The continued success of Haverford’s athletics programs is most commonly attributed to the athletes and coaches: however, there are students putting in just as many hours and hard work who are integral to the success of our teams, such as Fourth Former Kai Jacobs, the second-year manager for both the varsity basketball and baseball teams.
As a Third Former, Jacobs tried out for the basketball team but was unfortunately cut. He was then given the opportunity by Third Form basketball head coach Mr. Stephen Cloran to manage the team.
“I really thought about it,” Jacobs said. “When I get older, I may want to coach a team. I still want to be involved in sports in any way possible.”
In the past two years, Jacobs has gone on to manage the Third Form team (2018–19) and the Varsity team (2019–20).
Jacobs said, “For basketball practice, I bring up the water jugs and water bottles and keep the water bottles filled for practice. I also work with the clock because when coaches are doing certain stations, they need the clock set to a certain amount of time.”
“In the games for basketball, I keep all of the stats like points, fouls, timeouts, and possession,” Jacobs said. If a coach doesn’t know how many timeouts they have or who gets the next possession, I have that information.”
Although Jacobs works mostly behind the scenes, his contributions have not gone unnoticed.
Varsity Basketball coach Mr. Bernie Rogers said, “His hard work and unselfish attitude has been evident to his classmates. Kai is self-motivated, very reliable and plays a big role for Haverford Basketball.”
“Kai is always reliable and does all of the behind-the-scenes work to make everything possible.”
Matt Kearney ’22
Fourth Form basketball and baseball player Matt Kearney said, “Kai is always reliable and does all of the behind-the-scenes work to make everything possible. He gives up a lot of his time for the better of our teams.”
Jacobs’ success and the pleasure he took in managing the basketball team inspired him to manage varsity baseball as well.
“In baseball games, I work with the camera and with live streaming. I may also do the scoreboard every once in a while,” Jacobs said.
Another reason for Jacobs’ interest in managing is to build relationships with people he otherwise may not get to know. Jacobs said, “Last year, I got close with a lot of the players on our baseball team.”
“Kai really helps out the coaches,” Fourth Form Baseball player Jake LaRocca said. “They trust him with running the pitching machine and preparing game film. He’s a really good guy and he’s well-liked on the team.”
Although Jacobs is an expert as it relates to the majority of the facets of his job, there are a few difficulties. “I might get sidetracked…Having too much fun during the games or practice with the team,” Jacobs said. “For me, I may forget to reset the clock for basketball or baseball when I forget to change the innings our outs on the scoreboard.”
“[Managing] is a good experience to be around a coaching environment to see how the coaches run their teams.”
Kai Jacobs ’23
Some may wonder why Jacobs enjoys his role with the teams if he does not get to play the sports that he manages.
“[Managing] is a good experience to be around a coaching environment to see how the coaches run their teams,” Jacobs said. “It’s rewarding because you get to see the practice and development that goes into preparing for the games. I sit through practices, watch [the athletes] run through the plays, and watch them try to perfect [the plays]. You just get to learn a lot about the game from the players on the team.”
“I feel like a lot of the team members like having me around and it’s a good environment,” Jacobs said. “I’m just a good person to have around the teams.”
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