Hoops manager more than active on sideline

Boardman senior hopes to continue

By Charles grove

cgrove@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

For some high school students, getting cut from the basketball team means the end of basketball. No more practices, no more games, no more bus trips and no more suicide running drills.

Then there are the few who just can’t stay away. Take Boardman’s Phil Pendleton.

The senior has been filling water bottles, making sure equipment is accounted for and helping Spartan practices run smoothly since his sophomore year. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Tryouts didn’t go the way I thought they would but I don’t have any regrets,” Pendleton said. “It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done.”

Pendleton has long days during the season. After a full day of classes, which let out at 2:55 p.m., he immediately heads down to the gym to get out the ball racks, sweep the floors, fill up water bottles, tape up teammates and set up the rest of the hoops for practice.

During practice, Pendleton runs around almost as much as the players, making sure the clock stays accurate with the practice schedule, coaches have the equipment they need and keeping players hydrated throughout the evening.

“It’s somewhat of a track meet,” Pendleton said. “I’m always running between the locker room and the gym picking up water bottles, collecting balls, making sure everything’s going correctly. It’s a workout running around, a lot more than most people realize.”

Occasionally Pendleton keeps the stopwatch going when the team is running sprints and has been known to be a bit liberal with the stop button, sometimes getting caught giving teammates an extra second or two on the timer.

“If I’ve got the stopwatch sometimes I’ll stop it and start it again real quick just to try to give the guys an extra second,” Pendleton said. “Sometimes I’ve gotten caught and Coach [Pat] Birch is like, ‘Get on the line. You’ve got a down and back.’ He’ll make me run if I’ve screwed up the clock or messed up a drill so I’ve run my fair share of sprints.”

Game days may include less sprinting, but the amount Pendleton is responsible for would create a hefty list, and Pendleton has got it down to a science.

“On game days I get all the varsity water bottles out by the third quarter of the JV game,” Pendleton said. “I’ll put the towels out, I’ll get Mike Muloskey’s yellow Powerade at the start of the fourth quarter and then help some guys stretch out.

“I have a last call for water bottles making sure they all get out there and then I’ll get the Slip-Not stickpad out there. After that I’ll grab a quick drink, make sure the coaches have a bottle of water out there, make sure towels are ready and then after the game I have to tear all that down and get everything back to the locker room.”

And that’s just for home games.

Pendleton has been accepted to Youngstown State and has been in contact with both the football and men’s basketball teams. Pendleton hopes to be managing for both teams next school year. He plans to fill out the paperwork for men’s basketball in May.

Even though Pendleton knows he’s not going to contribute to the Spartan season by scoring points or dishing out assists, he enjoys being a portion of what makes Boardman basketball run smoothly.

“I’m a small part of a big machine,” Pendleton said. “I’m perfectly fine with that as long as we’re doing what we need to be doing. It’s worth it just being that small part of the team.”