Most great coaches acknowledge that it’s almost impossible to have a great team without great team leaders. Specifically, it’s usually those who have been named team captains that have an incredible influence on the team culture, the effort level of other players, and the willingness to sacrifice for the team’s goals. They best reflect the mindset of the coaching staff, and so they are invaluable.
But I’m here to say to those coaches who are frustrated, or who think they don’t have leaders, take a look in the mirror and ask what you can do to better prepare potential leaders to have the impact you want. Young people, in particular athletes who strive to be successful in their sport, are potentially great leaders who may simply need the coach to assume the duty of preparing them in the same way they are preparing athletes. In fact, the work you do for them as leaders will last longer than the work you do with them as athletes, and I know we all say we want to have our athletes become great people who influence the world.
Don’t assume that it is enough to simply name captains. Without true teaching and leading from you, coach, that captain can make mistakes that alienate teammates, or he/she can hold back from leading effectively for fear of not really knowing what to do. They will get very frustrated if all they do is call the coin flip before the game. They’ll know that being a captain doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re a leader.
Set aside some time each week to build into your potential leaders. In the end it won’t take as long to build great leaders as it will take to repair poor team dynamics. There are some outstanding model programs out there and they’re not hard to find.
Two of the most practical and effective resources are the National Federation of High Schools Captain’s Course and Jeff Jannsen’s Team Captain’s Leadership Training Manual. They are absolutely worth the small investment and will pay huge dividends.
You will never regret developing your young people into better leaders.