On Aug. 21, before school started, the captains of all Varsity sports met for a two-hour workshop with Athletic Director Sheila Pauley. For the first time, Pauley taught captains leadership skills for the upcoming seasons. The fall sport captains are now having follow-up meetings to build on what they learned.

Pauley said the goal of the workshop was to ensure that captains understood their position, and there was a support system in place to help them.

“Being the captain is an important role, but in the past it has not always been utilized as well as it could have,” Pauley said.

At the workshop the captains first compiled a list of qualities they saw in good leaders and identified which of those strengths they brought to the team. Pauley also presented the captains with hypothetical scenarios and discussed how they could address them during the season.

Varsity Tennis co-captain Bella ’20 is looking forward to further building her leadership skills throughout the season.

“What we learned at the workshop can be applied, but what is most helpful is that we started to become comfortable communicating with the coaches and players,” Bella said.

The fall sport captains have been meeting with Pauley regularly to follow up on their team’s progress and the
impact of the captain’s program. The workshop is something that Pauley said she hopes to further develop, possibly by including JV captains.

“I was very impressed with how open the captains were about their strengths and weaknesses, which will allow me to know how to help and support them throughout the season,” Pauley said.