Being a Captain

Flatballs fly,
Flatballs curve,
Flatballs die,
Flatballs float.

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I missed out on being a captain for 2 years before actually becoming one. This had gotten a bit long winded, so I split it off into two posts. See Background Info for (a lot) more on this.

But now to what Jer-Bear asked for.

Being a Captain of NUT was something I strove towards for a long time. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. It was V rewarding to see the effort I put into helping my brothers develop translate directly to their on-field play. It was empowering to know that my brothers respected, and looked up to me enough to put me into a position of power in the first place. I believe I thrived on these things during my year as captain. I was able to push myself harder than ever before because I knew that everyone was looking to me to set the example. This seemingly contradicts the first piece of advice I ever received about being a captain:
Before the election that would decide captains for my junior year (my first time running), Scott Grindy sent me an email to make sure I knew what I would be signing up for if I won. He told me that the biggest takeaway he had was that his own development stagnated as he had to worry about everyone else's development.
And until I actually was a captain, I figured this would be true for me too. This thought scared me, but not enough to deter me from what I wanted. But it turns out it really was the opposite. As to why? A philosophy that I really believe in is that the best way to get better is by playing with people that are better than you. So, I felt that if I kept improving, it would give my teammates the best chance at improving too. If they had to keep up with me, they would push themselves harder. Their own internal drive would push them to improve and keep pace.

That being said being a captain was still restricting. I had my own goals as a player and member of NUT, but I had to put the team's best interests ahead of my own. Aside from this, I think I did a good job in this respect. Back to the point, if I could have had it my way, NUT would've been more like a boot camp. I would've screamed and yelled until people did what I wanted them to. But instead we, the leadership, had to baby our players. For example, we had a team meeting during the fall of 2014 in Tech to discuss what we (the leadership) saw as lazy and unacceptable commitment levels from everyone so far that quarter. Bruns, Yiding, Bk, and I had all written stories about how we had worked to get where we were, and how NUT used to be terrible. Our hope was that it would push everyone to work harder and do more than just go through the motions of showing up to practice and workouts. We were afraid of falling back into the pit of anonymity in the college ultimate universe, when we had been tasked with taking the team to new heights and levels of notoriety. However, one minute into the meeting, we had to completely change gears and give our whole team a pep-talk. We had to tell them they were all beautiful eagles, and we loved them, and they were doing fantastic. We had to do what was best for the team, and this time they were making it very clear what was best for them.

Sometimes though, people are too dumb to know what's best for them, and trying to make it clear just makes the captains' job harder. For example around this same time, we were trying to decide if we should go to College Easterns. Approximately half of our players thought we would just get annihilated in every game, and that it'd be a waste of time. The other half it seemed just wanted to go to Texas instead because the girls were going there. They were acting like Mary's little lamb. It was sickening. We had been following the girls to Texas for 3 years already with no tournament for ourselves. It was our turn to go to the best tournament we could go to. And it was time for the captains to step in to do what we were elected to do, and do what we knew was best for the team. We (or at least I) were afraid that the team would revolt against us, but we still had to make the call.

I don't mean to shed a negative light on being captain. Again, I loved every second of it, and wish I had been elected more than just once. But it's not an easy job, and it should not be entered into lightly. It takes a great deal of effort and focus to always think about the team ahead of yourself. I remember Bruns telling me after Steel City 2014 that I didn't sound whiny anymore. This was not an accident. Now that I was a captain, I had consciously put a lot of effort into thinking about how I was perceived by those around me. I knew my teammates needed to see me in a certain light, and that I couldn't act how I would've normally/previously. That's the biggest takeaway I think, you have to be ready and able to think of more than just yourself constantly.

I've heard a number of comments through the grapevine over the years that some captains don't like how it puts them on a different level. This can manifest in a few different ways. One - they are only ever hearing reasons, or excuses, or justifications from their teammates about this practice or that workout when they just want to have a person to person conversation about life, or school, or girls, or whatever it may be. Two - they are being left out of conversations because their teammates want to be able to talk freely, without fear of retribution for criticisms they may express. I cannot say that I ever experienced this issue, but I can absolutely see how it would be a very negative experience.

I am also incredibly grateful for all the work that Bruns put into coaching. I can imagine that having no coach would make being a captain much harder. More logistics in terms of planning practices, having to call lines at tournaments, etc.

I enjoyed my time as a captain, and value it greatly.

ARC