By Shay Crow
The players bound off the basketball court as the coach calls a time-out. One of the most important people on the team starts sliding buckets right next to players in the huddle.
One girl. Three sports. Four years.
A Delta student often has homework for five classes each night, but for some, that is not enough to take up their time.
Senior Leslie Daugherty has been managing basketball since her freshman year.
While she loves the team and the coaches and everything about managing basketball, most of the boys are younger than her now so they are more like her little brothers.
“Now I am the older one so it is pretty much like babysitting them,” she said.
Daugherty started managing because she needed something fun to do to get out of the house.
When she first started managing, all the boys on the team seemed like her older brothers because they were juniors and seniors.
She doesn’t only manage basketball, though. She also managed football for four years and is managing baseball this spring, too.
Daugherty played softball until her sophomore year and she played basketball up until she was in eighth grade. She has decided to coach softball this year in the Eaton league.
In both basketball and football, she made sure that the boys had everything they needed to get through the game. She would hand them their buckets that have their water and their towel in them. The buckets are something different from past years due to COVID protocols.
In past years they would share towels and have their own water bottle.
“I would like to go back to me being in charge of the bottles and them sharing a towel,” she said.
She would like that because it is now the boys’ responsibility to bring their buckets.
Head football coach Mr. Chris Overholt said he has enjoyed having Daugherty manage the team throughout her high school career.
“She makes everyone’s job easier because of her hard work,” Overholt said.
Daugherty is usually at every practice. She films both football and basketball practices.
Head basketball coach Mr. Mark Detweiler also loved having Daugherty manage the team. While managing basketball, she is responsible for setting up the score clock, doing laundry, and loading and unloading the bus for away games.
“To be honest, it’s not one single memory, but it was her personality and her positive attitude and how she just took care of things,” Detweiler said.
Daugherty has a few embarrassing stories from managing these sports, but one of her most embarrassing is almost getting trampled by a cheerleader this winter. She had forgotten that the cheerleaders run out and do flips and all the tricks when the team first runs out onto the floor prior to a game.
As she was pushing the basketball cart on the court, the next thing she knew there were cheerleaders running at her. It was extremely easy to forget about the cheerleaders because it was quiet at games this season considering there was no Blue Crew like in past years.
Junior basketball player Neil Marshall is among those who appreciate having Daugherty as manager.
“She caught my first points from my first varsity game as a freshman on camera and she played it all the time to cheer me up,” Marshall said.
A favorite memory of Daugherty’s is a chaotic and energy packed bus ride home after winning basketball sectionals two years ago. She said that is something she will never forget.
Coach Overholt will never forget the love Daugherty has for Delta athletics. Coach Detweiler will never forget how Daugherty would always tease his young son, Carter.
