What is expected of a team captain and what would you do

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Our DD plays on a high school team where the captains were appointed by the head coach. A few weeks ago one of the captains sent a profanity laced text to one of the team members. After she sent the text she was seen and heard bragging to other team members about what she had done. From what we understand this all resulted from some questions being asked by the team member that received the text. The question were not related to any thing to do with the team. I am asking is this girl to be held to higher standards because she is a captain, should she not be setting the tone for the team and not degrading other players. How should the head coach of handled this situation?

 

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Any player that degrades a team member is in pretty big trouble with me; captain or not!

 

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Agreed. But they are h.s girls. In any event that shouldn't be an excuse though. Team members are supposed to be able to look to a captain for support and even guidance if needed. She needs to set a better example for her teammates to follow. I prefer when the team/girls choose the captain.

 

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BSE60 ... while I think the answers about expectations of a team captain are obvious, my advice to you as a parent would be to stay out of this kind of high school drama. If the text didn't have anything to do with the team, why would you or the coach be involved?

 

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Agreed. But they are h.s girls. In any event that shouldn't be an excuse though. Team members are supposed to be able to look to a captain for support and even guidance if needed. She needs to set a better example for her teammates to follow. I prefer when the team/girls choose the captain.

Agree with everything except, "But they are h.s. girls." I don't care if you're 8 or 18, degrading another player is unacceptable in my book. Being old enough to know better applies to h.s. girls.

 

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"A leader leads by example, whether he/she intends to or not." - John Adams


I think all team captains should be voted into the position by the other players in any sport and not appointed by the coaches. It shows that the teammates respect that person as a leader and want them to lead. Its how it was when I was in HS at our school.

 

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Agreed that this is not proper behavior for a captain or any team member and also agreed that as a not-directly involved parent, stay out of the girl drama. However, most schools have a zero tolerance policy for bullying and abuses of any kind. The girl who received the text should be encouraged by teammates to report the "abuse" through the proper channels starting with the coach. Teens are very skilled at snowing adults and then attacking peers when the adults aren't looking.
Coach's cannot correct what they are not aware of.

 

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I don't care for the concept but if I used team captains I would let the girls select their leader. Yes, they should be accountable and yes held to a higher standard because of their position. This is part of the reason I don't care for captains.

 

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One of the responsibilities of being a team captain is to motivate other players. Sometimes that means telling a person to "pick it up" a little.

1.) There is a percentage of players who don't take criticism well. Especially from another teenage girl.
2.) Players at that age haven't yet learned how to give their message without sounding like a b*tch. (Some never do...)

Maybe the captain was out of line with what she did, But maybe she wasn't qualified to begin with.

 

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I would stay out of it.
If it bothers my DD so much then she should handle it.
With so little data it is IMPOSSIBLE to have an opinion of this behavior. On face value I do not condone profanity, and my DD does not swear. So I am not sure this would sit well with her regardless.

 

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Not sure of the drama mentioned, but a Captain should be a leader, mentor, teacher, motivator, leaving a legacy to be proud of and that others would want to emulate and pass along the tradition of the school to future players in the sport.

 

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Not sure of the drama mentioned, but a Captain should be a leader, mentor, teacher, motivator, leaving a legacy to be proud of and that others would want to emulate and pass along the tradition of the school to future players in the sport.

Agree. DD said to me yesterday "It's going to be tough next year without ****** and *****, they are such leaders" I guess that sums up what a captain's role should be. Someone who's going to be missed when they are gone.

 

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if it goes any farther, coach needs to be made aware of it. (by the player, not the parent0

 

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First, stay out of it. It is team business.

Now, at this age level, the majority of the girls have no clue about the true attributes of being a leader. I believe that a kid that is chosen to be put in a leadership position still needs close mentoring, something that is, for the most part, missing in the high school environment. There are good coaches out there that realize this and do a good job of mentoring their captains and then there are those that don't have a clue. If a coach is not going to take the time to do the mentoring, then there should not be a captain(s).

I believe that the captains should be designated by the coach after getting the team's input.

 

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My DD was a captain her last 2 years of her high school and her last 2 years of college. She and I have always been close, and we talked a lot about her responsibilities and some of the things she had to deal with as a captain frequently during all 4 of those years. While I think she contributed something as a high school captain, I think it was pretty minimal because frankly she didn't have the maturity yet to do that well. She set a good example with her work ethic and all, but she didn't know how to really deal with problem teammates, how to talk with the coaches effectively, etc. But in college, I think she was a great captain. She had matured into a young woman who understood how to do those things, and she had the respect of all of her teammates (well maybe not one lol). We knew that because after doing it her junior year, she was unanimously selected by the teammates and coaches her senior year.

Good discussion about captains, but again to the original poster, I don't read this particular situation as really much of anything to do with softball, other than perhaps another sign that many high school players aren't very good captains.

 

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Not a big fan of captains, all it does is cause problems. You can't assign someone to be a leader, leaders emerge on their own. Some years, there is noone qualified to do the job and if you thrust someone into the position just to have a captain, it will be nothing but trouble.

I would recommend staying out of it, like stated before....it's team business. All I do as a parent is bring the food, wash the uniform, provide the transportation and cheer my butt off for ALL the girls........oh, and I'm a walking ATM machine.

 

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My POV is all are captains so you know where I stand.

That so called captain is a disgrace and should be carrying the ball bag and any other freshman job that exists. And for sure discussed with the coach by the player if she sees fit.

Klump, can I plagiarize most of your posts...