Many don’t recognize how much work goes on behind the scenes of the University of Dallas’ sport matches; student workers in the athletic department take time to make sure the sports games run smoothly for the players and fans. They are a part of the backbone that supports the sports matches.
The statistics crew is made up, primarily, of three underclassmen who spend countless hours a week working games and matches for the athletic department. Karla Espinoza, junior business major and sports editor for The University News, is in charge of heavy statistics. She imputs the data into the statistics program and also calls out plays for her coworkers.
Clare Phillippi, a junior English major, is a student worker who regulates and manages many aspects of the job. She reveals that she primarily takes care of doing setup, keeping time and scores, calling out plays and inputting the data. She emphasized how workers need to be well-rounded in all aspects of the job, in case they need to take over for one another.
Phillippi shared that, from taking on the job of a student worker in the sports department, she grew to love sports even more than she did before. Her new love evolved from learning how each sport works. She also has been able to gain a higher respect for student athletes.
Phillippi explained, “I was never a soccer person before this and now I’m the one that would like be screaming on the sidelines like so excited for the game.”
Phillippi spoke about the impact that student workers have, specifically for the athletes. They help keep the athletes focused on the game because if the statistic crew isn’t able to run smoothly, it negatively impacts the athletes.
“We make sure that their only job is to play the game as best as possible,” said Phillippi.
Jordan Adams, a sophomore business major, works as a student worker as well. His duties revolve around keeping time, recording statistics and managing the clock, but one of his main jobs is filming games. He tries to be as detailed as possible with the filming which can help the teams to improve by watching and studying themselves and their plays.
Adams shared that volleyball is much easier to film than soccer even though it is a much faster sport, as soccer can be greatly impacted by the weather. However, Adams enjoys getting to watch the games and learning more about each sport.
Adams said: “People will come up and ask me what I’m doing. They’ll be like, thank you so much for taking your time out, and it shows how humble all of our students are at our school.”
The student-workers collectively spoke on how they are still able to have time in between plays to do homework or catch up on their reading thanks to Pauly Ulrich, the sports information director. Ulrich allows the student workers to take days off and do homework whenever they have free time during games.
The student workers are a part of boosting the athletes’ morale and are passionate and proud of what they do.
