Being captain of a sports team at any level is a huge accomplishment. It means that your teammates and coaches think that you are responsible enough to lead a team; it shows that your other teammates respect you enough to listen to your advice and accept you as a leader. Usually this honor goes to seniors, but there have been several athletes that have been or will be captain during their junior season.

During the fall season of 2014 both Chris Desir and Caroline Ryan were captains of their varsity team. Desir is captain of the football team and Ryan is captain of the girls soccer team.

On the football team the coaches choose the captains. Desir had found out that he was captain at one of the summer programs that the football team does in preparation for the season. He recalls, “I was at the University of New Haven camp and the coaches called me over. After I thought I was in trouble but they called me over in front of the whole team and just called me to congratulate me and say you’re a captain.”

On the girls soccer team the coach also chooses the captains. Ryan found out she would be captain in her sophomore season. For the most part both Ryan and Desir were surprised that they got captain because there were other people on the team that they felt also deserved captain.

Last winter the boys’ basketball team had three captains. Two out of the three captains were at the time juniors. Kwe Askew and James Gronberg were co-captains of the boys’ basketball team last year along with former senior Kenny Wright. For the boys’ basketball team they don’t officially find out who the captains are until after tryouts when each player and coach casts their votes on who they want to be captain. The three with the most votes become captain. In an interview, Askew said that he was more relieved when he found out he was captain. He said, “I knew that I could run this team and it just felt really good to know that I was.” While there is no guarantee that Gronberg and Askew are going to be captain again this season Coach Danny Melzer thinks that the boys have a good shot in reclaiming their position as captains.

Last baseball season, now senior, Tyler Serricchio was one of the captains of the team. By his junior year Serricchio had already been on varsity for two years. He felt that even though he was younger than some of his teammates, his teammates still respected because he had played at the varsity level before. Since the decision on the new baseball coach is still underway, the captains for the 2015 season have not been announced yet.

When Serricchio was asked about what advice he would give to other captains that are juniors, Serricchio said, “Don’t let other people tell you what to do, even if they are your friends. Don’t be afraid to yell at them or make them run laps even if you are close.” This advice is similar to what advice Ryan gave, saying that she would tell others who are going to be captains, “Just be confident in whatever you say, don’t let someone try to bring you down.”

This advice is something that the upcoming winter sports season captains, juniors Tiana England and Chris Clemmenson should try to keep in mind. When given this advice Clemmenson agreed and said that he will try to lead by example for this season.