Junior Captain, Amber Maikowski
Stepping into a leadership role as a junior will be challenging for Amber Maikowski, who takes over a young team alongside two senior captains, Nina Fishman and Laura Orn, while also trying to balance and navigate leadership. This season, Amber is determined to help lead her team through successes, as well as struggles. As a starting shortstop of the Morgan softball team, she has embraced the responsibilities being bestowed upon her to lead her teammates on and off the field.
A Lifetime of Softball
Amber’s softball journey doesn’t just include playing for The Morgan School; she was inspired by her older sister, former softball player, Alyssa Maikowski, and encouraged by her father Henry Maikowski. She began the sport at the age of four and has played since.“Softball has always been a big part of my life,” she said. “I started playing because my sister played, and I wanted to follow in her footsteps.” Maikowski has played on various travel teams, including Sirens, Hurricanes, and the Shoreline Stings.
Earning her Captaincy
Last season, Maikowski, as a sophomore, was asked to step up and became a leader on the field. She explained, “Being the shortstop, you’re kind of the leader of the infield,” which played a significant role in her earning this title. “I took on that role without the official title of captain, and it just kind of fell into my hands this year.”
This season, she plans to run her team as a fun environment that still gets hard work done. “We joke around during practice, but when it’s game time, I make sure we’re focused,” she said. “It’s about setting the right tone, if I have a bad attitude, the team will too.”
Teammates Perspective
Whittney Treubig, a junior on the softball team, praised Maikowskis leadership on and off the field. She said, “Amber is going to lead our team to a lot of success this year. She’s great at giving advice to the younger girls and helping the freshmen adjust.”
Foreseen Challenges and Team Chemistry
The team has lost their catcher and Pitcher, which will make leading a young team is a challenge in itself, the team has a freshman pitcher and is still unsure who will play catcher this season, after Sam Way, the starting catcher, graduated. As well as the teams’ previous pitcher, Brianna Sposa, who moved schools. This will be a challenge due to Audra Regerio’s lack of experience in pitching, while facing off with players much older than her. Maikowski knows that “navigating a new style of pitching and filling the catcher position is going to be tough,” but she is sure someone will “step up to the challenge and give it their all.”
Despite the team’s age, she thinks chemistry on and off the field, shown by “having a lot of fun at practice and workouts” will be one of their team’s biggest strengths this season. She explains that the teammates are “all really close, and we don’t argue. We just have fun.”
Goals for the Season
Maikowski hopes to not only improve her skills, but lead the team to see their full potential. “I just want us to stay as close as we are and compete at our best,” she said.
On a team Maikowski previously played on, she had a coach who Amber did “not agree with her coaching style.” For Maikowski, playing on a team where your coach is lacking knowledge or skill, has poor communication, or shows an inability to motivate players sets a team up for failure; due to her past experiences with the sport, she is destined to manage the team with organization, encouragement, positivity, and motivation.
While Amber is unsure if she foresees a future in the sport, she recognizes how much softball has shaped her as a person and the impact it has had on her life. She said, “It’s taught me how to work as a team and helped me make friendships, even when joining new teams.”
Bouncing Back
The team this year is coming back from a losing season, Maikowski aims to turn this around. While some might see the teams loss as a fail, Maikowski really moves the team emotionally. She leads with a positive attitude and even when the team was down, Maikowski assured the players that while improvement and skills are important, if the game is not fun none of that matters.
Maikowski knows that in order to have a successful season the team must stay positive, so in tough moments she tries to keep the team’s energy high with music and a positive mindset. She explains that the team always has their “walk-up songs going, and I remind everyone that one game doesn’t define the season.”
Motivation and Memorable Moments on the Field
Against East Hampton last season, Amber had a really memorable game where she stepped into the leadership role. She said, “we were up by a lot, but they came back and scored a bunch of runs. We had to stay calm and get those last three outs to win by one. It was intense.” Morgan had a strong start, but East Hampton fought back, leaving the score at 13-14 in the final inning. The tension on the field was really high with just three outs to go. Rather than setting into a panic, Maikowski tried to keep the team focused, reminding them that “one game doesn’t define the season.” Maikowski led the team to a win with energy and positivity when it mattered most.
Maikowski mentions that to her, leadership means to “assure the girls are loving the game,” while she does thinks this is important to note “working and trying hard to improve, especially after a loss is what will make our team successful.” She plans to apply this knowledge to the field this season, to make sure the girls are working hard, playing hard, trying hard, while also having fun.