|
Home
Feedback
How to be a team leader
©2006 oldschoolsportsparenting.com
If you’re reading this because you want to
be elected captain of your team by your teammates, you’re wasting your time.
Although it’s a wonderful honor to be voted captain, not all team leaders
become captains, and not all captains are team leaders.
A Team Captain is a "political" position
usually chosen by the coaching staff. I know, I know … the coaches ask
players to vote for captains. They collect ballots, and they tally votes.
But I promise you, if the coaches don't agree with your choices, they'll
appoint their own captains. They may tell
you that "these are the leaders the team selected." But coaches typically
have their own agenda when they have the team elect captains. And if the
election results don’t match that agenda … well, guess who wins?
Besides, coaches are part of the team. So,
technically, they’re telling the truth when they say the "team" selected its
captains, even if the actual players didn’t.
So don’t get hung up trying to be a team
captain.
On the other hand, a team can never have
enough leaders. Those are the people everyone rallies around when times get
tough; the people everyone looks to for guidance and inspiration.
If you’ve ever been on a team with some
true leaders, you already know how to recognize them. Here’s how to be one
of them.
Be yourself.
Don’t compromise your personality just to
try to be something that the coach wants. Coaches don’t always know who the
true team leaders are. But players always do. Your teammates will
immediately recognize if you change your behavior to conform to the coach’s
view of "leadership." If you’re a naturally talkative, rowdy, "rah-rah" type
of player, then stay that way, even if the coach seems to prefer the silent,
brooding type of leader. There’s nothing wrong with encouraging your team
vocally. Just don’t overdo it. Likewise, if you’re more of the quiet type,
that’s fine, too. (Try not to be too silent, though, or your teammates could
start seeing you as totally detached and aloof.)
Let your behavior do the talking.
Your main communication tool is your
behavior during practice and games. Even if your productivity isn’t at its
best on any given day, your effort and competitiveness must be consistently
among the highest on the team. Spend more time hustling and working hard,
and less time telling your teammates to hustle and work hard. They’ll
respond to your example more than they’ll respond to your words. If your
example matches your words, so much the better. But the example has to come
first.
Set an example off the field, too.
Or the court. Or the ice. Or whatever other
surface you play games on. Team leaders leave a good impression on the
public even when the game is over. They speak politely. They behave with
class and dignity. They follow team rules, school rules – and the law.
Sacrifice.
Be prepared to set aside all concerns about
your stats, your playing time, what position you play, and anything else
related to your own personal goals and achievements. Stats and playing time
are not goals. They’re natural byproducts of striving to be the best player
and the best teammate you can be.
Confront people and issues that are
detrimental to the team.
I’m not suggesting you rat out your friends
every time you get wind of some kind of "unauthorized" activity they’re
planning. What I am suggesting is
that you confront them yourself, face to face, and insist that they do the
right thing. If the unauthorized activity involves something illegal or
dangerous, and your friends insist on following through with their plans –
then, yes, it’s time to rat them out. Give them plenty of warning, but do
tell an adult. If you’re not ready to make a tough decision like this, you
aren’t a leader.
Seek solutions, not sympathizers.
One of my favorite sayings is, "If you’re
not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem." There’s plenty to
complain about over the course of a long sports season. Coaches can get on
your nerves. So can other players. Heck, even the color of your uniforms can
be a source of annoyance, if the season is going badly. It’s OK to blow off
steam once in awhile. But team leaders recognize when a complaint has become
big enough and common enough to cause team disunity. Don’t let it get to
that point. Either solve it or stifle it. But don’t let it take on a life of
its own.
Stay positive when you call out a teammate.
There’s nothing wrong with challenging a
teammate to play harder or better. But you need to do it in a positive way.
"Charlie, we’d be winning this game if you got more rebounds," is an example
of the kind of finger-pointing that can bring a team down immediately. A
more challenging, positive way to put it is, "Charlie, you can out-rebound
that kid with your eyes closed. Think you can handle him in the second half?
If you do, we win." If Charlie doesn’t want to eat his opponent for
breakfast after that kind of encouragement, he needs to take up chess.
Take blame, give credit.
Don’t become a martyr or a phony, though.
If you step up and take blame for a loss, tell your teammates what you’re
going to do to improve, too. Likewise, when you start passing around
compliments, keep it real. If a kid barely played in a game, don’t act like
he’s the reason you won. Finally, no matter how well you played, don’t take
praise without acknowledging the effort of your teammates. When a team wins,
everybody contributed in some way. If you can’t recall anyone’s
contributions but your own, then you’re not thinking hard enough.
Home Feedback
|