The Elder football team. The greatest high school football team in the nation. We all see the players and coaches under the Friday night lights. There is one in particular who plays a major role in the organization and motivation of the team: the one and only Tanner Harrell. The football team manager, Tanner Harrell, has been managing the football team for 3 seasons now. He has played an important role in the function of the team on Friday nights.

Tanner’s journey as part of the football team started his freshman year when he signed up to play football. Unfortunately he hurt himself taking him out of the season. “I was hurt all year freshman year so I didn’t want to play,” Tanner said, “but I still wanted to be involved with football.” The way he got involved was becoming team manager for the Elder football team. His first season as official team manager was his sophomore year. Now exactly does a team manager do?

A team manager does many things for the team. Whether it be providing water for the players and coaches or filming games for the coaches to make adjustments. “During games I film for the team, and during practice I get water for the coaches,” he said. These necessary jobs are crucial to the success of the football team. Tanner realizes this and uses that as motivation to do better each game and practice.

Sadly, this will be Tanner’s last year managing the Elder football team. This begs the question:

what has this job done for your future? “It’s had big impact and has given me a gateway to working in college athletics,” Tanner said. Here we can see the impact this organization had on him. It not only has helped him throughout his high school career, but it has also opened his mind up to future possibilities.

Throughout his Elder experience, Tanner had not only managed football, but has managed Volleyball as well. This shows how dedicated Tanner is to helping Elder athletics. He does his job and keeps the team moving. Tanner is the epitome of getting involved at Elder. We hear coaches and teachers say it all the time, get involved. Tanner is taking advantage of the resources that Elder has provided. He is getting involved whilst having a major impact on not only the football player, but the coaches as well and the team as a whole.