Our Athletic Director, Mr. Andy Englert, hosted his first Captains’ Corner of the school year last week in our high school cafeteria. 

Englert began offering these sessions a couple of years as a way of helping Avon athletes chosen as captains of their respective sports team build leadership skills.

“So often, captains are selected but never guided on what they are supposed to do in that position,” Englert said. “I felt this was a good check in point for coaches to work with their captains on what is going well at the halfway point of the season and what can be improved.”

In this early morning session, varsity captains and coaches discussed what qualities make a good leader and how best to obtain and make use of those qualities.

“For example,” said Mollie G., a senior captain on our varsity girls volleyball team, “a leader should be willing to put the team before themselves and take criticism.”

After discussing leadership qualities, coaches and athletes created lists of what their respective teams did well and what areas needed improvement. 

“Having the coaches in attendance with the athletes offered a huge benefit,” said Maria G., a senior captain on our varsity girls cross country team. “It really gave the captain athletes and coaches a time to have clear communication and reflect on the season so far.”

To wrap up, athletes and coaches started coming up with language for an oath that Englert hopes will ultimately define what it means to be an Avon athlete.

“We all wrote down five characteristics that we believe show what an Avon student athlete stands for,” Maria G. explained. “In our next meeting, we’re going to reflect on all the words we came up with and use them to create the oath.”

One of the things that Nick W., a senior captain on our varsity boys soccer team, took away from the session is that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to leadership. 

“I learned that captains can lead in many different ways and that it’s important to always stay positive with your team and teammates,” he said.

Evan B., a senior captain on our varsity football team, said he was grateful for the time to speak directly with his coach, without the competing pressures of a practice or game.