the newbie.
“It’s really a lot of work; you aren’t just standing there watching the game,” Morgan said, laughing.
The outgoing and personable Pacelli student laughs a lot about her first days on the job. She learned the hard way about the heat, the aggravation of flying insects, and, most importantly, hydration.
“It’s all about water,” Morgan said. “I drink more water than I ever did. I have learned how key being hydrated is because of how necessary it is to the players. With them, you have to constantly be aware of how much water or fluids have been taken in and who needs something. You are watching everyone and always making sure they have what they need. There is intensity to the job because the players are not thinking about being hydrated because they are focused on playing. They depend on us.”
Team managers haul ice, water, and sports drinks for practices as well as games. They have to prepare before players ever get on a field, and they are cleaning up or getting supplies ready after players leave. Morgan said the managers ride with the football team and coaches to away games and must make all arrangements for coolers, water bottles, and fluids long before the bus pulls out of the parking lot.
The managers for Pacelli’s football team are not trainers. The Vikings have a trainer on site for practices and games. The primary role of the team managers is to make hydration available and “push it” during athletic endeavors. Connelly pointed out that coaches preach that hydration should be a lifestyle for athletes before they ever get to a field of play. Once there, managers work to keep them hydrated.
Other than being in constant motion, Morgan said she also was surprised last year to find the group of athletes and support personnel form a bond during the season. She honestly admitted there might be a perception of asking for trouble when putting female managers in close proximity to a team of male athletes, but that’s not been her experience.
“These guys have always been serious and respectful to us,” Morgan said. “They treat us like part of the team, and we really get to know each other. I probably would not have contact with most of the guys on the team just by attending school here. But because I am a manager, I have a family relationship with this team. It’s really a sweet little football family.”
An only child, Morgan feels like the football program at Pacelli has become an extended family for her. That feeling was no greater needed or appreciated than when Morgan’s father, Wes Morgan, died in January.
“Everyone knew my dad,” she said. “He was always at the games. I just couldn’t believe how supportive they were to me when he died. I didn’t expect the reaction I received. The family aspect really came through.”
This season Morgan is back on the sidelines as a manager but also as the leader. She is senior to the other four managers and takes her role seriously. Over the summer she was at Pacelli daily taking inventory of equipment and gear or helping with other tasks in the athletic department and later working at football practices.
Being a manager has been a unique experience for Morgan. She plays volleyball for the Vikings and had played some basketball earlier in her life, but football was just a spectator sport to her. In fact, Morgan has taken dance most of her life and is an accomplished violinist. She has really learned a lot about football from being up close and personal to it, including becoming a pretty vocal fan as she encourages her “family” from the sidelines.
“Yep, that’s me yelling for them on the sidelines; (I) feel kind of like the team mom,” she said with a laugh.
Columbus Valley/October 2017
Olivia Morgan
Pacelli School
Columbus, GA
By Beth Welch
Photos by George McDuffie
Team Manager Finds Family on the Sidelines
