I'm OK with high school seniors taking out the lineup card as ceremonial captains, but I'm not a fan of captains otherwise. Leaders come naturally. They don't need a title.
Captains: Yes or No?
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- Jun 1, 2015
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Definitely appreciate all of the ideas/information. I've never done it, and it's only something that's been kicking around in my mind - not something I'm a firm yes/no on one way or the other.
Part of me has thought about a system where the captains' roles rotated each game/practice (based on player nominations - i.e. the most recent 2 captains nominate the next two based on performance, attitude, focus, etc). I would define clear roles and tasks at the start of the season for the "captains" (i.e. leading pre-game warm-ups, talking with coaches about any issues/suggestions, etc). This past season, I had a LOT (and I mean a LOT) of younger players who I could see wanted to lead but either needed that small reminder or encouragement OTHER than verbal support to help prod them along OR were too self-conscious to say anything for fear of being looked at weird.
That being said, I can absolutely see how it could become a popularity contest among the girls and lead to resentment and ill will, which would not be the goal of course. My season/team does not begin until May, so there's a lot of time to let things kick around. I just thought, for this particular group of girls (where no one girl has really stood out as a "leader" by definition of the term), creating a "position" or "title" that could be achieved through positive recognition of her peers would create good vibes and promote a healthy atmosphere.
Part of me has thought about a system where the captains' roles rotated each game/practice (based on player nominations - i.e. the most recent 2 captains nominate the next two based on performance, attitude, focus, etc). I would define clear roles and tasks at the start of the season for the "captains" (i.e. leading pre-game warm-ups, talking with coaches about any issues/suggestions, etc). This past season, I had a LOT (and I mean a LOT) of younger players who I could see wanted to lead but either needed that small reminder or encouragement OTHER than verbal support to help prod them along OR were too self-conscious to say anything for fear of being looked at weird.
That being said, I can absolutely see how it could become a popularity contest among the girls and lead to resentment and ill will, which would not be the goal of course. My season/team does not begin until May, so there's a lot of time to let things kick around. I just thought, for this particular group of girls (where no one girl has really stood out as a "leader" by definition of the term), creating a "position" or "title" that could be achieved through positive recognition of her peers would create good vibes and promote a healthy atmosphere.
Wow! Mom needed a lot of aloe after that burn!
With teens and attitudes I can only imagine how it might go over assigning some to an elevated status.
I vote no.
- Aug 6, 2013
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Daughter's TB team does have captains. They mainly get to decide what uniforms the girls will wear - either for games or for practice (because coach wants them all to dress the same). They will also be the mouthpiece of the coach for certain things in the group chat. DD is already anxious because next year she will be a senior and one of the longest tenured on the team that is an "in town" girl so she thinks she will likely be given that responsibility. She is an introvert who gets too worried about "embarrassment" and cringes about putting herself in that type of position. However, I think it is a great opportunity for her to get a little leadership experience. Since I am team mom I already make her do some of my communicating with the girls. She hates it. It's necessary.
Buenos dias, amigos. I'm curious as to the opinions of other coaches here: Do any of you use captains for your teams/programs? Is there any value to having team captains, or would doing so lead to disgruntlement among players (and parents) if one player is picked over another, etc?
For those coaches who DO use team captains:
- How are they selected? All by the coach? One coach/one player vote? All player vote, etc?
- Are your captains season-long or individually picked per game/tournament?
- What do you require specifically of your captains during practices/games/the season? (What are their responsibilities?)
I have found an idea on another forum I like but I'm curious if it could be implemented successfully (I could explain further if there was interest). I'd rather just ask first about the pros/cons and others' thoughts/ideas on the topic in general!
- For our HS team, we hold an anonymous vote for captains a week or so into the season (before games, but after we've had a few practices). Coaches get a vote. I tell them I reserve the right to veto choices that are clearly just a popularity vote (I've never had to do this).
- Season-long. Not a fan of rotating captains. It defeats the purpose of the leadership position, and at that point it's just a nominal role.
- They initiate warm-up. They're part of the pre-game plate meeting. They're a liaison between coaches/the team. I talk to all the players, but I talk to captains specifically to get a feel for the team vibe at any particular time. They need to have a good sense of how things are going, so if something I'm trying isn't working, I can talk to them. If I feel a player needs to hear something from a fellow player and not a coach/adult, I might have a captain talk to someone.
