If you watched the Super Bowl this past February, you might have noticed that each team sent six captains to the center of the field for the coin toss. Six captains might seem like a lot for a high school sports team, but that and other unique captaincy setups have worked for several teams at the high school.

The girls varsity basketball team this year has six seniors: Olivia DelVecchio, Marie Fleming, Jamie Francona, Amina Johari, Gigi Owens and Elena Ridker. Head coach Alyson Toney believed that all of them deserved to be captains.

“In the past, I’ve let the team vote for them. This year, we had six seniors who were worthy of being captains,” said Toney. “I felt like they all deserved the honor, and I didn’t feel like there would be any problems in having them share that honor.”

All six girls lead the team during practices. However, they rotate serving as game captains in order to share responsibilities, according to Toney. The one exception to this system is Ridker, who serves as a permanent in-game captain because of the leadership experience she gained from serving as a co-captain of the team last school year.

“It’s pretty cool because all six of us grew up together playing travel basketball. We all are good friends, and it’s nice to know that we can work together well,” said Ridker. “There’s definitely not a lack of leadership.”

However, Ridker believes it isn’t necessarily a good idea to have all of the seniors of a given sports team serving as captains.

“My soccer team during junior year had four captains. When there are more than a few captains, the responsibilities tend to get spread out too much,” said Ridker. “But it’s working for us in basketball.”

The wrestling team also has a special captains situation. Coach Michael Carver, like Toney, has in the past let his wrestlers vote for captains. However, according to members of the team, Carver named two juniors over three seniors to be captains because of the leadership and dedication the juniors have shown over the years.

The two captains, juniors Ramesses Akamefula and Aden Brown, recognize the responsibilities they have, according to Akamefula.

“You carry a lot on your shoulders. A lot is expected from you,” said Akamefula. “When people don’t know what to do, they look to you. You need to know what to do and how to do it in times of need. You can never stand around.”

However, juniors leading seniors has unintended consequences. Since there are three seniors on the team who were not named captains, there are sometimes awkward moments when the seniors have to be told what to do by the juniors. Akamefula recognized that this tension exists and offered an explanation.

“There is that dynamic on the wrestling team, but they respect me, they respect that I love the sport. It usually ends up fine,” said Akamefula. “Sometimes there’s ‘I’m a senior, you’re still a junior,’ but when it’s really getting serious, they’ll throw that out the window and everything works out fine.”

While the girls varsity basketball team is at one end of the spectrum with six captains, the varsity baseball team has usually in years past been at the other end, with only one captain. Head coach Joe Campagna lets his players vote for captains, but he is clear with what his expectations are for the voting.

“I think it’s a worthwhile thing, but it’s not given to anybody. I want them to earn it and have it mean something to them and to the team,” said Campagna. “I don’t want it to be a popularity contest; I want to avoid that.”

Senior Eric Dumas, a member of the varsity baseball team, has a view different from that of Campagna’s.

“Personally, I like two because you’re not just looking towards this one guy,” said Dumas. “That can rub people the wrong way sometimes if you have one guy who’s really adamant, who’s out there yelling. But then you should have another guy who’s more laid back.”

Senior Campbell Narron, along with Dumas, is part of a large group of seniors who will be on the varsity baseball team this spring. All of the seniors are eligible to be voted captain. However, Narron believes that him, or any particular senior, not having that title won’t affect how the team operates.

“Being a captain is an honor, but I also know that being nominated captain isn’t the only way you can be captain,” said Narron. “I’d much rather not be a captain and be a vocal leader of the team than be a captain that people don’t listen to.”

Colby Bermel can be contacted at [email protected].