Over the past year, a few student-athlete leaders from all of the sports at Jesuit have come together monthly to convene in a leadership training and character development club, formally known as the Captain’s Club, led by Athletic Director, Kyle Herrema. The goal of this club is to develop effective leadership in all Jesuit sports, where student-athlete leaders learn how to assist in setting team standards, hold teammates accountable, work on character development, and ensure positive success and reputation for their team.
The meetings have included several topics on character and leadership, two such being lessons on mental toughness and how to set the standard for your team.
Mental Toughness
Mental toughness involves being able to stay strong and active mentally, even after experiencing a setback or disappointment in performance. A few key takeaways from this meeting were to first, not make excuses for your performance, second, move on from your mistakes and setbacks and third, not to disrupt the team’s focus by influencing others with petty details. For example, if you had a match and felt the ball was flat, even though the official approved of it, then don’t mention your opinion to your teammates as it spreads and affects mental focus, unnecessarily.
“The thing separating the top athletes from the others is not their physical strength, but their mental toughness and ability to move on after mistakes.” -Mark Scucchi ‘27
Setting the Standard for Your Team
At this meeting, focused on setting the correct standard for your team, a very interesting question was asked: what role do you serve on your team?
Are you a Survivor? – This is somebody who shows up only when they have to and slacks-off when coach isn’t looking. They don’t provide any benefit for the team besides adding to the quantity of players on the team, when they are present, that is.
Are you a Contender? – This is somebody who is good at what they do, but does it selfishly. They don’t care to help the team and only work on making themself better. Whenever the team does good, they give all the credit to themselves, and when they don’t do good individually, they pout (which is very noticeable to their teammates).
Are you a Competitor? – They care to benefit the team, they work their hardest in practice while never slacking, they try their best in practice and at competitions, and they have a great attitude about their sport.
Are you a Commander? – They care to lead the team with a loud voice and work on benefitting everybody. Like the Competitor, they try their best in practice and at competitions, they have a great attitude about their sport, and never slack. This is overall the best type of teammate that we should all strive to be like.
High Octane Leaders – Be a Bugatti
“A bugatti without an engine is no more effective than a team with no leadership.” -athletic director kyle herrema
This meeting was kicked off with a reference to cars, more specifically a Bugatti. Mr. Herrema used the metaphor of a Bugatti above as a reference to team leadership, also titling a great leader as a “High Octane” leader (the higher the octane in a car, the more durable it is against combustion and pressure within the car, thus more intense and dynamic). With the Captain’s Club, he described several ways where one could be a “high octane” leader within their sports team:
- Instilling confidence in the team and driving out fear.
- Not creating doubt using jokes that may criticize another’s play-style.
- “Bringing the Juice” – Having the right attitude for practice, even when that practice may seem dreadful due to factors such as the practice being expected to be very intense, the environment being cold, it being early in the morning, etc. To help redirect one’s attitude, they should set a goal for that specific practice and help the rest of the team do so to encourage hard work, motivation, and teamwork throughout that practice.
- Creating opportunities to know and connect with the entire team and not leaving anybody out. For example, a team leader such as a senior captain (or in general anybody on the team) should get to know freshmen or other team members who are new to the team.
- Reading your teammates and knowing when to step in and aid them in their struggles to help them build back their confidence.
“Captain’s Club has been very inspiring. We have met with professional athletes and coaches who have implored in us the importance of nutrition, sleep, and mental toughness.” -Sebastian Espinoza ‘27
Conclusion
Have you ever witnessed a teammate arriving late to practice? Did your captain instill immediate corrective action? Has the underdog on your team outscored you or taken your position? What was your reaction? Did you congratulate him or did you pout? Have you ever witnessed teammates fail to show up for the team? These are just a few scenarios where skilled student-athletes on a team would overturn negative attitudes to make a positive impact. The Captain’s club is where student-athlete leaders align with the profile of a graduate, being Open to Growth for the benefit of the Jesuit community.
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