For the Leesville Pride, spring sports games are just around the corner. This signifies a time of renewal through new faces and coaches for all teams as they head into the final season of the CAP-8 conference for the school. Ergo, it also provides the chance for new team leaders to step up and guide their squad to success.
“We’ve had plenty of success over the past few years,” said Jack Walton, senior captain for the Men’s Varsity Lacrosse team. “It’s our job as [a team] to keep pushing, and it’s my job to guide the younger guys into a path of success down the road,” he said.
Captains like Walton need to provide more than simple moral support to guide their squad to victory. They have to be excellent athletes whose talents speak for themselves, setting a benchmark for others to pursue. They need to give it their all both in and out of every practice and game. These talented team builders don’t know what it means to settle for adequacy.
“This is going to be my twelfth season doing track/cross country, and my fourth season being a captain,” said Nick Barefoot, senior captain of the Men’s Track and Field Team. “The track team is pretty big [between 70 to 80 people], and it’s important to keep the team dynamic flowing through leading by example, both on and off the field,” said Barefoot.
The spring girl’s teams are equally prepared for what’s to come over the next several months. Rachel Golden, captain of the Girls Varsity Soccer squad, is ready. “I think being a leader is mostly about setting certain expectations of myself in order to help my teammates succeed. It’s especially true for soccer, where we all have to work together as a unit to ‘chase those rings’,” said Golden.
The tactics utilized by captains to light the path for their squad may vary from athlete to athlete, but one thing is for certain: effective captains are the catalyst for effective teams. Nobody knows this better than the Pride, whose highly successful sporting programs have amassed numerous state and regional championships since the school’s inception. The 2017 Spring teams simply seek to continue this trend.
With tryouts completed and practices just getting under way, keep an eye out for the first games and meets of the season over the coming weeks for Lacrosse, Track/Field, Baseball, Softball, and Women’s Soccer.
