By Tru Swoboda
Athletic success comes with its perks. It comes with medals, trophies, podiums, and spotlights. Some athletes are driven by these and even crave them. But to other athletes, the attention and the praise is just a small factor in a greater story.
“She is extremely humble and hard working,” Kelly Manor said. “She has never wanted or needed the spotlight, and I love that about her.”
Kelly’s daughter, Katie Manor, is a senior volleyball and tennis player at Delta High School. She has never been driven by the need for applause for her athletic success. Instead, she gains her grit and determination through her last name and the love of the game.
Manor has recently achieved 1,000 career volleyball assists. This was a big accomplishment for Manor, given that she had only been a setter for three years.
She was the only senior on the volleyball team this season, so beyond just breaking records, she also had shoes to fill from the seniors in previous seasons before her.
Not only that, but she is expected to break the record for the most career varsity victories in girls’ tennis, if she follows a similar path as she has in past seasons.
She has been a full time varsity athlete her entire athletic career here at Delta and has earned her share of sectional, conference, regional, and semi-state runs over those four years.
She’s learned much of what she knows from her family members.
“I’ve learned a lot from everyone in my family, but success doesn’t come without hard work,” Manor said. “That’s probably what I’ve heard the most from my family, especially from my uncles.”
Manor comes from a long line of athletes, both on her mother and her father’s side.
Her grandfather, Bill Lynch, is a former Indiana University and Ball State head football coach. His son Billy Lynch, Katie’s uncle, coached college football for 16 years, and is the current head football coach for Delta.
Katie’s uncle Joey Lynch is a current assistant football coach for Texas A&M.
And finally, Billy and Joey Lynch’s brother Kevin Lynch is the head football coach at Butler University.
But that is just Katie’s mom’s side of athletics. Her father, Lucas Manor, was on Delta’s 1997 state-runner up team in single class basketball alongside Katie’s uncle, Billy. That group is still considered one of Delta’s most successful basketball teams to ever play.
Also, each of Katie’s three siblings were high school athletes. Her sister, Maggie, is most known for being girls’ tennis state runner-up in number one doubles.
It’s clear that Manor follows a long line of college athletes, however, she has chosen a different route for her future.
Her plan is to continue on the path to college, but not for athletics. Manor plans to study elementary education at an undecided college.
Despite her family being so heavily involved in college athletics, Manor said she never once felt pressured by her family to continue sports in college, only if she truly desired to do this.
But this doesn’t mean her athletic career is done just yet.
Her senior tennis season is approaching in the spring, and she is expected to break some substantial records. She will enter the season with 71 career varsity victories, which is just 15 away from the school record held by Hayley Hall and Kristin Crider. Manor has been named All-State Doubles in each of her first three seasons.
But these expectations can also bring pressures. Katie has been forced to learn how to manage these pre-game pressures in order to succeed day after day.
“I take a moment in the locker room to just be silent so I can focus on everything that will be happening in the game,” Manor said.
She feels that the silence helps her to lock into the moment and focus on what is right in front of her.
However, Manor has another strategy she uses to prepare herself. She uses her faith.
“If I didn’t have faith I feel like everything would’ve gone downhill and my mind would just be crazy,” Manor said. “I really just make sure to pray and just know that everything will be fine.”
She finds these strategies helpful in high pressure situations not just for her benefit, but also to be supportive of her teammates
Senior Rowan Hinds, a lifelong friend and teammate of Manor, has lots of experience and exposure to the athleticism that runs in the Manor-Lynch family. And in many ways, this has helped her perform at her best as well.
“Over the years she’s definitely hyped me up, always supported me and given me confidence,” Hinds said. “She’s always such a light to be around in that athletic scenario every day.”
From a five-year-old picking up her first tennis racket and volleyball, to an 18-year-old breaking school records, Manor has made the absolute most of her athletic career. Her photo is added to the wall of many successful athletes, where she will receive praise for her achievements and will be long remembered.
However, to the people that knew her and played with her, she will be remembered not for her accomplishments, but for her dedication to being a humble athlete through it all and never needing the spotlight.
