Pastor, alum and father

Having completed his second year as Aragon’s boys varsity basketball coach, alumnus Sam Manu reflects on his return to Aragon. “It’s kind of like coming full-circle. It’s an honor to come back.”

But beyond coaching the team to a 20-7 record this year, Manu is also a pastor for many Aragon students. Manu holds weekly services each Sunday at Parkside Elementary School. Numerous students and many members of the basketball team attend as well. “Pastoring is really the same thing as coaching because the primary thing that you’re dealing with is relationships,” says Manu. “They have so many different things going on in their lives, some good, some tragic, some just in the middle. So there’s a wide spectrum, and pastoring is really the same thing, I take the same approach and really try to be with them where they’re at.”

Senior captain Nick Frankel says, “He’s a really, really nice and understanding guy. He’s a pastor so there’s this whole no swearing thing. If you do, like I have before, he takes you out of the game, or if you do it in practice you have to run sprints. He’s really big on the team chemistry aspect.”

Manu adds, “One of my major philosophies is that we work as a team and that we are a family—not just say that, but really do it,” he says. “Case in point, last week one of our team members’ grandfathers passed away… He told me that he was 76 [when he passed], so the team decided that we were going to score 76 points at our game that week… It was very emotional.”

“Most coaches wouldn’t do that,” says Frankel, whose grandfather had passed away. “He called time-out, and it was a big thing, and everybody was hugging me… It was a moment I won’t forget, and it was really cool.”

Senior Skylar Assaf, one of many Aragon students who attends Manu’s services, says, “It’s really cool to see your church pastor so involved with your school and with the student body.”

Senior Aris Payan, a dance team member, has attended all of the basketball games. She says, “Sam being a pastor brings the team closer, it gives them peace. I see the way they play, usually basketball players are more aggressive and more violent, but I see that they can control themselves and not get angry. There’s a big difference in their team —they are so close and affectionate towards one another.”

Manu’s son, senior Rex Manu, agrees, “You’re not allowed to talk about God at school, but it shows in the way he handles himself and the respect that he gives to all of us and to the cheerleaders. Like, the cheerleaders don’t have a place to practice, so we always open up the gym if they need a place to come in.”

Manu has also brought his own cultural flavor to the team. “Tongan culture is really laid back. It’s that ‘warm weather, relax, don’t worry, be happy feel,’ so it’s really quite easy with our culture. And actually, I think the team has kind of adopted that, which is really cool,” he says.

Still, having family members on the team, some of whom are starters, can be a challenge. His younger son, junior Alex Manu, says, “It’s really hard having him as a father, a coach, and a pastor because you see this good side in him, but when he’s coaching he’s really hard on you, so it’s a big transition, but you just have to deal with it because that’s what coaches do.”

At the same time, however, Manu says, “It lends to how we compete, too, because we say whether we win or we lose, we do it together. We do it as a family.”

Manu attests to the growth of his players: “I’ve seen the kids who are now seniors really step up and take it seriously, and even start coaching during games.”

“There was a really important play when we were playing Mills, and it was a close game and we had an out of bounds play, and my captain, Trevor, said ‘Coach we should run this play, and we should put Nick in this position so he can run down…’ and [Trevor] basically coached it through. And I stopped and listened and said, ‘Alright, you guys heard what Trevor said. Let’s do it.’ And we did it, and it was perfect. He passed it to Nick, who was wide open in the corner, shot a 3, made it, and that was a huge play. So it’s really rewarding for me to not only teach it. You can never say you taught it until you have seen it done by those you are trying to teach. So that was really rewarding for me,” Manu said.