It’s 8:15 a.m. on the Monday after the Super Bowl, and College senior Jake Federman is organizing the many things he got from the locker room — whiteboards, manager files, an iPad, a speaker, and the symbolic Lunch Pail Award given to the best player at practice — while the team’s “Basketball Jawn” playlist on Spotify slowly reverberates through the sleepy John Rockwell Gymnasium.
His fellow student manager is on the other side of the court — filling up the 15 blue Powerade bottles lined up on the padded seating area. There’s the sound of one basketball and the occasional squeaking of sneakers as junior guard Cam Thrower shoots on one end of the court.
“Cam I’ve seen shoot more than 10,000 shots,” Federman said.
Federman, known as “Feddy” to the team and friends, is the senior manager of Penn men’s basketball, and he’s been a manager since the moment he arrived on campus.
“The first day of class my freshman year [was] Aug. 31, 2021,” Federman said. “There’s only been like six days ever at Penn when I wasn’t affiliated with this team.”
By 9 a.m., Federman, typically dressed in a red basketball shirt that matches the coaching staff’s, is under the basket, rebounding and passing the ball to a myriad of players practicing their shots.
He knows where each player “likes to catch the ball and, as crazy as it sounds, where on the seams of the ball they like to catch it” so he can give them the best pass possible.
“I’m not sure if they noticed,” he said, “but I don’t really need them to notice, ‘cause I don’t wanna add something else to their brain to think about.”
For the next two hours as the athletes do their stretches and their different practices and plays, Federman tracks analytics on the iPad, takes notes on the whiteboard on who made impressive offensive and defensive plays (one player called out to Federman to make sure he made note of his on-court hustle), rebounds for the team, and plays “dummy” defense when they need it.
“My job is to do whatever needs to be done at any time, which is not always the most glamorous job, but it’s well worth it,” Federman said. “Is there a wet spot? Do I have to go get that with a towel? Is someone’s water bottle empty, and do I gotta go get that? Do they need an extra passer?”
It’s not just Federman who feels this way. Fellow College senior Hannah Liu, a former student-athlete-turned-student-manager for the Penn women’s swimming and diving team, echoes this sentiment.
“I fill in where the coach is busy, right,” Liu said, “I’m like, ‘What can I do to help?’”
Before transitioning to the manager position, Liu swam for the team for three years. After contracting mononucleosis last semester and wanting to put more time into graduate school applications and commitments outside of swimming — including the Class Board 2025 and the Undergraduate Assembly — Liu decided to become a student manager.
“I want to honor the four-year commitment in whatever way I can,” she said. “It just only makes sense in my heart to still give back to the team … There’s something that still pulls me in.”
Women’s swimming and diving coach Mike Schnur “was very happy” with her decision.
“We needed some help this year with our crazy schedule without a pool,” Schnur said, “and I knew Hannah … would help our team and give a lot to the girls.”
Liu helps call out times for the swimmers, writes sets on the board, and talks with the coach “because apparently it gets really lonely on deck” when everyone else is in the pool. She’s up and about, pacing around the pool, watching her former teammates and telling them she knows they can go faster. Even when dressed up to go have lunch with Interim Penn President Larry Jameson a few hours later, she doesn’t mind when she gets splashed a bit.
During hours with the team, the performance of the athletes is a student manager’s first priority. But it can sometimes even supersede classes.
“I build my schedule around their schedule,” said Meklit Tedla, a College sophomore and student manager for the women’s lacrosse team. The team practices for around three hours in the afternoon, so she tries her best to make sure she doesn’t take classes that would conflict with the team’s schedule.
During practice, when she’s not setting up the camera and tripod to film practice sessions for the team to watch later or for social media, she’s watching and letting them “know how well they’re playing.” She goes up to them after practice, complimenting them, and spends time with them outside the field cooking, studying, and getting dessert together.
Tedla rooms with some of the lacrosse players, and she understands her role is much more than that of a videographer or even a manager.
“I’m not necessarily just here to work,” she said, “I’m here because I’m also their friend, and friends support each other.” She finds that her role as manager is often to give “emotional and supportive advice” and to be her team’s biggest cheerleader.
Federman and Liu had the same thoughts. When someone on the team texted her to rant, Liu said, “That’s not because I’m a manager. That’s because I’m their friend.”
“It’s the friend group that I always wanted growing up,” Federman said. “It’s the best group of guys I’ve ever met … and I’m grateful they welcomed me into that community as well, even though I’m not 6-foot-4 and shooting the ball into the hoop.”
Although student managers don’t get to play the sports they love, the time commitment is similar to that of the student-athletes. Managers go to practice to set up — often earlier than the players — and might travel with the team. But because they are friends with the athletes and a part of the team, they do their jobs without complaint, sacrificing other commitments and doing homework on the bus. They care as much as if it’s their own basketball game, swim meet, or lacrosse match, because, in a way it is.
“I wanna see this team finish their season,” Liu said. “I’m still so invested in how they do.”
“I’m as invested in this team’s success as the players are,” Federman added. “I love it. I’m so happy that I did it.”
Tedla echoed, “I love it … I genuinely really, really love it.”
The three managers separately expressed the same pride and love they have for their teams and sports. They might not physically be on the field, in the pool, or on the court, but they’re in the same spirit and mindset as their athletes.
On any given day, Tedla is sitting on the bench, manning the camera and turning it to follow the ball. Liu is shouting out to the coaching staff, asking which sets the team will run today. Federman is on the sideline, holding out three fingers and grinning after a stunning shot.
“I might not be a player, but this is my team,” he said. “This team means everything to me.”
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