Director of Football Operations Christina Ball does a lot of work behind the scenes. Photo courtesy of Christina Ball.
Rhody fans may be familiar with names like Vito Priore or Jakari Grant, but the most important quarterback for the University of Rhode Island Football team usually goes unnoticed on the sidelines each week.
Her name is Christina Ball, and she is the director of football operations for the URI football team. Ball, who was promoted to the position in January, is responsible for assisting Head Coach Jim Fleming and the coaching staff with duties such as scheduling practices, handling travel arrangements, team meals, transportation, recruiting and compliance documents.
Growing up, sports was a major part of Ball’s life. She played soccer and lacrosse in high school, but the game of football holds a special place for her and her family.
“My dad was a football coach and my brother was the quarterback at our hometown high school,” she said. “I just fell in love with the game and I knew I wanted to be involved in football, in particular, and sports the rest of my life.”
She took her interest in sports and attended Endicott College, where she graduated in 2018 with a degree in sports management and a minor in legal studies.
Before coming to URI, Ball worked as an event ambassador for the Kraft Sports and Entertainment Group and as an intern for her local high school’s athletic director. During her internship, she met Associate Head Coach Mike Flanangan while he was on a recruiting trip looking for prospective athletes. He encouraged her to come down to campus to work the football camp that the team was hosting. Ball quickly accepted the invitation.
At the camp, the Rhody football staff were impressed with Ball’s work ethic and invited her to join the staff as the volunteer coordinator of football operations for the 2019 season. Like the chance to come to the football camp, Ball immediately jumped on this offer.
“I started volunteering four days a week and worked at a brewery three days a week,” Ball said. “From there, everything fell into place.”
She worked the 2019 season under former Director of Football Operations Alex Folken, learning the ins and outs of college athletics and running a football team. Her tasks included assisting Folken with arranging team meals and travel, keeping the coaches organized and working with support staff.
After the season, Folken decided to leave the program, opening up the position of Director of Football Operations. From the team’s perspective, the decision to offer Ball the job was an easy one.
“She’s very energetic,” Flanagan said. “She brings a lot of enthusiasm and she’s very detail oriented. I think [as Director of Football Operations] that’s probably one of the most important things.”
Ball never thought she’d work in college athletics, with goals to work in high school of professional athletics.
“This was more of ‘I was at the right place at the right time,’” she said. “Things fell into place here and I’m very happy they did.”
With COVID-19 sidelining the football team until the spring, Ball has seen a shift in her usual fall responsibilities. She is currently responsible for scheduling practices and making sure that players and coaches stay under the capacities set within the locker room and weight room. She has also spent early mornings making sure that players do their URI Daily Self-Assessment before entering the building. To the coaching staff, her work doesn’t go unnoticed.
“It’s a tough job,” Flanagan said. “I’d say she does a great job being able to deal with daily changes and really help be accountable for the 90 guys on our roster on top of the coaching staff, the support staff and everyone else.”
Like a team scoring after a long drive, Ball says the best part about her job is working with the players and coaches and seeing the finished product.
“The most rewarding part is when you get to see everything you planned, whether it’s for recruiting weekend or gamedays, phase out exactly how you want it,” Ball said. “Granted, it’s very rare that it goes according to plan, but that’s part of being the Director of Operations. You have to think on your feet and make quick changes.”