What Happened When I Wasn't Chosen As Team Captain

Personal Best Leadership Experience

My junior year of high school I was on the varsity soccer team, not because I was any good, but because our team frankly just sucked. We hadn’t been good in years, but my team had a lot of untapped potential. The year before some changes had been made to our coaching staff and our team was now being led by a young 25-year-old who played collegiate soccer herself. My team didn’t really know how to work hard and this new coach was pushing us further than we had before.

I noticed several things about her right away, but the one thing that stuck out to me the most was that she never asked anything of us that she didn’t do herself. Everything she told us to do, she would do with us. That meant she’d run mountain miles with us at 6am twice a week. She’d lift with us. She would run suicides, hold planks, and do pushups with us. It was because of her example, I was able to help lead my team that year to flip flop our record.

Beginning that season, I was bummed that I wasn’t chosen as team captain. I thought that I because I hadn’t earned the title of “captain” that I couldn’t be influential, but boy was I wrong. What motivated me the most was that for the first time in my life, someone had come along and believed in the ability of our team. For years, soccer at my school had been on the decline; a joke. Year after year we’d gotten trampled, but that one coach came along and believed in us when no one else did and that motivated me more than anything. She shared that same vision with me, so the harder I worked. I think honestly that leadership begins with an attitude. I may have not been “the captain” of my team, but I ended up being one of the most respected players on the team due to my attitude.

One of the main challenges that I faced was earning a starting spot. It was given to the player that worked the hardest at practice this week and it changed regularly. It forced me to continue working hard, not grow complacent, and not get discouraged when it wasn’t me who started. I think because it was a team full of girls and because girls can be petty/dramatic, one of the things that made me different was that I refused to blame anyone else when things didn’t go my way. Meaning, when I didn’t start, I didn’t blame the coach, I didn’t trash talk the other player, I kept my head down, mouth shut, and proved that I was the one that deserved to be out there. By the middle of the season, I was the starting player.

I went into each practice and conditioning with the mindset that I was going to practice how I would play in a game. Which meant that I would give 110%, even when some of my teammates messed around. I just worked hard, had fun, and hoped that others would follow along and they did. That year I ended up winning the T.E.A.M. award, (Team before self, Effort, Attitude, and Mental toughness), which was awarded to me by both my teammates and coaches. This experience showed me that I didn’t need a title to be a leader. I didn’t need to be the team captain. I didn’t need to be the loudest person on the team. I did what I knew how to do, well and my enthusiasm invited others to do the same.