After a long, tough game, the football team walks off the field hot and sweaty. Their breaths are hard and labored but come with an undertone of triumph. Down the line, the team comes, all in order. The players walk in first. Then the coaches, and then the newest and most evolving part of the football team: the managers. They too have sweat on their foreheads. Their arms are tired, but they are elated with another victory. A victory for the team, the whole team, including them.

The Football Managers Program is a vision that is still in its starting stages here at WCA, but every year it becomes more advanced, and runs better than the year before.

“When I became the head coach, developing the manager program was one of the first things that we did.  We wanted to identify candidates and flesh out the responsibilities. We would also be able to involve the student body that would generally not be able to participate in the football programs,” said Cory Snyder, head coach of the varsity football team.

The first day that the managers were at work was just last summer. The work began that day with just one manager, but soon the program grew to now having approximately ten. From the countless days of working in the heat of the brutal St. Louis summer, to the cold days standing drench in October rains, the managers are going through it all with their team. They have been through the tough season that the team endured last year and felt every loss as their own, and also celebrated every win as their’s as well.

The managers are more or less student coaches. They run the plays and help to better their team in any way they possibly can. Even though they already consider themselves part of the team, the players and coaches still make it their priority to make sure that they are treated as such.

“The managers are part of the team and are great friends to me personally and to the team,” said Bret Bond, junior.

“It’s a good opportunity to get to know poeple who I normally wouldn’t have the chance to,” said Julia Alpert, junior, and manager.

“You have to have a great heart to come to football practice day in and day out with a bunch of smelly guys. I definitely do not take for granted the time that they give to us. And as a part of our program, since I hope that they consider themselves as part of the program as much as any player, managers are invited to attend pregame chapels, pregame meals, and anything else that we do as a program.  In fact, Julia Alpert won an award at the banquet last year,” said Snyder.

Snyder also says that he sometimes forgets how efficiently everything works when they are with the team. Though football is the biggest of the sports programs, the manager program as a whole has expanded past the sideline of the football field.

Last year marked the first year that the girls’ varsity volleyball team extensively used managers. Daniel Prada, senior, joined the manager program because of his dream to become a sports coach in the future. Through his work last year, Prada was able to be named the official assistant coach for the team for the 2011 season.

“My duties are simply to just be there for extra help, but more importantly to encourage the team as a whole to do their best. Its a fun experience for all of us and one that gives me a lot of memories,” said Prada.

The athletic department as a whole is starting to catch on to the helpfulness of the manager program. Todd Zell, Athletic Director, thinks that the manager program is a great investment for the school sports and it is great that students are willing to give up their time.

“I think it is a wonderful addition to any athletic program and it creates a first class look and feel,” said Zell.

The football managers might be getting into the swing of things, but as a whole, the manager program is as new as ever and will hopefully expand to spring sports. Once it was just a dream of  the coaches, but soon the dream was realized through the unwavering dedication of many of WCA’s  finest students.

They don’t complain over the work done on a daily basis. They do it with pride and with hope. Hope that what they do in those long practices or in those games that have them biting at their nails will pay off with victory for their players and for their school. Because for them, it’s not about the dinner at the end of the season, or the “thank yous” they get from the team. It’s about winning and losing together as a team, because in a team there are players, coaches, and sometimes, managers.