Every Friday night, high school stadiums are packed with students enjoying the game. So many individuals work behind the scenes to make this happen. The newest addition to them is the football operations team. The team records film at practices and games, takes photos at practice and creates graphics. The team consists of multiple students, two of them being sophomore Gabe Lotfi and junior Mia Szczepanik.
The team started in June, recording practices with a drone. Originally, their job did not include taking photos, however Szczepanik began taking them during practices. The coaches and graphic creators enjoyed this, and encouraged her to take more.
“I took it upon myself to start taking photos with my personal camera and give it to [the coaches] and then Mr. Oler would use it for media as well,” said Szczepanik.
Although this job takes quite a bit of work and time commitment, Lotfi expressed his enjoyment of getting to learn the depths of the team.
“You’d be surprised by how many things [the players] have to memorize, [the] coaches do random signals, and [the] players just know what to do,” said Lotfi.
Szczepanik also found joy in this, but for a different reason.
“I used to go to every football game. I loved to show my school spirit, I think it’s really interesting to see how they get to [that point]. It’s just so interesting to see the process,” said Szczepanik.
Both Lotfi and Szczepanik have expressed interest in continuing their commitment to this position in the future. Although both of them have busy schedules, they agree that being a part of this team is an experience worth having.
“I used to only know what a touchdown was, now I know everything,” said Lotfi, “It’s really interesting to see the way football works.”
Gabriel Lotfi • Oct 3, 2025 at 10:27 am
I loved interviewing with you Lynn!! This was awesome!!