Everyone knows the stress of being on a sports team, whether that’s being forced in pe or willingly joining a team. While it is stressful just being a teammate, imagine the pressure a team captain has. Team captains are the leaders of the team, and that doesn’t seem too bad but it is a lot more than just leading the team.
“Weakness as captains is when we lose, everyone, including myself, blames it on the captains. When something goes wrong, coaches and team captains are blamed first,” Junior Yahir Tenorio states.
Being blamed is certainly overwhelming for coaches and captains, players on the team shouldn’t put too much pressure on themselves, which will give them a better mindset and attitude on the field with a higher chance of winning.
“You just let mistakes go,” says Senior Jenna Konzelman. “What got me last year and the year before was letting my mistakes get me into the fear of failure instead of the desire to win.”
Although this is nerve-racking, all the teammates and coaches believe that the team captains deserve their role. They trust and have faith in them being able to lead the team and support everyone.
“Be nice to everyone and be a leader, not in a way where it makes people feel bad about themselves, that they are going to mess up, or feel extra pressure. You want to support everyone and learn all the names. The captains do get voted on so you want to be a good leader and can actually control,” said senior Haley Blaine.
With the stress of being a captain, along with the team and coaches trusting them, it can make the captains feel a lot better about themselves in the game.
“I was scared I wasn’t going to get the role of team captain, but when I did, it made me feel better about myself in the game,” Senior Emalie Lindberg states.
Even though the team captains “control” the team and are the leaders, The other players on a team are just a huge part of all the encouragement, and bringing everyone together.
“I think that team captains do play a part in that [bringing the team together] but it’s a team effort. Especially since we are a team of about 14 and only having three captains,” says Senior Tyson Ames.
Going along with players, helping out the team, communication and making connections not just with the captains but the whole team will help the team’s bond be stronger and help with talking on the field more.
“We [girls varsity soccer team] made adjustments from the second and third game because those weren’t really good, but we did better with our last game. Like, passing more with two feet and not just kicking in as well as making that connection,” shares Blaine.
While communicating with the team, the team captains also get to lead a lot of things and talk with the coaches more than a normal player does.
“I get to lead the team and talk more with the coaches. I get to talk with him about more private stuff, and I get an opinion on things. Like some of the things we do during practice. We are also in charge of cleaning up. We have to make sure everything is there. And on game days, we have to make sure our stuff is ready,” said Tenorio.
