Meet Gidget Winward, one of Lehi High School’s boys basketball team managers. She’s not your typical team manager. She’s a feisty, smart, and capable 17-year-old. She’s also in a wheelchair.
She zips around each basketball game during half time in her motorized wheelchair distributing water to the referees, making sure the team has the equipment they need while following the coach’s instructions. She goes to practices and then at each game she makes sure there are enough balls for warm up and practice. She assists in organizing team meetings and makes sure the team follows the coach’s instructions, even if that means she must be a little bossy.
Lehi’s boys basketball coach Sean Yeager said of Gidget, “She is a great manager. She is always taking care of the boys when the games start and she’s the only manager that has ever taken care of the officials– she makes sure they stay hydrated throughout the game along with our team. She is truly the best support of the boys. She is just awesome.”
Gidget doesn’t let her disability stand in the way of making sure her duties are followed and has even decided she wants to become a professional basketball or baseball referee.
According to her mother Kim, “Gidget is the perfect team manager; she loves sports, and she loves to be in charge. It’s been her favorite thing to do since she started high school.” Sometimes she yells at the players to “help” them follow instructions, which she has no problem doing.
