As soon as school ends, being the only manager, senior Austin Taylor has to rush to the locker room to make sure all the practice uniforms are ready, the water bottles are filled and  the clock is set up and running.

Taylor has been a Southport basketball manager since 7th grade. With Taylor’s experience, he hopes to land an athletic managerial type scholarship.

“(Receiving a scholarship) would be great cause that´s how I know college (would be) paid for,” said Taylor.

Taylor has an interest in a few colleges, which include Indiana State University, Ball State University, Taylor University and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

According to Stanford’s “Duties of Student Managers,” a manager is an individual who performs traditional managerial duties such as being responsible for equipment, laundry and hydration of players. Student managers also have to meet certain criteria such as having to be a full-time enrolled student, having limited participation in on-field/court activities and cannot participate in any games.

SHS head basketball coach, Kyle Simpson, is trying to help Taylor find the college that fits him best academically, which is Simpson’s main focus.

“I have a lot of connections with in-state coaches,” Simpson said. “Once we find the college, I’ll talk to the basketball program and see what we can do to help him out.”

Simpson believes Taylor has a lot of traits and qualities that benefit him because those are what colleges look for. One of those is being trustworthy. According to Simpson, Taylor knows the daily routine which is one less thing Simpson has to worry about with him being able to trust Taylor to get it done right.

“(Taylor) knows the routine so I think that’s really important because that is one less thing the coaches have to worry about is to trust somebody,” Simpson said. “That’s really the big thing coaches look for, is someone they trust.”

“(Managing is) something I really like to do and (wish to) continue doing,” Taylor said.