Skidmore senior Julia Bresee isn't a college athlete but as a dance minor and someone who has danced and played sports her whole life, she had a good idea of what being an athlete was like. Bresee's interest in sports compelled her to work as a manager for the women's soccer team for the fall season of 2022. She ended up having a lot of fun with this role and now assists with other teams during their home games during winter and spring sports as she closes out her degree. Here is her advice to anyone who might be looking into being a manager for a college team:

2aDays: You were the manager for Skidmore women's soccer team in 2022. How did you come across this opportunity?

JB: I came across this opportunity because I was good friends with a few of the players on the team. Then, one day one of the players and I were talking about jobs on campus and she told me about the men's basketball manager and how he got paid to be their manager. I was like ‘I would do that!' My friend suggested that I should do it for women's soccer and she put me in contact with the head coach. I met with the head coach and she and I immediately hit it off. From there it was set that I would work home games and help with food orders and organization for away games.

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2aDays: What were your main job duties?

JB: My duties differed depending on if the game was home or away. My main job duties for home games could be running the clock, communicating substitutions with the announcer's box, or being a ball girl. For away games I was in charge of finding a restaurant for post-game meals, getting in touch with the restaurant to see if they could accommodate a team order, getting every player's order, and then ordering for the team. Additionally, I was in charge of ordering the pre-game meals, picking them up, and then delivering them to the bus before the team left for their game in the morning.

2aDays: What was the best/worst part of being a manager?

JB: I would say that the best part of being the team's manager was getting to meet so many new people and making so many more friends. Being a dancer, I can appreciate the work of an athlete but do not fully get to see or meet all the athletes. So getting the chance to be a part of the team, I was able to meet so many people and feel so welcomed into Skidmore athletics. 

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2aDays: What advice would you give someone who is considering being a manager of a college sports team?

JB: The advice I would give would be that you have to be an incredibly organized person who is always on top of their stuff. Also, you have to be a very social person who is comfortable meeting new people and being thrown into new situations where you might not know everyone. 

To go along with that, you are going to have to do things outside of your comfort zone. At first, I was intimidated by having to find a restaurant close to wherever the team was playing, making sure that it was a restaurant everyone could eat at and accounted for everyone's dietary needs, sending it to the team, getting every player and coach order, and then having to send it back to the restaurant with enough time for them to receive the order and make everything on time. However, eventually you do get used to it and it seems easy. I would definitely recommend this to anybody who has the opportunity to do it, because you learn so much and meet so many people.

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* Originally published on April 20, 2023, by Bella Nevin