Written by Abbigale Pitarra and Gabby Vigorito|

On Sunday, November 6, the Morgan Field Hockey team had their annual banquet at the Clinton Country Club. All of the players were eager to find out the captains for the 2017 season. Instead of announcing the captains, the coach said there was a new procedure to appoint captains for all sports.

The Morgan Volleyball coach Paige Trusty explained how they will now choose sports captains for the 2017 season. She said that coaches will nominate 2-3 athletes, and they will be interviewed in front of a panel consisting of a mixture of adults. They will be doing this to validate that this person is a good student as well as a good leader. The panel wants to make sure everyone agrees on the decision and that the students are ready. This will avoid favoritism, and it will eliminate drama with the coaches. The panel will look at everything from grades and attendance to community service.

Field Hockey captain senior Aubry Allen described her feelings on this new rule. Aubry said that the coaches know their own players better. The athletic director [Kevin Rayel] knows nothing about how students play or the type of leadership qualities they have. Students could lie to the panel to make themselves sound like a good leader, or others could go in and not want to brag about themselves and their skills. Also, Aubry agrees that it is special and more meaningful to be chosen as a captain by your coach. She concluded with, “the panel has no right to choose.”

Field Hockey senior captain Sofia Sicignano said,  “This new rule is really a downer.” She said it is unfair that the upcoming seniors have to wait. She thinks it is the coaches decision, and they know the players better than any athletic director.

Coaches spend hundreds of hours with their athletes throughout their 4 years at Morgan. Some students said that they were especially disappointed with this because captains spend the winters fundraising for the next fall season. Now that there are no captains yet, it will set them back for their next season.

However, Athletic Director Kevin Rayel, explained that the coaches still have final say after the athletes meet with the panel.

Kevin Rayel explained that this is put into place to be inline with the Shoreline Conference and other schools. 2 years ago the CIAC recommended changes in the selection of sports captains.  They looked at how other schools choose their sports captains and were trying to figure out what fits best here at Morgan. They are still deciding when they will have these interview panels for the 2017 fall sports.

Rayel said “it’s a process,” and he would like to see this happen 3 times a year, due to the seasons. He estimated and said that “fall sports will probably get a panel together during exams, and it will happen before the next sports season.”

Overall at the end of each season, each coach will choose “captain nominations,” the students chosen with go to the panel will be in front of Mr. Rayel and Mrs. Hagness or Mr. Webb. The panel will ask questions such as why the students want to be captain and what they will bring to the table as captain. The coach can send as many nominations as they want, and they can be from any grade. Mr. Rayel is allowing 2 captains per team.

The panel will unify responsibilities for captains, and even though it is a change people will like it, and it will work out when it’s in place. Rayel said “some are hesitant to change,” but this will be a fair way to choose captains.

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