Team Managers:
From the Sidelines
This week, the Daily Bruin dives into the stories of current and former UCLA Athletics’ team managers to shed light on an often-overlooked role.
Brandon Choe / Daily Bruin senior staff
Molly Mann originally came to UCLA as a distance runner for track and field and cross country until a career-ending injury in her freshman year forced her to medically retire. She still found a a way to represent the Bruins by taking on a position as a women’s basketball team manager.
Grant Chen
BY Emilio Ronquillo
Among receipts and handwritten tennis lineup drafts on Grant Chen’s desk sits a silver clock set one hour behind. Chen never did feel as if he had to punch a timecard during his many years calling the Los Angeles Tennis Center his workplace.
He operated on a schedule and at a pace of his own over his more than decade-long ascent from UCLA undergraduate team manager to assistant coach. In the process of living moment-to-moment, Chen built for himself a second tennis life, of which he relished every minute.
Molly Mann used to compete
in the 5000 meters and
steeplechase events for
track and field.
Daily Bruin file photo
Chen’s chance at a long-term relationship with UCLA tennis came about in part because he gave up a beloved aspect of his life.
Had the four-time high school all-league selection enrolled in a number of schools with smaller programs, including UC Davis and UC San Diego, Chen would have touched his tennis rackets more than once during his first academic term in college, the fall of 2000.
Instead of extending his playing career, Chen attended his dream school. But he would not leave behind the game that he sacrificed to come to Westwood.
The one day Chen did play tennis in the fall, he spent 30 rusty minutes on the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center courts with fellow freshman Tobias Clemens. Chen walked away from his time with Clemens, an eventual three-time No. 1 player for UCLA, longing for the sport he had played throughout his life.
“She gets the best of both worlds; she gets to be with the girls and be part of a team, but not have to worry about injuries anymore.”
Acting on his urge to return to the courts, he introduced himself to Bruin men’s tennis coach Billy Martin during his second quarter at UCLA.
Martin, now in his 21st season in the position, still remembers walking by the backcourts and first meeting Chen by the LATC’s elevator.
Chen explained to Martin that while he couldn’t make the team as a player, he wanted to contribute as a team manager. Martin granted Chen something of an audition: working as a counselor for several sessions of the coach’s summer tennis camps.
The unteachable excitement of players ranging from ages six through 18 invigorated Chen. Seeing the initiative and energy Chen brought to an annual event that Martin considers to be among the most demanding of any given year, he named Chen team manager after the summer.
Molly Mann (center) once received an opportunity to
spend a day with the UCLA women’s basketball team in 2007.
Courtesy of Katie Mann
“He’s always … doing things before they need to be done,” Martin said. “Quite honestly … you don’t come across those kinds of people too often, and he was able to show me that right away.”
Chen earned the opportunity, which he said was a rare privilege for team managers at the time, to travel with the team to all road and postseason matches. His responsibilities included the logistical tasks of managing everything from equipment to groceries and laundry, as well as continuing to work summer camps.
Working with coaches and players who treated him well provided Chen adequate compensation for workweeks often surpassing 40 hours.
Luben Pampoulov, the Bruins’ No. 1 player during its 2005 men’s national championship run, took notice of how Chen never regarded anything as too difficult or impossible to provide for the team.
“He always felt like somebody who will be there for you,” Pampoulov said.
No job offer, such as gigs in sales and finances, away from UCLA fit quite right for Chen upon graduation.
The former mathematics/economics and sociology student remained onboard as Director of Operations, a title that tasked him with organizing and managing games and events for the men and women’s programs, as well as scheduling road trips and dealing with boosters and alumni.
In 2007, Chen’s tennis experience began to expand into international territory. Former No. 1 world player Pete Sampras offered Chen an associate position at his Los Angeles County-based marketing agency Pure Sports Management.
Working with some of tennis’ best at fundraisers, exhibitions and tournaments around the world opened Chen’s eyes to how meticulously professional athletes went about the details of their career, from their diet and training regimens to their handling of media.
“I do feel like if I would’ve been a manager for cross country or track it would’ve been too close to home and I would’ve been a little upset watching them compete and not being able to compete.”
Though Chen cherished his time spent enriching his mind on the pro circuit, his heart never left Westwood and collegiate tennis. Chen was in the middle of his five years coaching the UCLA club tennis team when he decided to return for a second, three-season tenure as Director of Operations.
Martin noticed changes in his former team manager after Chen’s two years on the pro circuit. Chen demonstrated an expanded knowledge of the game that supplemented the enthusiasm that captured Martin some 10 years earlier.
When Martin approached Chen with an assistant coaching spot in August 2012, Chen jumped at the opportunity to turn his “passion project” of coaching into a profession.
A higher designation on the court changed little in Chen’s approach to his work. Chen saw his elevated job status as an extension of his past, behind-the-scenes responsibilities. Martin often finds himself texting his younger counterpart around midnight, worrying about loose ends that Chen has already addressed.
“Grant keeps taking on more and more. Sometimes I think he’s got to prioritize, always wanting to help out people,” Martin said.
Looking back on the 13 years since he joined UCLA tennis, Chen found beauty in the team’s collective elation in times of glory, as well as its agony after the most bitter defeats.
“I could just tell how connected they were to her. She really looks up to Coach Close as a coach and as a leader. We see how it’s come full circle and how she got into UCLA for running, but she’s ending up doing the basketball and being guided by the basketball coach which I just think it’s fabulous.”
“You go through the trenches with these guys. You win a match, you’re there with them. If we lose a match, we lose together,” Chen said.
“Losing is painful, and it’s difficult sometimes, but knowing that the team is all there going through the same pain … there’s nothing like it. Everyone’s feeling that same joy or misery.”
Chen had no idea 14 years ago that he could become a leader for UCLA tennis. He hardly ever thought far ahead with regard to a life that he loved.
“I think it happened pretty naturally, it wasn’t something I really planned out. … I believe things fall into place,” Chen said.
Six years would pass before Chen earned his bachelor’s degree from UCLA. He forewent commencement at the end of his undergraduate career, in part because nearly all of his peers had moved on. Walking on a stage offered no closure.
But a man already with a step, if not his eyes, on the future was far from behind. Chen began living out his life’s calling long ago.