O captain, my captain

With many of our peers preparing to leave the comfort brought on by gliding through the pool or batting a ball on the court, a feeling of sadness hangs over us all. For most of our captains, the start of half term marked the end of their high school summer sports career that they had committed to for the past few years. While not all our first team captains are matrics, they must all deal with no longer being able to play alongside the people they have grown up with or grown to admire.

We have all seen these captains dribbling a ball at the HPC or hitting a stroke at the tennis court, but a handful of us do not know much about them outside of their sport. That feeling of not knowing makes many of us wonder what motivates them on the field. What enables them to cheer their team on when they are losing or try to remain calm on the court when they are visibly angry. It makes us wonder how their roles differ depending on their sport and how they coincide. It makes us wonder what being a captain means to them. 

To Isabelle, being a captain allows her to see not only herself, but her team grow.

She finds joy in the fact that she can contribute to the growth of her fellow teammates on and off the court and is grateful for the relationships she has formed. Isabelle finds that the tours help build said relationships where everyone feels connected as if “there’s no ages we’re all just one team.”

Grabbing a friend to bat back and forth with or hitting a ball against the wall for hours are a few of the things she does to improve her gameplay. In addition to this, she joins her family in their tradition of watching Wimbledon or the ATPs at her grandparents’ house in the Karoo. These several factors put together have helped her improve her backhand which is often a weakness in players that opponents try to exploit. One of her biggest strengths is her backhand which can simply be described as beautiful.

Isabelle sees Tennis as a “mind challenging sport” where the losses “cut you deeply.” Most of the time it is just you versus your opponent, so she sometimes starts getting into her head and talking down to herself when playing. To counter this, she follows the principle of “keep pushing even if you are tired”, as well as attending the mental conditioning sessions that help keep her in the right headspace for games. Even though sadness looms over her with the end of the season, Isabelle finds comfort in the fact that the relationships she has built are so strong that they can pick up where they left off when the Tennis season starts up again. 

When you are playing an away game, you must deal with the fact that you do not have home turf advantage, so many of the spectators are not rooting for you. To Nigel, being a captain means remaining calm in these situations and not retaliating when insulted, no matter how difficult it is. He feels like people look up to him and believe in him, and this motivates Nigel to lead by example0 on and off the court- and work towards improving his communication skills.

This year has been the best basketball season of his life as he felt everyone had the “same mindset and goal.” He trusts that his team was focused and wanted to play, so ending the season on a loss had Nigel feeling blue. While the amount of admin might bring him down, leading his teammates and being able to assist the younger players makes it worth it.

The basketball team finds that a jog around the court, paired with clapping faster and faster the further they jog, gets them pumped and ready for their game, so it has become an important part of their warm-up routine. Nigel's biggest inspiration is his “younger self” because he is proud of how much his basketball skills have improved over the past few years. 

Josh’s Water Polo journey began almost ten years ago when he was in Grade 2, and his older brother introduced him to the sport. Two years later he made his Water Polo debut and has not looked back since.

Over the past seven years, the season that stood out the most for him was the spring season of 2022 that was filled with many games and tournaments. Starting the season on such a high has Josh feeling “bumped” that it had to end.

For many, Josh included, summer sports ending involves fishing gum guards and shinpads out of trunks and advancing towards the astro once more for hockey, his other major sport.

Josh believes that being a captain has made him more observant of his “attitude towards practices and games” which has led to him trying to keep a “positive mindset” towards Water Polo to uplift his teammates if necessary and lead by example. These factors help create a successful game which to Josh includes both “teamplay” and fun.

His goal when playing away games is to get the team in the right “headspace” with speech from him, the vice-captain and the coach, paired with a game of ‘one bounce bok’ for the comradery. Josh views his role as captain as an opportunity to be a “positive influence” to his team when they are having a bad game, by encouraging them to do their best and trying his best to “maintain peace” between the players on the team. He finds that he does not have only one player on his team that he looks up to because, to Josh, “there is something in everyone that encourages me to do better.” 

While some captains prefer an entirely democratic or entirely autocratic leadership style, Matthew finds it best to find a “balance between the two.” This involves “setting” his own opinion as well as taking other people’s knowledge into account because to him “the more you know the better.” The one constant factor in the cricket teams’ pre-game routine is honoring the players who came before them and the players that will come after them. Cricket has always been a major sport in both his and his father’s lives and Matthew says that he cannot remember a time when he did not have a cricket bat in his hand. When he is home, Matthew indulges in his love for wildlife through hunting springbok.

