Late night practices, injuries, and heavy workloads are just some of the many responsibilities student athletes must be able to manage. Many high schoolers, however, face an additional set of commitments on top of the typical list of tasks, as not only are they playing alongside their teammates, they are also helping to manage, coach and rally them behind the team’s goals. These students are the sports captains of PHS and MHS.
Senior Caroline Taylor is currently a distance captain for the track and field team, but this isn’t her first time in such a leadership position.
“It is my first time as captain of the track group, however, I was a captain of cross country for junior and senior year,” Taylor said. “It’s definitely a larger group and it’s less close-knit than cross country is, but because we have the smaller distance sector, it’s easy to kind of bond all of us.”
Taylor said that she’s had to adjust to the change in sport, adapting her style of leadership to fit the track and field team’s needs.
“It is a different style of running, it’s a different style of workouts, which requires me to captain in a different way than I had to in cross country,” Taylor said. “I have to organize the girls, so that requires leading warmups, deciding where we run, leading the run, telling people what we’re doing that day. Sometimes [my role involves] helping coach Steve with certain people on the team and kind of counseling them if they need help in their running.”
Boys’ basketball captain senior Ravi Silverberg said that this ability to adapt to the team’s needs was a key capability he employed during his season as well.
“Everyone is different, and you have to figure out how to help certain players,” Silverberg said.
Some of the ways Silverberg helped the players on the team involved texting and informing them about practice times, gathering his teammates before or after practice, and going over game plans. He said he wasn’t, however, alone in these efforts.
“I didn’t have so much to do myself, because there were three other people,” Silverberg said. “What I didn’t do well, other people picked up.”
For the many sports in Piedmont, each captain role is fulfilled by more than one individual.
“It’s nice to have everybody there because we all have different roles and it’s a better dynamic,” said girls’ lacrosse captain senior Chloe Graham. “Luisa [Cole] makes sure everybody stays on task in practice and stays focused, Peyton [Watson] is really good at lacrosse and so she helps everybody with figuring out where they’re supposed to be and helps them with their actual lacrosse, and Friedie [Schickedanz] and I are more hype, fun captains, but also leaders.”
Silverberg said he also recognized the division of leadership according to each captain’s primary position on the team.
Another relationship that captains must balance isn’t just amongst themselves, but between them and their fellow players and classmates.
“It has its troubles just because I am friends with them, but also their captain, so I have to balance the responsibility aspect of ‘okay, you guys need to run’, but also understanding what they’re going through,” Taylor said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about respect. If I respect them, they often respect me.”
Graham said that it can sometimes be difficult to juggle being a teammate or friend, and being a captain.
Taylor said she also gained from her leadership role an appreciation for consistency,
“Being there, showing up, going to the meets, it all pays off in the end, and people will respect you so much more if you are trying and are showing up,” Taylor said. “It’s an interesting experience, but it’s taught me a lot about leadership, so I would highly recommend it.”
Despite what is required of captains and their leadership roles, the values and takeaways from their time leading their teams, seem to far outweigh any difficulties they may have faced during their seasons.
“If someone’s not paying attention or not taking something seriously, it’s hard to tell them to take it seriously when it’s also your friend,” Graham said. “You just have to take a stand and stand up for yourself and the team.”
Girls’ soccer captain junior Darcy McKee said that her first experience as captain this past season was a growth experience in terms of public speaking, as she had to practice talking in front of peers in many different settings. She said she also learned how key communication is, as well as how important the dynamic is between a captain and their fellow players.