Here's a situation I had last year: Our starting catcher missed a game. It wasn't exactly her fault, but it was an unexcused absence. The punishment for that is sitting a game. Our backup catcher was inexperienced. She held her own against a weak team in the game the starter missed, but she was struggling badly in the game when the starter was benched. We were down big and the game was all but lost anyway, but I was worried about a player in a new position losing confidence in her ability to play it. In the 3rd or 4th inning, I pulled the captains aside and got their opinion on if putting our starter in to finish out the game/save the backup would send a bad message to the team. If I was going to relax the penalty for violation of a rule, I wanted to know the players understood and supported the rationale (and also knew that didn't mean it was just OK to miss games). They ultimately decided the right move was to put in the starter, so I went with it. The backup was actually thankful for it because nobody likes to be put in a spot where they're going to fail.
I see all the comments about the problems it can cause. I think this comes from poor leadership at the top. Captains are captains; they're not coaches. Coaches need to make expectations and responsibilities clear. Coaches need to be able to step in if captains are overstepping. Last year I had a captain who meant well, but didn't always approach situations in the right way. All I had to do was talk to her about it, and things were fine.
Cons? Well, I've had a couple girls who wanted to be captain and weren't voted captain get upset. I've had girls who were terrible leaders but among our best players get voted captain, and they weren't effective. What I've found is that inexperienced players tend to default to the best player. More experienced players pick the best leader.
Maybe the best captain/leader I've ever had was voted captain as a junior. She came to me after practice and said she didn't know how to be a captain and didn't want it. I convinced her that she didn't have to do anything different -- she was already a leader and the team respected her -- and she was great in the role.
radness
Possibilities & Opportunities!
- Dec 13, 2019
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Welll those were the parents that were calledWow! Mom needed a lot of aloe after that burn!
Chaperones...
Everybody's parents didn't always go on road trips and when we had hotels we would have four to six players stay in each room. Not all parents went just a few chaperones.
Those moms that were asking about XYZ and ABC that was their daughters...
- Nov 29, 2009
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What I did was to have a "Day Captain" for the team. Each player took a turn being the team captain for a day whether it was for a game or practice. I had a list of responsibilities that I handed out to the team for the Day Captain. They rotated the turns by uniform number. It was up to them to keep track of whose turn it was. One less thing for me to keep track of. If they were not there for their turn they had to wait for their turn to cycle back again. It worked pretty well. Never got any complaints about it. Each girl did it so there was less chance of any attitudes out it popping up.
- Oct 10, 2018
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no. Naturally leaders will lead. Pinning that name on someone won't change that, just interfere with the group dynamics and not in a good way.
- Jun 1, 2015
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Understandable opinions all around. Of this group that I had, maybe 1 out of 15 girls is set on her own to be a leader. She was my best offensive player (and it wasn't even close) and played 2 positions for me (primary SS, backup C, and played both spots very well). Not sure if she'll be back playing for me this coming season (along with her sister, who was more of a sub player but did get small chances to shine here and there).
My thought was, by creating this incentive idea, it would help the girls grow comfortable with taking a leadership position, especially if it was one nominated by their peers. Example: At the end of Game 1, captains A and B decide to, respectively, nominate players C and D. A nominates C because she had two or three great defensive plays in the field (though she was 0-3 with 2 Ks at the plate), and B nominates D (a sub who came in as a CR to score a run) because she kept the dugout focused as best as she could on the game, was ready to go in as a sub, and did her best on the bases.
Here, A and B talk with me between the handshake line and our walk to OF for our post-game talk about who they wish to nominate and why, I would okay/reject the choices, and then the change happens. The girls have their say, I have my say, and the new captains understand the roles they are obligated to abide by. I 100% TOTALLY get how, in some situations, a sense of superiority could come into play with ill-will, etc. That being said, if the option is open to everyone, they could easily see what is needed to become a captain/earn the support or trust of her peers and (if it came to it) how it could be stripped from them if they fail to act appropriately.
This is still something kicking around but no definite decision in my mind at all. (The idea above was an adaptation of the idea I found online previously).
My thought was, by creating this incentive idea, it would help the girls grow comfortable with taking a leadership position, especially if it was one nominated by their peers. Example: At the end of Game 1, captains A and B decide to, respectively, nominate players C and D. A nominates C because she had two or three great defensive plays in the field (though she was 0-3 with 2 Ks at the plate), and B nominates D (a sub who came in as a CR to score a run) because she kept the dugout focused as best as she could on the game, was ready to go in as a sub, and did her best on the bases.
Here, A and B talk with me between the handshake line and our walk to OF for our post-game talk about who they wish to nominate and why, I would okay/reject the choices, and then the change happens. The girls have their say, I have my say, and the new captains understand the roles they are obligated to abide by. I 100% TOTALLY get how, in some situations, a sense of superiority could come into play with ill-will, etc. That being said, if the option is open to everyone, they could easily see what is needed to become a captain/earn the support or trust of her peers and (if it came to it) how it could be stripped from them if they fail to act appropriately.
This is still something kicking around but no definite decision in my mind at all. (The idea above was an adaptation of the idea I found online previously).
