Being A Team Captain

��AHHHH!!!! WHAT?!?! You want me to lead a rag tag bunch of guys, to places all over the nation, deal with travel arrangements, internal fights, sponsorship, and late nights just to go shoot other people? YEP! Welcome to being a captain. Before we start understand that there are two forms of captains. The Field Captain and the Off-Field Captain. This article is about the Off-Field Captain. Sometimes it's the same person as the On-Field captain, sometimes it's not. It's confusing but don't worry, Here are a few tips to keep your head above water:

Picking the captain: When your team picks a captain that person does not need to be the best player on the team. In fact sometimes it's better if they are not. That way the captain can deal with issues as they come up and not kill your game if he's talking to the head ref while your team is playing another game. Pick someone who has the free time to do the job and people will listen to.

Never be afraid to ask for help: You are the leader of a TEAM and team's need to help each other. If your teammates want to get to go to word cup, well they either have to go sweet talk mom and dad or they will have to work with you to lower costs, get support, and maybe fundraise. If your teammates are not willing to help get to their own ends, then trust me. You will go no where.

Surround yourself with good advice: Be that a player you can look up to to ask questions, a good friend, or even your parents. Being a leader is never easy and it helps to have someone you can turn to to get the second opinion to make sure your making

So what is your role? What exactly does the captain do?

Set up events: Your duty is to find events that your team wants to compete in. Be they small local events, or large national events. Keep up to date on just what is going on and when events are. It helps to sit down before each season with your team and put all the hopeful events on the table, then narrow it down to the ones you really can do. It doesn't hurt to pick one that is rather iffy. It gives you a goal to try to obtain.

Organize the roster/s: It is the sad duty of the captain to cut players who simply are not pulling their weight or who hurting the team. This is seldom a decision left solely on the captains shoulders as it should be a team decision.

Get support: The captain needs to try to be in touch with as many sponsors and supporters as possible. Sometimes this is just parents, sometimes it' companies. Whatever you use to try and cover your costs or just get you to the event needs to be tracked and taken care of by the captain. Transportation to and from events can also fall under this role.

Media Rep: If you like to be in the spotlight then this is the part you'll love. When it comes time to have the reporters in your face only one voice can speak for the team. That voice should be the captain, who knows the most about the team, and knows what the plans are for the future. Also write up about your team from time to time and send them to magazines like APG. Every few months these magazines will be short articles and will pull yours up and add you in. Looks really good for sponsors.

Handle disputes: Paintball is an aggressive, adrenaline driven sport. That means that no matter how much of a family you are you WILL have fights. Just learn to roll with the punches. The best advice I can give, learn to pick your battles. A captain can not afford to be in the middle of ever little issue that occurs, and when he is he needs to b the one with the cool head. Remember your team is watching you. Teams that fall apart usually do so when the leader stops thinking calmly and just jumps into the fight. Don't worry too much, people will iron out their differences, if only to make sure they get a seat on that plane going down to World Cup.

Being a leader is never easy. Being a captain can be very overwhelming. But trust me, there is no feeling in the world like watching all your hard work unfold into a golden trophy that your teammates insist sits on your lap on the way home....