By Matt Petry
Student athletes often garner attention for their 20-to-40-hour work weeks they have in season, and the juggling act they must put on between academics and athletics. But an unsung group of students suffer a similar schedule, with much less fanfare and reward.
Emma Carman, a senior at Quinnipiac, was originally intent to walk on to the Acrobatics and Tumbling team. However, a back surgery in her sophomore year of high school prevented her from remaining on the team as an athlete. But she was still passionate about the team, and was determined to contribute.
“I told the head coach, Mary Ann Powers that I still wanted to be involved with the team anyway I could be,” Carman said, “so she gave me this wonderful opportunity and I am so thankful for that.”
Emma Carman filming an Acrobatics and Tumbling meet courtesy Emma Carman
Despite no longer being a student athlete, Carman still put forward just as much effort and time commitment as she would have as a student athlete.
“I go to every single practice which is about 20 hours a week during the championship season. The championship season for our sport runs from the beginning of October until the end of the school year,” said Carman, “Our national championships are held the last weekend in April, so we are practicing 20 hours a week for almost eight months.”
On top of attending and filming all practices, Carman’s responsibilities include traveling on the road with the team to things such as film and record transactions made on the road, filming home meets, organizing packing lists and so many other little details throughout an average week. Indeed, Carman, like other managers at Quinnipiac, is truly an integral part of the team.
The importance of managers is not lost on the teams they put their hearts into, either. Coaches and players alike can go on for hours in regards to just how important their managers are. Tricia Fabbri, the coach of the women’s basketball team at Quinnipiac, was especially grateful for her group of student managers.
“They bring so much professionalism, responsibility, they carry themselves, they are a valued member of the program,” said Fabbri, “without them we are not running at a high capacity.”
Tricia Fabbri walking the sidelines courtesy Liz Flynn
She continued to rattle off the variety of different details and responsibilities she gave to her managers, from setting up the chairs and water before a game, to running drills with the clock, to minor things as simple as knowing which shoulder to go over when giving a player their water. To Fabbri, each responsibility, no matter how seemingly minor or unnecessary, is crucial to the team’s success.
“The orange slices at halftime are so important to our players,” said Fabbri, “to make sure that they are getting that real natural sugar to go out there and play that second half.”
Much like with her athletes, Fabbri expects her managers to be ready and prepared at a moment’s notice to meet each player’s individual needs, because in her mind they are a crucial part of the team.
“Players get picky in the heat of the game,” said Fabbri, “and as a valued member of the team you better get it right.”
Paige Warfel, a senior forward for the Bobcats, believes it is easy for the work that managers do to go unnoticed, but that in her and her teammates eyes, they are just as much a part of the team as the athletes are.
“They are 100 percent a part of this team, as much as any other person,” said Warfel, “you know we’re all in this together and they play a huge roll, just like we do.”
Paige Warfel running back on offense courtesy Liz Flynn
Taylor Herd, a senior guard for the Bobcats, agreed with Warfel.
“They just brighten up the team’s day,” said Herd, “because they are always with us and are also students, but they have a different perspective than we do.”
As Warfel and Herd said, managers truly are a part of the team in just about every sense imaginable. They put in similar time commitments, travel with the team, and are a crucial to how the team functions. Yet, not only is their work often overlooked, there is no record of any of it at all.
The sad reality is that unlike with student athletes, there is no basis or standard for what a manager’s workload should typically be, and how they should be compensated. The only national resource they have, the National Association of Collegiate Basketball Managers, could not be reached for comment and has no information available.
Of the schools reached out to regarding stats on their managers or others, not one school could offer a single nugget of information.
Every school which was reached out to was unable to find one piece of data that could serve to represent the hours of work their managers had put into their programs. Only the Athletic Compliance Officer at the University of New Hampshire had an idea of where such stats might exist, and that was also a dead end. Mike Stefanelli, a former four-year manager for the UNH men’s basketball team, had some answers.
Much like other managers, Stefanelli recalled 20-to-40-hour work weeks, filled with the same various responsibilities and travel obligations as his colleagues. Yet for all his contributions to the team, he was only rewarded with spring internship credit in his junior and senior years. Yet to Stefanelli this was not an issue.
“I did this because I managed teams for four years in high school,” said Stefanelli, “and I realized that it was something I loved, something I had a passion for.”
Stefanelli was able to manage the time commitment of being the for UNH for the entirety of his four years at UNH, but not all students can meet the demands of the job for their full enrollment. Between academic demands and extracurricular demands, some managers have to make the decision to leave the team for the sake of their futures. Even with thousands of dollars on the line.
Francesca DePalo, now a Senior at Quinnipiac, came to the school in large part due to the hockey program and the opportunity to be a manager. She signed a contract with the team, treating her as a volunteer year one, and 1,000 dollars towards her tuition in the second year, with that number increasing by 1,000 each following year. DePalo loved being a manager, doing many of the same duties and responsibilities as Carman, but realized her senior year that she had to make a choice between her position and her future.
“My grades were slipping as I went into my senior year, and I realized that I needed to make a choice for my future,” said Depalo, “so I stepped down from being a manager to focus more on my career and my other responsibilities.”
Those responsibilities included her position as the President of the Quinnipiac’s Association of Women in Sports Media and her role as manager, as well as being a full-time student. Since stepping down from her position, DePalo has seen her grades rise once more, and has felt a weight lifted off her shoulders. But despite having to leave her post as manager, Depalo only had fond memories of her time with the teams.
“Being able to be a part of the program and seeing the behind the scenes was so cool, and I made so many connections,” said DePalo, “plus I learned a lot of time management skills, so I definitely wouldn’t change a think about my time as manager.”
So yes, it is an issue that a job with this many responsibilities is not tracked and regulated to a greater extent, and it does leave open the door for exploitation down the line. But that is not the story of most collegiate managers. Warfel may have put it best when describing college managers, even if she singled out her sport specifically.
Francesca Depalo at a Quinnipiac Athletics event courtesy Francesca DePalo
“They do this strictly because they love basketball and love being here,” said Warfel, “and I have a lot of respect for them for that.”