Everyday after school, managers stay about two hours longer to help make sure our wrestlers are getting their water refilled when they need it, the training they need, and help from the sports trainer when needed. Everyone just focuses on the wrestlers, forgetting one part of team. Yes, the coaches and wrestlers are important but the managers are just as integral to the team’s success. The managers get up almost every Saturday, come to the school at 6:30-7 and load the bus with all the wrestlers. They carry all the equipment and medical bags they need. Every once in awhile, they will even carry two tackle boxes filled with cameras and iPads. The girls stay the whole duel and or tournament and they take stats of the guys and sometimes just record how they’re doing in a match. Some of the managers, who have been doing this since their freshman year, stay all day. Some even stay through Junior Varsity and Varsity duels, which can be anywhere from 3-4 hours, possibly longer.

The team is very lucky to have the managers who try their best to get to and from the duels, stay the whole time, and keep them hydrated. All this is while they’re trying to manage the stats of the guys who are wrestling and video them.

At duels, you normally have about 2-3 managers who are staying. One videos, the other ones take stats. Taking stats is actually pretty complicated — it involves paying attention to the moves the wrestlers make and ensuring things are added correctly. Knowing the difference between a takedown and a reverse and the difference between a penalty and a caution, for example, can really help a manager with these tasks. Paying attention to the referee shows what the wrestlers do to get their points and when someone has been pinned. Along with making sure everything is added up correctly, the managers must keep track of everything, including how long their wrestler was in the match before a pin occurred, not just the official time the referee keeps. The wrestling managers are behind the scenes but if it weren’t for them, the coaches and the wrestlers would have it much harder than what it is now.