Freedom's right-hand woman

Friday night people: A weekly snapshot of the people and places that make Friday night football a special event

By SCOTT PURKS
Published September 21, 2005

She points and people - big kids, little kids, giant men, giddy girls - move.

They need water. They need tape. They need a roster. They need ...

"They need more than you might think," Freedom assistant football coach Jamal Guiler said. "Fortunately Hanna is there to fulfill all the needs."

Hanna Yi, a 21-year-old South Florida senior, is at Freedom High about 50 hours a week, sometimes substitute teaching and always working with the football team, the latter of which she does for free.

She is, and is proud to say with a hint of a giggle, "Fulfilling a motherly instinct. ... Working with kids is something I've always loved. And I love the kids on this football team. They're such good boys."

A helmet broke during Friday's 21-0 loss to Plant and a 6-foot-3, 200-pound sweaty player called out, "Hanna! Hanna! Where's Hanna?!"

Hanna was running over with a screw driver, which she stuck in the side of the helmet and started tightening, tightening, tight-en-ing.

The player then stuck the helmet on his head and ran on the field.

Next? "My hands are sweaty, I need to dry my hands," another said.

Hanna turned her back to the player who wiped his gloves on her sleeve.

Hanna shrugged. "He was in a hurry."

So is Hanna. She is taking 12 hours of classes toward her double major of education and athletic training, hence the work at Freedom, where she showed up last year via friend, former teacher (at Bloomingdale) and current special teams coach Steve Channels.

Now - after cutting out hundreds of name tags for players on game day, ordering dozens of carnations (for players) and corsages (for moms) on senior night, filling hundreds of gallons of water coolers, helping cook pregame meals and policing many players to keep up with their grades - after all that, where would Freedom be without Hanna Yi?

"I honestly don't even want to think about it," Freedom coach Adam Stegeman said. "Really, she's that valuable to us."

[Last modified September 21, 2005, 12:39:40]