Ellen Trinklein
Sports Editor
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the print edition of the December 2009 Courant. The headline has been changed because of an unfair bias in the headline. All of the content remains the same.
JV teams this year have been faced with a new ruling: they are no longer allowed to have full –time captains. Instead, coaches are required to designate new captains on a weekly or gamely basis.
Athletic director Jay Egan says that this is a new philosophical position he wants to advance in the coaching of JV and freshmen teams. His reasoning is that these teams are, for the most part, developmental.
“It’s simply that instead of naming an athlete they hardly know to be a leader, the coach will create some criteria to give multiple people a leadership experience during the season,” Mr. Egan said.
This new “philosophy” is a learning experience for both the team members and the coaches, so that they can see where leadership potential in the team lies. “How can we expect any one individual to be put in a leadership position and not see if anyone else can?” said Mr. Egan. “It’s like any other facet of education.”
According to Mr. Egan, there has been no negative feedback from any of the JV coaches. In fact, some coaches followed this rule even before it was implemented. JV boys’ basketball head coach, Joel Geriak, has been using this system for as long as he’s been coaching.
“My reasoning is it gives each kid a chance to become their own leader on the court, it gives me a chance to see how they react to games and refs, and it doesn’t single anyone out,” Coach Geriak said.
Not all people were so happy about the new ruling, though. Many students found that it took away from the seriousness and integrity of the team.
“I thought it was kind of ridiculous that we didn’t have anyone to lead,” said sophomore Catherine Keeffe, member of the JV field hockey team.
“It would have been easier to have captains because they tell us what to do. Without them we felt pretty lost,” said sophomore Rebecca Evensen, who was a member of the JV volleyball team.
Other students simply didn’t understand why the system needed to change. “Freshman year we voted [for captains]and it worked,” said sophomore Lauren Jansen, member of the JV girls’ soccer team.
“It would’ve been nice to vote,” said Catherine. “We changed captains weekly but it was pointless because the coach’s favorite player would always be chosen.”
A lot of times, the weekly captain had no more responsibility than an ordinary player. “We didn’t really have captains at all,” Lauren said. “It was whoever took control. The juniors basically ended up being captains.”
Indeed, in every team some students’ leadership skills began to shine over others. “All of a sudden you’ll see natural leaders emerge,” said Coach Geriak. “The kids know who to look up to.”
“The more experienced players, especially the juniors who’d been on JV before, they helped us more than the weekly captains did,” said Rebecca.
Mr. Egan feels that the main reason students looked down on his new coaching philosophy was that they looked forward to becoming JV captain and receiving what they felt was a position of status and accomplishment. “The only downside [of the new rule]is some people may believe that this is some kind of credential they can add to their resume, “ Mr. Egan said. “But it’s not a credential that will pull any real weight.”
Some students conceded that a rotating captainship might have helped team members develop leadership skills, but they don’t feel it will prepare them for varsity. “I don’t think we will be prepared at all,” said Catherine.
Still, Mr. Egan defends his ruling. “Freshman and JV teams are mainly developmental- they advance your skills,” he said. “This is where students can learn and see what leadership looks like.”
