Popielis is secret weapon for football team

If all the loyal fans of Princeton football attempted to collectively recall the team's recruiting class of 2002, the name Popielis would go unmentioned. Popielis was recruited by head coach Roger Hughes before arriving as a freshman that year, however, and has been with the team ever since.

While the current junior's contributions have never before been brought to light in this newspaper, Popielis is universally recognized by coaches and players alike as a crucial part of the Princeton squad. Still, the average fan would have to double check his or her program to confirm that Popielis, who only gets on the field when the players who get all the press take their water breaks, is actually with the team.

The confusion all disappears once the fan reads the words, "Team Manager," under Popielis' photo. In fact, it may even happen a bit before then, when the fan sees that Popielis' first name is Kate.

If you have been to a Princeton football game over the past three seasons, whether at home or on the road, you have no doubt seen her hurry onto the field when play is stopped and provide 11 thirsty Tigers with ice water.

But Popielis' role on the team extends far beyond water-runner. The job that she does is so essential to the team that she truly was recruited for the position out of Rancocas Valley Regional High School here in New Jersey, where she was head manager for three years.

Popielis was also recruited by both Penn and Rutgers, but her first encounter with Hughes, an impromptu meeting during the summer before her senior year of high school, helped Princeton secure her services.

"I ended up spending about an hour in his office," Popielis says, "explaining exactly what I had done for my high school team, how much I knew about the game and why I wanted to continue managing in college."

What began as a surprise visit has evolved into a relationship between Popielis and the Princeton football team that is now so close either side would have trouble imagining life without the other.

"I am basically with the team," Popielis said, "for everything outside of the positional and special teams meetings, lifting and when they are changing in the locker room."

Above and beyond her football-related duties, Popielis must also handle a number of requests from players, especially freshmen, which Popielis attributes to a secondary role she inevitably assumes on the team.

"I am the main — if not the only — female figure that the players have during all their time connected with football," she said. "Therefore, they sometimes look to me for things that you would normally ask of your mother."

Questions Popielis is accustomed to hearing include "How do you do laundry?" "Can you cook for some of us during Fall Break?" and "Do you have any Chapstick on you?"

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One year a bunch of football players were rushing for fraternities on campus and they were required to dress in drag. They looked to Popielis to borrow clothes.

Assuming a role with duties that spill over into virtually every part of one's life requires what Popielis calls "true dedication and loyalty," especially for a Princeton student who is simultaneously preparting for her classics degree.

During the school week, Popielis reports to the football office each day at 3:30 p.m., an hour before practice begins, to collect any messages that need to be sent to the coaches or players. She then picks up her copy of the practice schedule, along with enough towels for the whole team, before heading to the field, where she spends the next three hours blowing an air horn to signal the end of each drill.

On Fridays, Popielis must begin her pre-game ritual right along with the rest of the team. She is on hand to run errands for the coaches during the walk-through practice that afternoon, before switching over to her role as attendance-taker at the team dinner that evening.

After she has again taken attendance at the team breakfast Saturday morning, Popielis must focus on accommodating the handful of recruits who show up for each home game. By then, game time is approaching, and she must change into her University-issued manager's uniform.

Once play begins, she takes up her spot on the sideline, equipped with every possible item a coach or player could possibly demand from her, including towels, dry-erase markers, depth charts and, of course, ice water.

When Princeton has an away game, Popielis must also coordinate the distribution of both the complimentary tickets reserved for Princeton players' families and the meals the team enjoys on the road.

"Being a manager is not very glorious," Popielis says. "You stay with the job because you love the type of work you are doing, and you have a close bond with the coaches, players and staff. You are dedicated to them knowing that they are probably the only ones who will ever really appreciate [the work]."

So for Popielis, who started managing in high school because it gave her something to share with her father, the job's greatest rewards come from the rare occasions when players' parents approach her and thank her for playing team mom.