The Soccer Team Captain is a very important person for a soccer team. The captain haves different tasks so he/she can help the team. This tasks are on and off the field. When your players are at a young age, you might consider changing the team captain every game. If you do so every player get the experience of being the team captain. You’ll help the leadership development of all your players. When your team is a little older you can chose one or two team captains. I prefer two team captains, because if one of them isn’t able to attend or gets injured, the other captain is still able to lead the team.
I mostly work with the same tasks for my captains. Some of the tasks will not apply at a certain age. I have 15 possible tasks for my team captains. I suggest you read the list and think which tasks could be helpful for you and your team
General Soccer Team Captain tasks:
1. The persons the coaches will talk to regarding team matters.
For everything the coaches want the team to do, they can ask the team captains. Like attending to special occasions or doing a money raise actions. Maybe schedule an extra practice? This kind of things I always talk about with my team captains.
2. The Team Captains will set the example by keeping up with the team agreements.
The team captain will show the other players who to act. By keeping up with all the team agreements he/she gives the right example. Because the team captains are giving the right example they can also:
3. Correct other players if the don’t keep up with the team agreements.
The best case scenario is a team the is correcting itself. If you’re players are able to correct each other when a player doesn’t keep up with the team agreements, the team has a very stable base. It means the players are responsible for this process and the coach can focus on other things, like team tactics.
4. Motivate teammates on practice and in games.
When a player or some players aren’t giving everything they have on practice or during a game, the team captains try to motivate them. This can be verbal and by choice with a positive tone. Try to help the teammate(s) by cheering them up.
5. Giving the coach a head’s up on things the players think and feel.
You can think about things like players bulling each other, players who think about quitting the team, busy school periods, other sports activities coming up, players who have problems at home.
6. The Soccer Team Captains are responsible for communication with the team.
In some cases the coach won’t be able to reach every player in the team. The coach can be in a place without internet connection or some problem like that. When the coach calls a team captain he/she has to send an e-mail or start a calling tree.
Soccer Team Captain Tasks before a practice:
7. The make sure all the players are together at the same place waiting to start the practice.
If player attend and they are walking around, watching other practices and stuff the team might not be complete when the coach wants to start the practice. The Soccer Team Captains keep the team together so every is there to start the practice.
8. Fill in the attendance list.
As a coach I want the players to be responsible for their own development and the development of the team. To develop as a team it is crucial all the player attend at practice sessions. By asking my team captains to fill in the attendance list I make them responsible and they are aware if there are player who don’t attend as much as the other player do.
9. Lead the warm-up.
When there is space to do the warm-up, the team captains are responsible to start and lead the warm-up. It’s very important to do a good warm-up, because it prevents injuries.
Additional Soccer Team Captain tasks before the game ( so the tasks before the practice are also tasks before the game ):
10. Be the host for the ref and opponent
I think it’s really important to be considered a good and nice team. I always want my Soccer Team Captains to go to the opponent and ref and introduce themselves in behalf of the team.
11. Pep talk
Before the game starts I want my team to come together on the field and the Team Captains give a pep talk. I could do this, but I want to team to be responsible for the result of the game. The pep talk is something I use to make it their responsibility.
Soccer Team Captain Task after a game:
12. Thanks the refs.
After the game every player has to thank the refs for their effort. I want my Soccer Team Captain to do this with more than just a hand. Thank them verbally and comment them on their performance.
After the practice or the game or practice:
13. Get all the gear we used cleaned up.
When the practice or game is finished, we have to clean up. We have to collect all the balls, pick up the cones and bring all goals back to their original position. The Soccer Team Captains are in charge of this clean up.
14. Make sure every body takes all their belongings with them.
When we leave the field or dressing room, we want to take everything that’s ours with us. So the last person to leave has to check the field or dressing room. The Team Captains have to remind the team to check it.
15. Make sure we cleaned up all our mess.
After using a field and/or dressing room, we want to clean up all our mess. Empty bottles, tape and other items left have to be cleaned. Everybody has to clean their own mess, and the last person to leave has to check everything is cleaned.
This are 15 tasks I give my Soccer Team Captains. At some ages I don’t give them all the tasks, I’ll do some of them.
What kind of tasks do you give your Soccer Team Captains? Please comment and let me know. Maybe I can add some tasks to my list.
