As Liberty’s spring sports season rolls in, news of team selection spreads across the school, and one question has been in every student’s minds: why does the girls’ tennis team have seven managers? Turns out, all seven managers were members of the boy’s varsity tennis team, and all have an intense love for the sport.
“I played during the boys season and had a lot of passion playing with the other guys, so I felt like joining the girls season as a manager would continue my passion for tennis,” senior Rhys Peene said.
Connecting with other tennis players as well as following other varsity tennis members’ lead were also big factors in committing to the job.
“I’ve been managing the girls team for three years. I started my sophomore year. I used to want to improve at tennis but as the time went on, I enjoyed the social part of it,” senior Alex Tran said. “I spread the desire to be a manager, because I feel like being a manager is really fun.”
Since the team was lacking sufficient leadership, the new managers stepped in to help out.
“The JV coach left, and we never really found a great replacement, so having a lot more managers helps out with the JV team,” senior Zachary Decasa said.
“Having more managers helps the current coach to manage the not-so-experienced players, and we can help teach them more,” Tran said.
The many managers perform various tasks to keep girls’ tennis practice running efficiently.
“It’s a lot easier to get individual players more practice because you can assign a manager to a group of six to eight people, and they can individually work with that group of people, unlike having the coach work with 30 people at once,” Peene said. “It’s more personalized training for the players.”
Not only do the managers help teach the players, they also schedule matches and run training exercises.
“I help out with some decisions sometimes, but mostly I gather equipment. If we have a combined practice, I help out with coaching. We just started with tryouts, and I helped decide who should be on the team,” Decasa said.
Furthermore, the managers keep practice lively and fun with music and overall friendship building.
“I’m usually the music guy. I can’t do anything without music, so I think having music as they practice is a really positive thing, because tennis is usually pretty quiet,” Tran said. “Playing tennis, being on the team, being a manager, it lets me have an opportunity to talk to many other people.”
Whether it be to help out or to connect with fellow tennis players, the seven managers always find enjoyment in their positions, striving to make a difference in the team.
“When we’re doing nothing and there’s a free court, I like to play because I like playing the sport and keeping up with it,” Decasa said. “I think the culture we bring from boys’ tennis is better for the community.”
