My name is Justin Paluch and I am a 5th year senior at the University of Connecticut where I am studying Sport Management Information Systems. I am one of three head managers for the UConn women's basketball team.
My freshman year, I contacted a friend of mine that worked at the university looking to be a practice player for the women's basketball team. He put me in contact with Jamelle Elliot (the assistant coach at the time) and Vinny Bruno (the head manager at the time). I spent my first two years as a practice player before moving on to be a manager for my next two years. I was recently awarded the title of head manager prior to this season.
There are 19 student managers, including myself, for our program. We have 8 seniors, 1 junior, 5 sophomores, and 5 freshman. My responsibilities as a head manager are to set up both the managers and the 16 male practice players for both individual workouts and practices. We set up practice every day which entails getting water and Powerade ready, getting towels, taping the floor, setting up the camera to film practice, and any other tasks assigned to us by the coaches.
For away games, we are responsible for working with the equipment manager to get uniforms, practice loops, and any other necessary equipment for the trip. In addition, we coordinate a food order with a local restaurant for our travel party of about 25-30 people. We also coordinate the post game meal with a restaurant near the school we are playing.
During the fall and spring in the off-season, we scout for potential male practice players to replace our graduating seniors. This entails going to the gym to watch pickup games and bringing them in during pickup with the girls to see how they fit with our program. We don't always take the best players because to work well as a practice player you need to be able to listen to direction and adjust according to how the coaches want you to practice.
My ultimate goal in life is to do something in realm of sports. Women's basketball would be my preferred career path but for now I am just going with the flow of things and seeing where life takes me. I never envisioned working for a women's basketball team when I graduated from high school but this team has opened me to a whole new world. I am currently looking to secure a graduate assistant ship for a women's basketball program upon my graduation in May.
I would say I became a successful manager through all my hard work; whether that meant being up at 6am for practice for a workout or spending all winter and Thanksgiving breaks up at Storrs for practice. I have been lucky to work under some great head managers before me that have taught me the ways things work so that one day I would be prepared to take their place. The best piece of advice I ever received as a manager comes from Jamey Given, a former graduate assistant from Florida State University. He told me, "being willing to do whatever is asked of you without blinking an eye (reliability), and doing it every time (consistency). Once you prove that you can be those two things with trivial, you will start to feel more ownership and energy with your 'bigger' stuff". Being a manager isn't always a glorious job but like Jamey said, you are there to help them when they need you and once you realize that fact, you can relax and enjoy the ride.
The biggest and favorite game for me has to be the 2010 National Championship game vs. Stanford. I was not working the game with the team but there was a big group of practice players and managers that made the trip to San Antonio on their own dime to watch the team play in the Final Four. After playing the worst first half of basketball in UConn history we found ourselves down 20-12 at halftime.
I remember sitting there with this awful feeling in my stomach and thinking to myself, what the heck just happened out there. 12 points? Did that really just happen? At the same time, I looked at the scoreboard and thought to myself, we're only down 8 points and held them to 20 points. The second half was quite possibly the best half of basketball I have ever watched at UConn. The thrill of us coming back after playing such an awful first half was just amazing.
The play that will always stick out in my mind with about 5 minutes remaining and we were up 12 and Caroline Doty hit a three pointer to make it a 15 point game and she pointed right to all of us sitting in the crowd as we went nuts. At that point we knew we were going to hold on to win the National Championship and our 78th straight game. The joy of sitting there as the confetti fell and they were cutting down the nets was amazing. We may not have actually won the National Championship ourselves but we could not be prouder of the girls and what they were able to accomplish on the court.
The only round of the NCAA Tournament that I have been to was the Final Four last year in Indianapolis. With so many managers, we spread out the rounds of the tournament to reward different people. My experience at the Final Four, minus the loss, was great. There are so many different events surrounding the Final Four that people don't really get to see. This includes the Salute dinner where they introduce all of the players and the awards presentations. The entire atmosphere is one I will never forget, from both being a fan and a manager standpoint. I had previously been to the Final Four in St. Louis in 2009 and San Antonio in 2010. I have seen quite possibly two of the greatest Final Four games in the last 3 years, first with Oklahoma-Louisville in 2009 and then Texas A&M-Stanford last year. Granted I was not a part of these games but you can feel the energy in the building with every possession and watching those games come down to the last shot was an unreal experience.
Working for Coach Auriemma is an experience like no other. The "Sorcerer of Storrs" has so much knowledge of the game, that I am learning something new every day. Whether it be how to cut when you are being defended or how to guard the pick and roll, he knows how to combat every situation. He is a very demanding coach, who only expects to get the best out of his players. He does not settle for anything less. Yet at the same time, he will talk with both the managers and practice players on a regular basis and even tell us some jokes from time to time. He is a great guy to work for and I am glad that he is my head coach.
Being on a 90 game winning streak was unreal. It's something that you think would only happen in a video game. To play at that level for 90 straight games and not have a bad game is amazing. It's almost a feeling that you cannot describe because it's something that you never think you would ever live to see, nevertheless be part of. Being a part of the practice team for the first 39 victories, I like to think that we were the only team in America to beat the girls (granted that it wasn't an actual game). 90 straight wins could go down as a record that will never be broken, especially this day in age. With a team sport like basketball, so many things have to go right on a given night. It's great if you can get everything working for one night, never mind 90 straight nights.
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