What Every Team Captain Should Know to Drive Positive Team Culture

Picking team captain(s) is a daunting and challenging task for athletic teams, especially given how their role can impact team culture over time. Sometimes selections are made strictly by coaches, sometimes it’s done by players voting, and sometimes it’s a combination of both.
 
Regardless of the selection method, TrueSport Expert Roberta Kraus, PhD, the President of the Center for Sports Psychology – Colorado Springs, Colorado, states that the most senior athletes with good stats are often selected. Then that athlete or athletes are told by coaches, “Congratulations, you are our captains this year – now go do a good job being the team’s leaders.” 
 
The challenge in that last statement is that coaches and athletes make an assumption that just by being elected to the role of captain, athletes understand and know how to execute a leadership role. In reality, most athletes need some coaching on how to be an effective captain.
 
Below is Kraus’ road map of action steps that coaching staff and captains can implement so athletes involved in a leadership role are set up for success and supporting an effective team culture.

Criteria for Captainship Selection

There are some basic descriptors of what makes for an effective captain that can serve as a guideline in whatever selection process the coaches and/or team uses.

1. A desire to succeed beyond current skill and ability
2. A willingness to listen to understand vs. listen to be understood
3. An ongoing desire to develop the ability to deal with and appreciate conflict and different points of view
4. A type of personality or pattern of behaviors that others on the team want to follow, mirror, and/or emulate

Discussion Questions for a Newly Selected Captain

Coaches and captains should meet upon selection and discuss questions like these to establish shared understanding around the captain’s role and team culture.

1. What appeals to you about being a leader on this team?
2. What do you personally have to offer as a captain that can impact the type of team culture we all strive for? For example, an effective communicator, nurturer, cheerleader, task master, problem solver, motivator, risk taker, team builder, etc.
3. What concerns you or worries you about being a leader on this team?
4. What do you need from your coaching staff to be at your best in this captain role?
5. What else do you need to know before you can be clear about your leadership role and the impact it will have on our team culture?

Learning to be a Team Captain

It’s important for team captains to continually evaluate their role to be successful. Here are some key best practices to try:

• Step 1 – Clearly define what the word “leader” means in contrast to the word “leadership.” Leader is a title while leadership is about the behaviors/actions the leader exhibits to create the conditions so that each and every athlete wants to do their best work on this team.
• Step 2 – Evaluate and assess the following qualities:
  • Role clarity – understand the required leadership competencies you need to deliver on as captain(s), such as building trust, being comfortable with uncertainty, being flexible and agile, getting things done through others, communicating well, supporting coaches, and dedication to vision and values.
  • Role acceptance – ask yourself what degree of commitment (1-5) you have for being a leader on this team.
  • Role delivery – evaluate if can you be counted on to behave like a leader every time you have a practice and/or competition regardless of what life is like for you outside of your sport.
  • Role accountability – determine how will you hold each other accountable. That might mean getting ongoing feedback from coaches and players or doing a rating scale survey.
  • Role consistency – consider if you can be counted on to behave like a leader regardless of playing time, stats, mood, and competitive pressure. You should be predictable in a good way that has a positive impact on team culture.

How Captains Can Navigate Multiple Teams

In today’s sports environment, the role of a captain has become more complex than ever. Many athletes now participate in multiple programs across schools and clubs, meaning that teammates may come from different backgrounds and even rival schools. Because of this, it’s essential to teach captains a clear framework for effective leadership that applies across all teams they represent.
 
Captains can think of leadership effectiveness as a ladder, with each level building on the one before it. The following progression outlines why athletes choose to follow their captain’s lead, from the most basic to the most meaningful:

1. Position – Athletes follow you due to role position.
2. Relationship – Athletes follow you because they want to.
3. Productivity – Athletes follow you because you get things done and take care of business.
4. Accountability – Athletes follow you because you hold yourself and others accountable.
5. Respect – Athletes follow you because of who you are and how you act (they want to be like you).

Takeaway

Team captains play a vital role in creating and upholding team culture, which is why it’s critical that athletes and coaches establish shared expectations for the role, as well as continually evaluate commitment and performance.

About TrueSport

TrueSport®, a movement powered by the experience and values of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, champions the positive values and life lessons learned through youth sport. TrueSport inspires athletes, coaches, parents, and administrators to change the culture of youth sport through active engagement and thoughtful curriculum based on cornerstone lessons of sportsmanship, character-building, and clean and healthy performance, while also creating leaders across communities through sport.
 
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