High school tries shared leadership rather than captains

[Smallpotatoes]

http://www.wickedlocal.com/sudbury/sports/x1794936950/L-S-teams-will-try-shared-leadership

Of course, the comments section has plenty of that knee-jerk "trophies for everyone" foolishness.
I kind of have mixed feelings about this. If everyone is a leader, who is a follower and doesn't a team need followers as well as leaders?
One coach brought up the point that sometimes the kids who are selected as captain are not necessarily the best leaders, but rather the most popular.
I'm pretty sure like everyone else, I've seen teams with five, six, seven, even eight captains, which seems like a little much to me.

 

[DanOregon]

The story reads like the athletic director attended a seminar and probably needs to justify it to put it on her expense account.

I've played on teams with season long captains, rotating captains etc. I don't think it is a bad idea to use sports as an educational tool, but leadership tends to be organic. You can't just put a badge on someone and say "follow."

 

[Ace]

My kid leads just as hard as everyone else.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Once, in high school, our co-captains were both injured, and as the sole surviving senior I was defensive captain for a game. I was a mediocre player, and then and now no leader. But there isn't that much to being a high school game day captain. All you have to do is accept or decline penalties, and the frantic sideline signals (Look at me or you won't live to see that letter on your sweater!) were a big help there. So if some school wants to shift it around, no biggie.

 

[Della9250]

The school I cover has four captains -- offense, defense, special teams and scout team -- who rotate from week to week based on practice and game effort, leadership and all the other stuff about being a team player.

 

[MileHigh]

I'm pretty sure like everyone else, I've seen teams with five, six, seven, even eight captains, which seems like a little much to me.

Which is why the rule was changed this year. Four captains per team only. No other players, coaches, support staff allowed on the field of play during the coin toss and the second-half option.

 

[YGBFKM]

"Trophies for everyone!"

 

[DanOregon]

On a semi-related front - I do think there is a need for players on teams (or their parents) to have a formal mechanism to contact administrators if something isn't right in a program. The "Coach is God" mentality is ripe for problems.
I wonder how many schools (whether at high school or college) consult students when evaluating coaches at the end of the year or have a defined system for players to contact administrators during the season (and this goes well beyond the "playing time" thing).

 

[RickStain]

Since when have parents been shy about opining that there is something wrong with a coach?

 

[Smallpotatoes]

I guess this means the terrorists have won.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

A college professor of mine was fond of saying in regards to his old, old, old books which had seemingly every word highlighted: If you highlight everything, you highlight nothing.

 

[DanOregon]

Since when have parents been shy about opining that there is something wrong with a coach?

Never - but if there was a formal process and structure you wouldn't see parents conspiring to oust a coach through backroom dealings. Hire a faculty advisor who is independent of the team, the coach, the administration. It's easy for a parent to ***** and moan in someone's ear - having them file an official report and sign their names? It's like requiring actual names and addresses on comment sections.

 

[zebracoy]

The story reads like the athletic director attended a seminar and probably needs to justify it to put it on her expense account.

And then wrote a story about it.

 

[DanOregon]

I googled it - apparently it is a "new thing."
Here is an image that was included in "shared leadership."

 

[YGBFKM]

I googled it - apparently it is a "new thing."
Here is an image that was included in "shared leadership."

Jesus Christ.

 

[Starman]

I'm pretty sure like everyone else, I've seen teams with five, six, seven, even eight captains, which seems like a little much to me.

Which is why the rule was changed this year. Four captains per team only. No other players, coaches, support staff allowed on the field of play during the coin toss and the second-half option.

In seasons past I've seen teams (especially on senior night) designate all the seniors on the team as captains. 20 or 25 of them.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

I think most of us have covered enough teams and been in enough lockerrooms or at enough practises to realize the heirarchy of a team naturally sorts itself out.

Players will naturally gravitate to those they see as or feel are strong leaders.

 

[Azrael]

What possible good could come of cooperation?

 

[farmerjerome]

Honestly, is being a captain really that important anymore?

Most of the 'captains' I interview (especially the boys) are the most inarticulate kids on the team. This usually happens during terrible games where no one stands out or during season previews, but I've literaly had to pull coaches aside and tell them not to send me a kid whose only answer is goint to be "um" or "uh...". They're not all great interviews, no matter how many questions you ask.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

http://audio.weei.com/m/33926420/captain-by-committee-shared-leadership.htm

Here's the AD trying to defend the idea on a local sports talk radio show. One of the hosts, Fred Smerlas, has a son who is a captain on the football team at the school (that team still has captains).
By the way, what does Fred Smerlas know about anything? I know he was a fairly colorful personality during his playing days, but does he really have any credibility about anything?