CAPTAINS

The Leadership Qualities of a Team Captain:

• Role Model – hardworking, committed, dedicated, humble, leader by example, positive attitude shows respect for coaches, teachers, adults, and peers.
• Exhibits good citizenship – dependable, loyal, trustworthy, unselfish, has a great deal of pride in the team, school, and community.
• Committed to be alcohol and drug free and show social confidence.
• Has a strong self-image, is mature, motivated, and has good communication skills.
• Exhibits good school behavior and acceptable academic progress.
• Willingness to follow team rules and act as a liaison between teammates, coaches, and
• the athletic director.

Principles of Leadership:

• KNOW YOUR JOB – Knowledge not only gains the respect and confidence of your teammates, but also gives you confidence in yourself. The more informed, however, the better you will be able to act in any situation, which demands a decision on your part.
• EXERCISE GOOD JUDGMENT – Anyone with common sense can exercise good judgments. This good judgment should not only be exercised during the season or on the field, but throughout the year. This means in the classroom, with the faculty, the student body, and the community.
• USE TACT – This is the ability to direct people without causing ill feelings or giving offense. Individuals who think differently, and act differently. Consequently to secure the best cooperation from the people, they must be dealt with accordingly. Be alert never to belittle or embarrass your teammates and do not discuss the merits or your teammates with anyone but your coaching staff.
• DEVELOP ENDURANCE – A leader must have physical and mental endurance to command respect.
• DEMONSTRATE INITIATIVE – A leader accepts responsibility, sees what needs to be done, makes a decision and takes action without hesitation. He does not need to be told what to do or when to do it. This initiative must be taken off the field as well as on, in practice and in a game.
• BE COURAGEOUS – There is moral courage, and there is physical courage. Have the moral courage to stand up for your own convictions. It take courage to deny an invitation to go out the night before a game, to cut a class, to skip a practice session, etc. Be firm in your stand and you will gain respect and admiration.
• BE DEPENDABLE – A dependable captain is loyal to his school and to his team. Your dependability exhibits itself in many ways; school attendance, getting to practice on time, knowing your assignments, and a host of other things. Coaches are reluctant to play a boy or girl who cannot be depended upon regardless of his or her ability. You as a captain must be dependable and you must enlighten the coaches with those who are not for the good of the team’s success.
• DISPLAY ENTHUSIASM – You can contribute to the development of team spirit by your display of sincere enthusiasm. YOU are the example. Hustle, hustle, hustle. Avoid criticizing and complaining about your teammates, coaches, or school. Discourage this type of conduct on the part of the team members. If you have a person on the team who is a constant complainer, have a talk with him and explain how it hurts the team. If he doesn’t change, talk it over with the coach. Some griping is normal but the chronic complainer must be eliminated.
• KNOW YOURSELF AND SEEK SELF-IMPROVEMENT – You as a team captain must evaluate yourself and recognize your strengths and weaknesses. You must emphasize your strong points and develop your weak points. Are you overweight and out of physical condition? Are you temperamental? Take a good look at yourself in the mirror. Are you worthy to be a captain? Your teammates and coaches thought so. Don’t prove them wrong. With these items firmly entrenched in your mind, you must look at the ways and means to present these items to the squad. These are basic leadership techniques that a captain can employ to help present him/her to the team as a genuine leader .

Captains at Practice:

1. Try hard on every drill, set or conditioning activity. The team plays as well as it practices.
2. Encourage skill improvement and supplement what the coach says about basics.
3. Challenge teammates to do their best, encourage when plateaus occur, stay positive.
4. Be a giver – Help set up and make sure everything gets put away, help the coach.

Outside of Practice:

1. Promote team togetherness and promote athletic department togetherness.
2. Discourage scapegoating and pay attention to and give a lot of personal support and encouragement to the younger players and to less able athletes. Senior and better athletes could make the difference in your team’s performance. As a leader, you must go out of your way to help and encourage them.
3. You need to know all school rules (especially pertaining to alcohol and drugs). YOU need to review this with the team and tell the players what you expect of them. Make sure you understand all of this at the beginning of the season so there will be no surprises.
4. As a captain, you sent the example for the entire team. You should work as hard, or harder than every other teammate in practice. That’s the way you and your team will perform in a game. You set the example for good sportsmanship and control of your team members.
5. Develop a clear understanding of your team’s goals and objectives, for the season and the next game.
6. Meet regularly after practice and after a game with your coach.
7. Communicate clearly to your team. Have their quiet, undivided attention when you speak to them.
8. Throughout the season dress and groom yourself neatly. Look sharp to be proud of yourself, your team, and your school. Very few effective leaders dress and groom sloppily.
9. Give special credit to others. Recognize team members who do extra things to help the team. Give special credit to the unsung heroes and those team members who do a good solid, steady job, day in and day out, and who usually make it possible for other people to score or for the team to win.
10. Talk a winning strategy in practice and conditioning sessions. Back up talk with actions in practice and games. Don’t be pushy, just quietly confident. DISCOURAGE NEGATIVE COMMENTS.
11. If a team problem exists, explain them in confidence to the coach to help solve them and move on with a close team atmosphere. Use the trainer, other coaches, and the athletic director as resources. DO NOT LET problems fester. They will not go away. They will multiply.