Many times in our lives we often neglect or take for granted the people behind-the-scenes - whether it be the cooks in the kitchen at a fancy restaurant, the custodians that clean up when everyone else has gone home, the greens-keeper at our favorite golf course and the list goes on. There are many of these behind-the-scenes type of people at Bryan County High School athletic events, but none stands taller than the little ‘big man’ we all know as Jeffrey Hamlet.
Jeffrey is the volunteer team manager for several Redskin athletic teams throughout the year and says he is simply doing it "for the love of the game."
Jeffrey, an eighth-grader who moved to Pembroke about three years ago from North Carolina, is a Redskin faithful. Whether it is baseball season and he is getting bats and balls ready for the day’s contest or roaming the sidelines on Friday night making sure fresh water and clean footballs are ready for players and refs, Jeffrey is the dependable and faithful sidekick that every coach loves to have. And why does young Jeffrey volunteer his time to athletics?
"It keeps me out of trouble and allows me time to hang around people that are my friends," he said. "It gives me a chance to bond with older students which kinda gives me a chance to see what it will be like when I get in high school."
Even though he is just a middle schooler, Jeffrey seems to already be looking to the future as he ponders what he would like to be when he grows up.
"I want to be a personal trainer so I can help people and be around sports and athletics," he said.
As for the immediate future in high school athletics, he would like to play baseball all four years. He enjoys playing baseball over football, but would rather watch football if he had his choice. His favorite subject in school is math.
There is a big difference in having to do something versus volunteering for a task and Jeffrey is the one who volunteers for these team manager slots.
"I volunteer for these positions by simply asking the coaches and letting them know that I would like to help wherever I can and the coaches seem to always find something for me to do that allows me to be around the team," Jeffrey said.
One may think that being a team manager would be a fairly easy task, but Jeffrey takes his role seriously. He doesn’t miss a game or practice, "so I will know what I am supposed to do. I am always willing to do whatever the Redskin coaches want me to do. I can’t wait until I can join the teams for real."