This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Leadership collection, answers one of the most frequent questions from Captains and Coaches Workshops: what is the best way to choose team captains? It reviews a variety of methods — tryout and vote, letting leadership emerge, applying for the job, the Unity Council model, and expecting all seniors to be leaders — with the advice to design team leadership rather than leave it to chance.
Introduction
We have done a large number of Captains and Coaches Workshops across the country and one of the questions we frequently get asked is, "what is the best way to choose team captains?" We are not sure that there is a "best way" but rather a variety of methods. Hopefully you will find some help from the following ideas on selecting and developing leadership within your teams.
Tryout and Vote
Many teams follow the old path of having try outs and as soon as the team is chosen, they sit down and vote for a captain. It usually turns out to be a popularity contest or simply selecting who the team views as the most talented player. This is seldom effective as the season progresses.