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Tanner Harrell is an experienced manager at Elder who brings great energy to the team.

Elder Volleyball went to the State Championship last year where they fell to archrival Moeller High School.  The team was fantastic last year having three Juniors in the starting lineup.  This year we have five out of the six starters being seniors.  The same three who started just last year, as well as two more who had plenty of playing time last season.

With all this, there is a lot of attention around the team this season.  Yet one aspect of the volleyball team that doesn’t get the attention deserved are the team managers.  This year there are three team managers, Sophomore Jacob Brossart, Junior Tanner Harrel and Senior Joey Trotta.  All three of them have been fans of the game of volleyball for the better half of their lives.  I decided to ask some questions to try to get to know them a little better.

Jacob Brossart originally got into managing because of something Mr. Espelage said on the announcements one day about getting involved this spring.  Mr. Tierney and the team should be consider themselves lucky because of this.  Jacob helps with a variety of tasks on and off the court.  Some of his roles are; “Mainly as team manager, my role is to record stats for each player. For instance, how many kills, blocks, or aces. I also manage the camera that records all the games for the players to re-watch later.”

This is important as the team looks over their recent game film every week to help improve and elevate their game to a higher level.  Next, I asked Jacob what it meant to him to be a manager for this highly skilled varsity team.

“Being a team manager means more than doing “manager work” or taking stats or whatnot. To me being a team manager means being a supportive person always there to bring up the team.”  Jacob is a great addition to the squad, and they would not be the same without him.

Next up is junior Tanner Harrel.  Tanner or (Tan-Man) is a great locker room guy.  He makes the team laugh and keeps their attitudes high.  Also, Tanner brings more to the table than his energy.  Tanner has been team manager of the football team all  years of his time at Elder thus far.  I asked Tanner what he most looks forward to about this season.

“I am most looking forward to getting to know all of the other managers and all the players better.”

Like mentioned before, Tanner brings a great frame of mind to the team.  During warmups before each and every game, home and away, Tanner will jump in while the team is working on their passes and try to dig balls served at the ground.  This always gets the team exited and pumped up for the game.  I asked Tanner why he chose to be a manager and he said, “I am not good enough to play but I still wanted to be involved with the team.”. Through the thick and thin of his time here at Elder, Tanner has stuck it out with the Elder Volleyball team.

Last but not least is Joey Trotta.  If you have ever seen Joey walking through the school halls, he is one to always have a smile on his face.  Joey played volleyball in grade school but chose not to when he got to Elder due to the competitiveness of game.  Still, Joey wanted to remain part of the game and program here at Elder.  I asked Joey what it means to him to be a team manager.

“To me it means that I am still involved in volleyball even if I don’t play the game. I feel like I am part of the team.”

Joey has the most heart out of anyone on the team and cheers them on like no other.  During games, Joey keeps charge of the scoreboard.  I asked Joey what some of his hopes for the team where and what he looks forward to about this year in particular.

“What I am looking forward to is the season is the state championship and the people we will meet.”  Although Joey may be just one of three managers, he makes a huge difference in the team.

Next time you are at an Elder Volleyball game, keep an eye out for these three guys down on the court.  Whether you can see it or not, they are the guys helping run the show from behind the scenes.  Till next time Elder, Altiora.