Selecting a High School Sports Team Captain

Year after year high school sports teams all over the country come up just a little short of reaching their season goals. Each of these teams has their own unique reason that they use to justify why their season ended early. Injuries, eligibility, conditioning and poor officiating are often the most common excuses. However, through my personal experience as a coach and as a person who discusses high school sports with several coaches around the country, I believe the number one problem is lack of leadership.

Every program has a head coach and most often one or more assistant coaches. The head coach has the responsibility of developing the philosophy and the overall direction in which he or she wishes the program to take. The assistant coaches work with the head coach to teach that philosophy and offer their suggestions to improve it. Every coach within the program will take on some sort of leadership role through out the season; however, the real leaders of the team come from within the student athletes.

Throughout my years as a high school basketball coach I have had several discussions with coaches, players, parents and fans about what it takes to be a sports team leader. Some people believe that leaders are born. Others believe that leaders are built. Some coaches want a leader who is very vocal while others want a leader who is quiet and leads by example. No matter how many times I have discussed this issue, I always find a new definition and opinion. From these discussions and my own experience I have developed my philosophy on what I want in a team leader and how to get it.

First and foremost I believe that in order to get what I want out of a team leader I must be specific in my definition. I have seen coaches time and time again appoint one or more players to the team captain position and never explain to those young athletes what their duties will be. Even worse, more often than not those young athletes will take the captain title to mean they are above the team and will create, through no fault of their own, a division between themselves and their teammates. Coaches who want their captains to meet with the officials and the other teams' captains before a game and do nothing more, must explain this at the beginning of the season. Otherwise they will most likely find their team split at some point.

Personally, I want more out of my captains. Each year I want my captains to be my team leaders. Captains must be student athletes that the rest of their teammates respect and will support. On the same hand, captains in turn must respect and support their teammates at all times. Captains or leaders must never put themselves above the team. Captains must understand that they are subject to the same rules and consequences as every other member of the team. Furthermore captains must be on the same page with the coaching staff. Captains who do not believe in the coaches' philosophy will not support it in front of their teammates. This important trait can make it very difficult for some coaches when trying to locate their leaders.

Within a sports team, just like the rest of the world, it is almost impossible to find two people who agree completely. Everybody seems to have their own opinion on how things should work. When I begin the process of looking for my team leaders each season I do my best to visit with the players as individuals and as a team. During these visits we will discuss team policies and procedures. Although I always reserve the right to have final say on all decisions, this process helps me identify those players who I feel will be the best fit with the coaches and their team in the captains role. Rarely do I find a player who is perfect, but taking the time to communicate before hand has helped tremendously in our programs leadership.

After two are three players have been identified as the top candidates for the captains' position the coaching staff then begins to look at other important ingredients. Is this player coachable? Is this player a great student? Will this player be vocal when needed? Is this player dependable? Is this player responsible? Is this player honest? After we have scored each candidate on each of these questions the coaching staff then picks one captain and one co-captain. At this point we then ask the team for their input. Each player is given a ballot. On the ballot there will be a list of every member of the team. Each player will select two players from the list. Players must sign the ballot and give a brief description of why they think the player they selected would make a good captain. Players are allowed to vote for themselves but must explain why.

When the team has finished making their selections the coaching staff then returns to their selections for comparison. Ninety five percent of the time the selections are the same. However, from time to time the coaching staff has to make the choice to go with the teams' popular vote or go with their own. Although the players vote is secret players will talk and the coaching staff may run the risk of having to explain their decision at some point. When a decision has been made the coaches will bring the captains elect into a private meeting and discuss with them the job description. After the captains elect have been informed of the duties of the position they will have the choice to accept or decline the position. If they decline, the process starts again with the next player on the list. If a player agrees to become captain they will sign a captain's code of conduct and will be introduced at the next function as the teams' captains'.

This process may seem a little time consuming but I have found over the years it has been worth it. My coaching staff and I have found ways to make this procedure a little more efficient. We have developed a "Captains Handbook" that we present to all players as early as possible. This handbook covers every responsibility required by our captains. This handbook has helped our players not only determine if they have what it takes to be a captain but it has also helped them to define what they want in a team captain. We have also used this process in our Junior Varsity and Middle School programs for the past few years which has helped our leadership development start even earlier.

Now that we have selected our team captains we want to encourage the rest of the team to not just set back and follow. Yes we want our players to follow and communicate with our captains but we also want them to become leaders themselves. Our program philosophy is simple. Our team program is the program that leads all others. We want to be the team that every other team wants to become. We encourage and put our players in positions to lead others. Our players will work youth camps, volunteer in school and community events and will strive to lead our school academically. I am familiar with the old saying about to many leaders and not enough followers. However, I have found that a team full of leaders that is organized correctly can and will enjoy much more success that a team with no real leadership.