Football managing: The best highschool experience of my life 

During my sophomore year, I realized I wanted to be more active in school. Not academically, I have my scholarly achievements down. But physically, I wanted to be more involved in my school’s extracurricular activities. So, in the summer of 2022, I decided to become a football manager, but I didn’t know it would change my entire character for the better. 

Let’s first start with the benefits. I’ve never been someone who would jump into new terrain, without knowing there will be something in it for me as well. So when I started managing, that’s one of the first things I asked myself “how will this benefit me?” and Coach Aziz, Hayfield’s football coach, said “managing is a form of community service,” which caught my attention immediately. I already do a lot of things for my community, such as tutoring and donating, but I’ve never done something like this before, so it was another thing to add to my resume.

Additionally, football management has made me a more social person. To manage football, it is important to know everyone and everything going on around you. Our job is to make sure everything is organized outside of the football coaches and football player’s control. Such as laundry, water, and food. So when there is a problem, you must communicate with your peers, and it is impossible to be an introvert. This made me become friends with managers, parents, football coaches, the players, and even the cheerleaders! I just enjoyed interacting with everyone. And now, I have a completely new batch of friends I never expected to become friends with. Some are even family to me now. 

And overall, I just enjoyed every moment I spent on that football field. I adored all the gossip me and the other managers would share. I loved laughing loudly during the game because we didn’t have anything to do. I loved giving the boys water, but it completely missed their mouth and went in their eyes instead. I miss yelling at the boys for doing something stupid. I hated sitting in all sorts of weather during the season, but I loved having my friends right there next to me. Football management taught me responsibility, it taught me how to balance the activities in my life. It taught me resilience, I learned how to tough it out when things get hard. It taught me to use my voice, I realized my opinion is more valued than I assumed it was. I have shed blood, sweat, and tears with this team. Others may see it as a measly high school football team, but it was more than that. If I had the choice to do it again, I’d say yes with no hesitation. Go Hawks!