While the Loy Norrix swim team’s main focus is the swimmers, part of its success comes from unseen efforts from the coaches and management. The manager, senior Fletcher Haase, plays an important role in the team. Haase organizes fundraising, sets up events, and helps with the team’s morale. 

When Haase moved schools freshman year from Vicksburg to Loy Norrix, he wanted to join a sport but didn’t know which one to choose. After some thinking, his siblings, who had been on the swim team previously, inspired him to join the swim team. 

 “The team bonding and the energy that the swim team had was just cool, and I wanted to be a part of that and help that grow,” said Haase. 

As the manager, Haase helps the team prepare for events. He helps set up practices and meets, and organizes team events outside of school. Even before the season starts, he helps manage the fundraising. One example of fundraising that the swim and dive team does is raking leaves. 

Many people on the swim team consider Haase as a supportive person who is always positive. Sophomore swimmer Andrew Bol thinks Fletcher helps support him and other swimmers with school and managing mental states on the pool deck. Fletcher demonstrates qualities of leadership that resonate with the athletes and the staff, creating a more motivating environment for the team. 

“Fletcher keeps athletes’ attention during instruction and acts as a role model on deck,” assistant coach Tony Dougherty said.

According to the article Leadership and Teamwork: 10 Ways Leaders Help their Teams, written by Ben Bridgen, managers support their teams in many different ways. From communicating with team members about future meets and invitationals, team-bonding events, and fundraisers to being a support system whenever the team needs somebody to lean on.  

As the manager, Fletcher sometimes has difficulty getting the swimmers to listen while attempting to organize an event. Haase states that fundraising is also a struggle due to the paperwork and having all the team members on the same page.

 “Having to figure out how to coordinate everything to figure out the dates, times and the paperwork for fundraising is a big struggle with being the manager,” said Haase.

Fletcher has made many amazing memories with the swim team over these four years. His favorite part of being on the swim team is the team bonding activities, like the boys’ team tradition of bleaching their hair at the end of the season. When bleaching hair, the team has a shaving party, and everyone who has bleached their hair has someone either buzz it all off or do a crazy haircut. 

Haase said that he will always remember every splash, dive, and swim that happened during his four years managing the swim and dive team.