Football, for many, is a lifestyle, who they want to be when they grow up. From the perspective of Keely Sanford, Grace Freidman, and Sky Welborn, it’s being in charge of 60+ guys who constantly are in need of water, gears being washed, and coaches who need assistance with their drills all while trying to find the time for themselves.

Being a high school football manager is not as easy as one may think. Grace Friedman explained “One of the hardest things would be the time commitment. The season starts in late July and can go until the end of November with playoffs, so it’s a very long season. Essentially having to jungle AP classes, work, and just extracurricular activities in general.” Choosing to be a manager was something that Keely Sanford was able to answer pretty quickly. “Last season, my brother was a senior, and the year before I barely got to watch him play due to COVID-19. I wanted to be able to see him play every game; since I knew he would be leaving soon, and I couldn’t be on the team. So to be as involved as I could, I decided to be a manager. My friends at the time; Grace Freidman and Sky Wellborn, also were all doing it. So I thought it would be fun– and I have loved it ever since.”

Being a manager involves interacting with the coaches. The managers are also in charge of being there to share the balls, and give insight on the plays, and when the coaches need help, they are on the front line. All three of them were able to speak up about their favorte coaches. “Mine would be Hatfield. He is the youngest of the coaches, but we are all able to relate to him because he went through a lot of what we dealt with. He understands the feelings we have and is able to relate to us a lot more than the other coaches.” Sky Wellborn states. Sanford states, “It really depends on the day. I love them all and all of them are so very different from each other.” Friedman was able to relate them all.

Outside and inside of being a football manager, female empowerment is very important to all three of the girls. Grace Friedman says, “We must stick together as women since we are a minority and male-dominated. We have to empower each other because there are so few of us. Inside– It’s hard to fit in because we are girls and are surrounded by 60+ guys, and we all have to stand up for each other.” Sky states, “In an environment where females are underlooked, it’s hard for people to listen, and get your point across, and you never end up sharing what you felt. But as Grace said, we have to stand up for each other.”

“Female empowerment is very important to me, outside of football I work in a male-dominated place, Bullwinkles, when I work outside at go-karts and everything there are rarely girls that work outside– when I was hired they told me that it was extremely unlikely that I would work outside because I’m not a “big, strong man.” Obviously I thought that was dumb so I pushed and pushed and got trained outside, and now I work there regularly. Inside of football, I am also surrounded by 60+ men at a time and have to make sure I vouch for myself when a guy is being sexist, or just rude. Thankfully, I haven’t had very many problems with players, or coaches.” Keely Sanford was able to explain.

 All of them are able to turn from the hate that people give in the world and focus on helping themself and other grow in this harsh, but exciting world.