It is obvious that a lot of people do not understand the real role of a Team Manager. Team Harmony is something the coach needs to drive. The Coach is the leader working with his/her team that can comprise of captains, managers and other specialists or guardians. The Manager is the spokesperson for the team but does a lot of their work in conjunction with the state association in the weeks and months prior to the event. At the event they work closely with the coach looking after entries at the event, accommodation needs, uniforms, recovery nutrition and meals during the event. On lanes their role is to make sure the coaches lineups are in at the appropriate time and to deal with the tournament director on behalf of the team. The Team Manager is not the Coach and would not be telling players what to do on lanes. They would however, be telling them what time to get on team bus, when to go to team meetings and what shirts to wear etc.
Their is quite a clear division between all roles of Coach, Manager and Captain. Lets look at this in a positive manner as now the Team Managers have some education in what the coach and players need to perform at their optimum level. In fairness to past Team Managers they have taken on the roles and some have had to learn on the run, or follow what the previous Manager did, whether it was right or wrong for the team and all have done it as volunteers, taking time off, paying the same levy as the players and sometimes being abused for their trouble if they got it wrong. Now they are armed with additional information.
June Voukolos
