What Is a Sports Captain's Job?

Regardless of the sport, the player who is named captain of his club receives not only the honor, but also a significant amount of responsibility. The captain has a number of formal and informal duties to carry out, both during the game and before and after it. In many sports, the captain will share his duties with one or more assistant captains.

  1. Ceremonial

    • While ceremonial duties have little impact on the course of the game, the team's captain is often responsible for playing a role in pregame ceremonies. In football, each team's captains meet at midfield for a coin toss with the game's officials. In hockey, the captains of each team will often meet at center ice for a ceremonial puck drop, in which the home captain will "win" the face-off and the two captains will pose for photos with the dignitary who dropped the puck.

    Leadership

    • While some teams' captains are chosen by the coaching staff and others are voted upon by the players themselves, the constant to a sports team's captain is that he's a leader. While he should not interfere with the directive of the coach, it's the captain's job to support the coach publicly and be a leader in the locker room, on the bench and even on the field of play. Some captains lead with a fiery personality while others are quiet and lead by example.

    Officiating

    • In sports such as hockey and football, it is the captain's or assistant captains' responsibility to discuss in-game situations with the officials. If a non-captain has a grievance about a referee's ruling, that player will often have little success pleading his case. It's the job of the captain to talk to the referee to gain additional clarification on the call. The captain can then relay this information to the head coach.

    Encouragement

    • Especially at youth levels of sport, the team's captain is often tasked with encouraging players who are struggling. In the professional ranks, a captain may offer a word of encouragement to a player who has made a mistake, but at this level, most players should be motivated enough to not need a kind word. In high school basketball, for example, a coach may ask his captain to be supportive of a child on the team who isn't as skilled as his teammates.