Being a Manager by Madison

Being a Manager by Madison - January 2017 Scholarship Essay

For many years, soccer has been the only sport I played. I had tried a lot of other sports like basketball, lacrosse, and softball but it never worked out for me. I didn’t ever think about joining any other teams; not because soccer was the love of my life or because I loved my teammates, but because it was all I ever knew. My high school soccer team wasn’t even really a team. It was just a bunch of girls who had their cliques and never got along.
It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I realized being apart of another team would be the best thing that ever happened to me. Both of my best friends played for our high school varsity basketball team and they had came to me complaining how they weren’t going to have a manager this year. Their coach had looked around and just couldn’t find anyone to fill in the position. I laughed for a second because I always told myself that I wouldn’t be that loser on the bench managing the team because I wasn’t athletically talented enough to actually play the game. After a couple days, they finally talked me into doing it. I’ll admit that the only reason I even began to think about doing it was because it would count towards my community service hours I needed in order to graduate. I know that sounds bad but let me tell you, that basketball team was the best thing I ever did.
Being apart of that basketball team taught me so many lessons about life. It taught me that people don’t care if you’re an athlete or a manager. Those girls treated me just like any other player on that team, and they made me feel important. It taught me that no matter who you are, a team needs every single person to do their job in order to be successful, not just one all-star player. But the most important thing that it taught me was to never be afraid of what others might think of you. Do not base your decisions off of what society thinks, because you may say no to something that could have been the best thing to ever happen to you.
I am so grateful that I got the experience to be apart of a team in that way. It inspired me to always try something new, and to never judge anyone for volunteering or managing for a sports team.