Advertising senior John Sklut and finance senior Jacob Merritt have been team managers for four years, and when Sklut was offered to be the next manger of the team, he said he couldn’t pass it up because it was so natural to him.

“I’ve been playing soccer ever since I was little, and I haven’t ever really missed a fall or spring season as playing or being out there,” Sklut said. “I obviously knew I wasn’t going to play at the next level, but to still have a part in the team, even if is just being around the team, it gave my day a little bit of scheduling to it.”

Merritt said he wouldn’t give up his position with the team for the world.

“I always say I have the best job on campus because I hang around a game I grew up loving all day,” Merritt said. “So it’s a job, and I don’t regret having to come to work every day.”

At many women’s soccer home games, his partner in crime, Sklut, sings the national anthem, and Merritt said he’s lucky he doesn’t have to sing.

“Johnny’s a great singer and has a great voice,” Merritt said. “That’s too much pressure for me. I think it’s so cool that it’s someone close to the girls and we don’t have to play it like a normal soundtrack every day.”

Sklut, who has been involved with music since age 3, said his parents are really musical and he’s glad to make people happy with his singing. Even the players like hearing Sklut’s voice piped through the loudspeakers at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field.

Senior forward Olivia Stander said the team uses it as motivation.

“We love when Johnny sings, and every single time he’s singing live for our games, it kind of pumps us up a little bit.” Stander said.

She added they are almost part of the team and are treated as such.

“They do everything for us,” she said. “They set up for us, they stay after (and) they’re here longer hours than we are, so we really appreciate them. … We really take them in as part of our team, and we love them being here every day, and we really appreciate everything they do; they’re just part of the team.”

Head coach Tom Saxton said they’ve had managers since he started 22 years ago, and he wishes they could travel with the team every weekend.

Saxton said the team uses other managerial systems as a gauge of how to shape its own program.

“I didn’t learn from soccer teams, but I learned more from other teams within Michigan State — looking at basketball and (Tom) Izzo’s incredible staff as the high end and figuring out what we’re capable of in terms of our budget,” Saxton said.

Sklut said that he encourages all students who love sports to look into getting a manager position with one of the sports.

“Whether you’re getting paid for (managing) or you just want it for a nice shirt, there’s so much more you can get out of it than what you originally think,” Sklut said.

“Just because you don’t get a chance to play in division one doesn’t mean you can’t be a part of it.”