Might as well go for the gusto now

The Binghamton tournament, in my eyes, is a story of a lack of leadership. The captains jammed the same offense or defense over and over, payed little to no attention to the playing time of many players, and spent too much time concerned about off non-ultimate issues. The lack of control exercised over the team let a negative feeling creep over the everyone, making some players scared to go on the field, making others take of their cleats because they were tired of getting chewed out.

Not only did the team perform worse on the field because of the lack of control, but many players did not improve as much as they could have, and many players had a worse tournament experience.

When you captain a team, your play is no longer your priority. Your job is to make the team run. You make sure that each line is balanced between handlers, cutters, veterans, and freshmen. You make sure that everyone is getting an appropriate amount of playing time (which doesn't just mean making sure the freshmen get in. That means pulling your starters at the right time so they don't pull their hamstring in the important game). You make sure that everyone's emotions are in check, if they're feeling too down or they're too vocal or you need to keep them off tilt. You call time-outs when you need to calm everyone down, or get your starters a break, or to change momentum.

A captain is a vocal sideline presence. They are the ones to keep the sidelines awake. They are the one yelling last back. They are the one leading sideline cheers.

A captain does not come off the field and sit on the other side of the field and chit chat. A captain does not come off the field and keep to themselves. A captain does not make a mistake on the field and let it impact them. A captain does not let their play affect the team. A captain does not think about where they are going to eat after the game.

A captain certainly does not get drunk on the sideline.

Your priority is everyone else first, yourself last.



"Can you get something out of someone that they could not get out of themselves."
-Marshall Faulk, on leadership