Women's Basketball Manager Reflects on Season

by Che`tiana Spaulding

Des Moines, Iowa (Jan. 27, 1997)-- Saturday afternoon, Drake students, alumni and other devoted fans piled into the Knapp Center to watch the Drake women's basketball team beat Creighton, 106-78. While all the action was taking place on the court, Abigail Shimon (P1) was trying to make sure that everything on the Drake sideline ran smoothly. No, Abigail is not the coach; she is the manager of the woman's team.

"I love it," she said about her job. "There are so many opportunities that I get through my job. Just working with the people...and sitting on the bench. Even though I don't have a direct way to contribute to how the players play; I mean, if I don't mop the floor, they could fall and hurt themselves!"

Abby, the name she goes by, does more than mop floors. At practice she sets the clock, gets out any equipment needed, and makes sure that there is enough Gatorade to go around. Before games, she sets up a video camera and VCR to tape the games. She also makes sure there is a game ball while making sure that the ball girls do their jobs.

"I do a lot of little but important jobs," she said.

Managing a team is nothing new to Abby, a Perry, Iowa, native. She was a manager for the track team at her high school where she also played volleyball as well.

"If I sucked at something, then I would be a manager," she said, "because I wanted to be part of a team; I always liked being part of a team."

Abby has become part of the woman's basketball team at Drake. She traveled with the team in December to Hawaii for a tournament, and she even invited team members to her home over winter break where they baked cookies and played ping pong. She really enjoys being around the players.

"We joke around all the time," she said. "We have a lot of fun."

After the basketball season, Abby plans to devote most of her free time to participating more in the two pharmacy organizations she is a member of. One of the organizations has a program called "Katie's Kids" in which the members go to elementary schools and teach children about pharmacy.

"I'll probably do some more service projects," she said, "because I like doing things when they're with kids."

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