With the fans cheering loudly, the Diamond Bar High School football players sprint across the field, battling their opponents for every yard. Few will notice the five team managers scurrying across the field by the sidelines, whose work ensures the game progresses smoothly. Senior Lauren Stanley, sophomore Crystal Calero, and freshmen Jacob Rovira, Sarah Seif, and Jiali Yang serve as team managers for this season.

“You meet all these new people you wouldn’t know otherwise. You also get the experience of being on a sports team without having to play the sport,” Seif said.

At every practice, team managers refill and roll out a water cow, holding 20 to 40 gallons, for dehydrated players to drink. They also manage a variety of equipment for the team and time the duration of offensive and defensive plays . In addition, the managers film practices and games for the players to review, which shapes the team’s learning experiences and helps improve the Brahmas’ form. Stanley, Calero, and Rovira focus on the JV and Varsity team, while Seif and Yang help out the frosh team.

“They help us out a lot, especially at practices where people don’t see. They play a big part in the total operation on how practices and games are done,” varsity head coach Marcus Hughes said.

Serving as a team manager since her junior year, Stanley is the only manager with more than one year of experience. Growing up, Stanley developed a passion for football after watching countless USC matches with her mother. As a high schooler, she attended every JV and frosh game, both away and home, realizing her growing interest in the sport.

During her junior year, she wanted to be involved in athletic training, but she wasn’t aware of DBHS athletic trainer Chase Paulson’s ROP health career class, which she is newly enrolled in, so she asked Hughes if she could help.

“I saw the athletic trainers and I saw what they were doing and I wanted a way to get into that and do football at the same time,” Stanley said.

As a team manager, Stanley has experienced a few difficulties.

“The hardest point is when one of your friends gets injured. You have to stay focused since you’re doing something for the team or game and you can’t pay attention to your friend,” Stanley said.

However, Stanley discovered her true calling in life while serving as the team manager—athletic training. Originally planning on becoming a teacher before joining the team, she enrolled in the health career class to further her experience with athletic training. As a requirement of the class, she must observe a professional in the medical or dental field for at least five hours each month, experiences which she uses to help manage the team better.

As a middle school student, Rovira was referred to the position after his middle school teacher talked to Hughes. During the summer, Hughes offered Rovira the role after he visited practice and temporarily served as the manager during that session. Rovira discovered his passion for helping the team and has served ever since.

“I feel really great as a team manager because they are nice to me. I just like to watch and help, but I like meeting the new people and coaches,” Rovira said via text.

However, Seif and Yang originally had little interest in the sport as they joined wanting to be a part of a sports team. Seif became interested in serving as a team manager when her friends joined the team as players and told her about the position. She promptly joined the team and has been helping the frosh team since the summer.

Although Seif and Yang were initially unfamiliar with football, serving as team manager caused them to grow passionate about the sport and have started to learn more rules of the sport.

“Diamond Bar seems to really like football, and I thought it be a good idea [to join]. I feel like I wouldn’t be involved in the school at all if I hadn’t joined this,” Seif said.