10u captains, good idea?

[softball88]

My 10u team is struggling a bit on being good teammates. My assistant coaches want to name team captains. Good idea? Just seems like a train wreck waiting to happen.

 

[grcsftbll]

My DH and I were just talking about this. Our conclusion was that team leaders will usually evolve naturally. I also think appointing them seems like it could cause a lot of drama.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I'm not a fan of captains at this age. I'd work on trying to make all the players better teammates and leaders.

If coach does go through w/ it, I'd strongly suggest not letting the players pick the captains. Since they are struggling with being good teammates/leaders themselves, they aren't qualified to pick the best leader. It will be a popularity contest, or they'll pick the best players who may or may not be the best leader candidates.

 

[coachjwb]

Way too young in my opinion. I personally thinks it takes a pretty mature 15-16 year old at least to really understand what being a captain is about. And the drama won't come from the players, it will come from the parents at anything less than 14U ...

 

[Coachw01]

To be honest, I don't like the idea of captains for any sport at any level. I feel the concept is devisive to the team and pits kids against each other. I coached many very very good wrestling teams and we never had captains. I let seniors go out to the middle and call the flip but that's about it. My personal belief was that it was my job to help all of my athletes develop leadership skills and by appointing a select few as leaders, I was taking the opportunity away from others. Of course this is just my opinion and it worked for me/us.

If you do have captains, I think 10 is too young. It's possible that they aren't being good teammates because they have not been taught how to be a good teammate.

 

[chinamigarden]

At 10 U the captains are 2 random girls you grab from the dugout to stand at home plate when the umps talk about the local ground rules and to call it heads or tails. Rotate that around so all the girls are captains at least once.

I remember a kid on a youth soccer team, her dad was the coach and he told her she was the captain. She used to boss the girls around in school telling them they had to listen to her. Yeah, 10 might be a bit young for captains.

 

[Terror Coach]

Last year I went with no captains until the last tourney of the year. Last tourney I named my catcher the captain. She was thrown behind the plate and had a rough go of it. I rewarded her for toughing out a tough situation. Before that the deal was when we played for a championship I would bring everyone out. This year I have went to bringing out two random girls.

 

[dadofadirtlover]

At 10, don't the "captains" rise to that position naturally and it's an unstated reality that "these 2 are your captains". When the pitcher gets the ball back from the catcher, who naturally yells the outs, where the play is, etc. Who rallies the troops in the dugout? Naming a captain just gets parents "questioning" why their child wasn't named captain. Well....ahem...if she wouldn't look like a deer in headlights when the pressure is on......maybe she would be.

 

[Sparky Guy]

My 10u team is struggling a bit on being good teammates. My assistant coaches want to name team captains. Good idea? Just seems like a train wreck waiting to happen.

First off... It starts at the top with you. You must be the most dynamic personality on the field at all times. I tell all my teams there are only two things I absolutely DEMAND of them. The first is they give the team their 100% best effort all the time. Second, they WILL respect each other when they are on the team. That means no dissing players on social media or in ANY other way. Make sure you have penalties in place for infractions and stick to them. No matter who the offender is if there is one. Tell them they do not have to be BFF's with every girl on the team, but the MUST get along with everyone when they are together.

Make EVERYTHING about the team. If they are goofing off and you have to take time to stop the nonsense put in the context that they are stealing precious practice time from the team because you're having to deal with them. If they are not giving their best effort they are letting their teammates down. Not you or themselves.

Do games and competitions at the end of practice. YOU choose the teams. Be sure to split up the clicks.


Make them all Captains. What I do with my 10U teams is to make each player the captain for a day. Be it practice, tournaments or any other team activity. I called them the Day Captain. I would have a list of items for that day the player was responsible for. Like leading warmups. Making sure the dugout was clean after games or practices. Making sure all the team equipment was pick up and delivered to my car. Organizing groups for drills. Things like that.

The order was by uniform number. The kids kept track of it, I didn't. If you missed your day you waited until your next turn. Doing that forces all the kids to lead the team. The shy ones are forced to and the alphas in the group are forced to take a step back. It seems to help with the screwing around because the Day Captain would get in trouble if someone acted up. They all knew they would have to be responsible so there was incentive to not act up.

Right now they're inexperienced and they are bringing what they know to the team. What that is, is the school environment mentality which is very central and individualized. You need to change the mindset to a team, us, we and together attitude. Lip service does not get it done. Being proactive and consistent does.

Good Luck

 

[JAD]

DD started TB when she was 9 and she is now 17. Never been on a team in TB or HS with a captain.