Here at Morgan, being a sports captain is prestigous. Most athletes serious about their sports hope to become a captain their senior year. Most athletes never think about becoming a captain their junior year, but despite this, more and more juniors are becoming captains.

In past years, having junior captains weren’t unheard of. For instance, on the Boy’s Soccer team, there have been multiple instances of junior captains in multiple years. Alums Tyler Mucha and Sebastian Kadlof were both junior captains in their respective years. Cheerleader Alums Kaydence Koloskie-Phelps and Mikayla Brotz were also named captains as juniors. Besides those, junior captains weren’t as common for other sports.

This year, so far, there have already been five named junior captains, one of them being a two-sport captain. During the Fall, juniors Michael Fusco and Edyn Ortiz were two of the three boys soccer captains, and for winter, juniors Ariana Farr and Dominic Larabee are the wrestling captains, junior Destiny Rehberg is the cheerleading captain, and Michael is also an indoor track and field captain.

There are different reasons for juniors being named captain, some more complicated than others. Nonetheless, being named a captain is a big honor, especially before your senior year. Athletic Director Meagan Sears said, “Since juniors may not have held a leadership role in the past, in collaboration with their coaches, we help to work on and develop those responsibilities to help them succeed as captain.”

Ariana and Dominic both were excited when being named captain, but also had a feeling it was going to happen.

Dominic explained how he had a feeling, “mainly because when I was a sophomore, there were no juniors above me, and during the season, I was constantly being told to step up.” For anyone wanting to be a captain, no matter if you’re an upcoming junior or senior, stepping up and showing leadership is a big factor coaches look at for deciding future captains. For Michael, he had some mixed emotions. While he mentioned how being a junior captain is very exciting, he was also a little afraid, “because while being a junior captain is cool, I felt like I had more responsibility.”

Just because they are junior captains, does not mean they are held to a lower standard. Mrs. Sears explained how “Anyone who is named a captain is viewed equally, no matter what grade. Their responsibilities and expectations are the same.” Captains are expected to show their dedication to their team, leadership to all their teammates, and demonstrate hard work on the field. They are also there for players before bringing problems on the team to the

coaches. Since these 5 athletes are only juniors, they may worry about not getting the respect of the seniors. Edyn mentioned how “I was really proud of myself and Fusco because he was also a junior. I was worried at first about having the respect of teammates, especially seniors, but as soon as the season started the nervousness went away.”

Every team has different ways on deciding the captains for the next season. For the boys soccer team, a form was sent by their coaches to all the players, and they would pick anywhere between one and three people they believe should be captain. Then the coaches take all of those into consideration, but they have the final say. While on other teams, like the girls soccer team, players who want to become captain have to fill out a form for themselves and write about why they believe they should be captain. Overall, most values coaches look for in captains’ is hard work, respect from and for the team, and leadership.

Even though these 5 juniors were named captain this year that doesn’t secure the title for their senior year. Dominic said, “if something changes and someone works harder and displays better leadership” a new player could be named captain for the following year.

Edyn and Michael have officially been renamed captains for the 2024 soccer season as well, alongside two upcoming juniors, Liam Totten and Jonny Gutierrez.

These athletes displayed their hard work to get them to where they are now and are ready to lead their teams to victory.