The end of this current season for him felt “scary” as his high school cricket career is ending but has helped him remember to feel “grateful for every single match you have because you never know when it is going to be over.” In game scenarios, the opening batter and opening bowler “set the tone” for the game making them the two hardest positions to play or as his coach, Mr. Birch, puts it they “throw the first punch.”

He finds the best thing that he can do for his teammates is to be vocal when he feels they are slacking off and listen to the advice given to him so that he can learn and grow with his team. 

Being a boarder means that, on the days that you do not have enrichments or afternoon school, you will probably find yourself sitting at hostel doing nothing. Stephen fills up these gaps in time with different sports.

Outside of the tennis court, he either finds himself running across the hockey field or hitting strokes on the golf course. Stephen has been playing tennis from around the ages of five or six, after being handed a racket from his father and considers tennis one of his favorite summer sports.

One of the only downsides of tennis for Stephen is how time-consuming it is to grow his knowledge on the sport and how that can sometimes strain the academic aspect of school. He spends a lot of his time reading novels by authors like Roger Federer, watching major tournaments like the Wimbledon or playing tennis at a club in his hometown.

He finds that one of the best parts about tennis is his team. Team tennis for him involves “hanging out with my friends and meeting new people that challenge my abilities.” He believes that his teammates help grow the love he has for the sport. While injuries to the hamstring or a broken toe can hurt, his “determination to win” not only keeps him going but is what he considers his biggest strength in tennis. To Stephen, being a captain means, “Leading by example and setting the bar for the rest of the team. Not slacking off during practice and showing the boys what they need to do. Being a role model and someone to look up to.” 

Jamie made the switch from competitive swimmer to Water Polo player just before she entered high school, after watching her older brother play and falling in love with the sport. She finds that a successful game is when everyone feels “confident in the fact that they couldn’t have done anything more for the better of the team, the game and the outcome.”

Jamie noticed a “work together mentality” this past season and that made it a favorite for her. She takes joy in the fact that more than 50% of the matrics on the team have now hit 100 caps. Jamie finds that a shift in focus from team psychology mental condition sessions to self-evaluation mental conditioning sessions have assisted in boosting the potential of her teammates, and that they have reached a stage where she can positively say that when they get to practice, everyone wants to be there.

Jamie feels that being a captain has helped her learn to manage her emotions in the water and pay more attention to her teammates. She often finds herself admiring their determination, patience and playing position, which are strengths that she would not have previously taken note of. In her free time, when she is not fueling her love for baking or taking strolls along the beach, she is watching the sport to grow her knowledge of it.

Jamie defines her position as “one of the most important and rewarding roles’" that she has had the opportunity to be in and is grateful that she can help players who are struggling to adapt with the shift in Water Polo from the junior to the senior phase. 

The feeling that people are “rooting for me to be there” and the respect that comes with being a captain are some of the many things that help Sebeo feel honored to be in this position. She believes that being a captain has helped her grow into a more responsible person due to all the admin she has to do. She views being a captain as being someone the team feels comfortable enough to speak to when they are afraid of the coach and providing her teammates with tough love if necessary.

While this tough love can sometimes be difficult for people to hear, she knows that it is better for these observations to be voiced with the “right intention” behind them rather than the wrong one. After watching basketball, she knew that she wanted to try it out for herself and did just that in her grade eight year.

Sebeo believes that that want to play the game keeps her going. Her pre-game routine involves relaxation be it listening to music or speaking to her mother to make sure she is in the right headspace to play. She tries to keep the team talk short to limit the risk of people getting into their heads and they end their warmups with a little music to keep people calm. This season was a favorite for her as it just felt like “vibes on vibes.” The gratitude felt for being a part of this journey makes up for the sadness felt now that it is ending.

Being a captain has made all of our sport leaders more observant, helped them foster a love for the sport that was already there, and helped them build stronger relationships with people across the grades. Every one of these captains is grateful for the position that they have been put in and the ones that are playing next season seem excited about the new adventures that it will bring.

*  Whitman, Walt. O Captain! My Captain!. 1865. Leaves of Grass, edited by Sculley Bradley and Harold W. Blodgett, W. W. Norton & Company, 1973, pp. 123–124.