Monday, November 9, 2009

Gettin' Ready to go to Cali

The team is still meeting, and while they are meeting, the managers are hard at work getting their trunks they are responsible for ready for the trip to California. The truck will leave Thursday night after practice, so they have to have them ready before then.

Monday's are usually very busy and longer than most days. The players are in meetings during the afternoon and do not get out to practice until later than normal. As the players are meeting about game plans for the next opponent, the managers are getting ready for the next game. On Monday's we also do a lot of checking in items from the past game and put those items away.

This next game against Cal is a huge game for the team. All of us are really excited about practice this week as we prepare for the game against the Cal Bears.


Michael Barnett is in charge of Trunk 3. This trunk holds anything and everything an equipment manager might need while on the road. The trunk has plastic tubs that hold all kind of things such as tools, office supplies, every kind of tape imaginable, hooks, screws, chains and locks, advil, sudafed, etc Michael goes the extra mile each week to make sure this trunk is packed properly.
In this picture you can see the plastic tubs that are used in this trunk. You can also notice that each tub is numbered and placed in the trunk in numerical order. Then, a few years back, on of our managers, Andrew Block, made an index of every item that is in this trunk and put them in alphabetical order then which tub number you can find the item in. So, when you are in a hurry, and you are looking for safety pins, you simply look it up on the "Block Index" and go immediately to that tub. That is the "Block Index" you see hanging there in the front.
Ben Hulka and Zak Risdon work on Trunk 23 which holds all of the rain gear for the coaches. We take Trunk 23 out to practice each day there is a threat of rain or foul weather.


Trunk 6 is a really tough trunk, so that is why we have one of our best managers assigned to taking complete care of it. Jordan Bates has to make sure each coach has everything they need for any kind of weather while at the game in Berkeley. Tim and I keep an eye on the weather site to see what the forecast will be during the game, which gives us a good idea of what the coaches will need. Each coach has a drawer in Trunk 6 which will handle all kinds of gear.


Jordan is doing a little maintenance work on Trunk 6, which is his baby! Not only are the managers responsible for packing their trunks properly each game, they are also responsible for maintaining the up keep on their trunks.

As you can see, it takes all four guys to get Trunk 6 up on it's wheels. Thanks to mine and J.T. Galloway's GREAT designing of this trunk, it turned out to be a monster size trunk! The managers just hate pushing that huge trunk out to the sideline, but once it is out there, the trunk is very functionable.

Robert Lloyd is getting his coaches wardrobe trunk ready for the trip to Berkeley California. Robert is on the trip to the Bay Area, which is where he is from. Today is mostly getting his trunk cleaned out from the last game and getting it organized while the coaches clothes are getting cleaned and pressed for the up coming game:

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