Senior Charles “Chuck” Albertson has been a manager for the men’s basketball team for the past three years. This year will be Albertson’s fourth year as a high school manager and his second year as a varsity team manager. According to Albertson, he started being a manager during eighth grade and has continued throughout high school.

“I wanted to be a manager because I just felt like it wasn’t a bunch of work. I don’t have to go through practice, and it’s an easy way to get on the team,” Albertson said.

Albertson is one of three managers for the men’s basketball team this year. According to Head Coach Scott Heady, the other two managers this year are seniors Holten Warriner and Matt Barnthouse. Barnthouse has been a manager since Freshman year, but this is Warriner’s first year as a basketball team manager.

Heady said the managers are an important part of the team, and he said they are as much a part of a team as the players are.

“They’re an important part of what goes on every day,” Heady said. “Their job is basically to assist the players and to handle things that we as coaches maybe don’t have time to do. It allows us to just concentrate on coaching, since we don’t have to deal with a lot of the equipment issues.”

Although Heady said that managers play an important role for the team, Warriner said he thinks some people may have some misconceptions about managers. He said some people may not know what exactly they do for the team.

“Of course there are misconceptions about managing,” Warriner said via email. “I think people who are not part of the team would be surprised about how much happens behind the scenes to have a successful team. I saw that when I was on the football team during my freshman year, and I certainly noticed and appreciated the managers and their hard work.”

Megan Carr, manager of the wrestling team and junior, said she has different responsibilities than those of the basketball team managers. While the basketball team managers have to attend every practice and game, Carr said that she does not go to the practices, but she does attend the meets.

“We score the matches, film and help out the coaches before meets,” Carr said via email. “Most people think we clean the mats and such or they think I’m a trainer, but we don’t tape ankles or anything.”

According to Carr, managers receive the same accolades and achievements as players on the team. Carr, who has been a manager since her freshman year, said that she got a varsity letter last year for being a varsity manager for the wrestling team.

Because of their status on the team, Heady said managers have many responsibilities to go along with the awards.

“They’re required to be here just like everybody else, and they have to go through the same processes as far as grade checks, having to have a physical form on file and all of the other things any student athlete would need,” Heady said.

While they have to go through some of the same processes as athletes do, managers have different paths to get on the team. Warriner said he sent an email to Assistant Coach Ryan Osborn over the summer, and after a few conversations he accepted the role as a manager. Heady said  that although the position may be difficult, it isn’t too difficult to become a manager.

“(Managers are) just some guys who come in and more or less ask about the possibility of doing it,” Heady said. “We just tell them about all of the responsibilities would be, and then they make the decision.”
There is also a considerable time commitment for most managers, so Heady said that not everyone can be a manager.

“It takes a special kind of person to do some of the things they are required or asked to do. When you’re doing things to help your peers, whether it’s taking care of equipment or assisting your peers, it’s difficult, and a lot of people don’t really like it,” Heady said. “Young people don’t want to do that. I think it takes a special person to want to do that, and I also think our players do a great job too in making our managers feel like they’re part of the team.”

Parker Bernhold, men’s basketball player and junior, said he agrees that the managers are a major part of the team.

“We interact with the managers all the time,” Bernhold said via email. “I always joke around with them at practice, talk to them while we’re taking a break, or interact with them off the court. After the last few years as a basketball player, I found myself closer to the managers than I ever thought I would be.”

While Heady said there are many responsibilities and time commitments in order to be a manager, Albertson said he was willing to make the commitments and spend the time.

“(Managing) is really important to me. I can handle (the time commitment)” Albertson said. “If I weren’t a manager, I would still go to all of the games.”

Warriner said he is looking forward to his first year as a manager of the men’s basketball team this year because he is interested in learning more about coaching and more about basketball. Carr said she wanted to be a manager because it sounded like something fun to do and she wanted to help out.

“There’s a lot of positives (to being a manager),” Heady said. “You’re part of the team, you have responsibilities within the organization and you can develop relationships that can last a lifetime.”

While Heady said that it is difficult to be a manager and it is a big commitment, he also said that the managers they have had in recent years have helped out the team and contributed to their achievements, such as the State championship last year.

According to Albertson, winning State was a good experience for him last year.

“It was really fun,” Albertson said. “We had four great seniors, and it was just a great team overall.”

“We’ve been pretty fortunate, our managers have just been a big part of the success of our program,” Heady said. “I think that we’ve been fortunate that we’ve had very good managers, because they are very important to what we do.”