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Sports: The Rise of Student Managers

5/02/2017 09:12:00 PM Media Center 0 Comments



Typical sports teams consist of a coach, a team captain, and its members or players. Each member plays a significant role in the team but it is usually the team captain who is left with the paperwork tasks in addition to his leadership role. This leads to a problem which most sports teams experience. When the team captain is distracted by other roles, he may neglect his primary responsibility which is to lead the team.

That is where student managers come in.

A student manager helps facilitate the team in several ways. He or she would be focused on doing the paperwork, monitoring the players’ academic performance, and disseminating information to the team so that other team members are more focused on their own duties and thus improve training and competition performance.

According to Coach Paolo Mendoza, the University of the Philippines Integrated School (UPIS) Basketball Team’s coach, student managers are a big help in communicating with the players. “For example, the coach needs to send a message to the team about certain activities, pwede ko siya i-assign to do this to make sure malaman ng team yung activity,” he shared. “Malaking bagay din yung student managers sa pag-monitor ng studies ng players” he added.

However, a student manager is still a student. He or she still has to study lessons and to pass requirements just like any other student. Managing paperwork for competitions or sponsorships will not be an easy job on his or her part which may affect his or her academic performance in a negative way. But the UPIS Table Tennis Team coach Melvin Lava disagrees. “Kung yung mga athletes nga hindi nadidistract, paano pa kaya yung student manager?” he explained.

Currently, Kenneth Rabang is the only student manager for a UPIS team. So far, Rabang enjoys being the student manager of the UPIS Basketball Team regardless of the fact that he is not paid to do his job.

“Wala akong sweldo monthly [but] nararamdaman ko na kabilang ako sa team. Oneness with the team kumbaga.” He also left a message for aspiring student managers. “Represent the team well and contribute what you can to help improve the team. Positive dapat ang image sa inyo since it reflects on the team.”

Having a student manager is also vital since he or she completely understands what a student-athlete goes through every day. From the requirements, social life, and training, the student manager knows more about these than their coach does because he or she is also experiencing it. Student managers may explain to the coaches, who sometimes do not understand the challenges and struggles of student-athletes, what the team members are going through, on and off training. This will help the coach adjust his coaching style for the players and the team that will lead to better performances in trainings and competitions and will give them the overall team chemistry that is important for the team’s growth. As long as the student-manager is willing, ready, and able to do all of these, the team will have a bigger chance of reaching its glass ceiling or full potential.

It is rare to find a students who are willing to sacrifice their time and efforts without getting paid. That is one thing the basketball team was able to find. As much as every team wants to have a student manager, they have yet to find someone who is willing to step up and do the job.

But we should always consider the additional workload it adds to that person. It might be helpful, but a student shall always be a “student” first before being an “athlete” or in this case a “manager.” //by Jaggie Gregorio, Nathan Ramos and Blade Saliva


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