Captain's Huddle
Leadership
Legend
- player
- coach / parent
- movement path
How it works
Give every young player a turn leading a team huddle to build comfort with speaking up and encouraging teammates.
What you need
- open gym space
Your focus
Leadership begins with the willingness to use your voice in front of peers. At ages 6-9, rotating huddle leadership normalizes speaking out loud in a team setting and removes the stigma of volunteering. Children learn that anyone can lead and that encouragement is a skill worth practicing.
At the start of every practice, one player is named 'team captain' for the day (rotate alphabetically so everyone gets a turn).
After the warm-up, the captain leads the team huddle by saying one thing the team will do well today.
Captain also leads the pre-drill cheer (team chooses their own cheer and captain says the lead-in line).
At cool-down, captain gives one teammate a genuine compliment about something they did well in practice.
Helpful cues
- Loud enough for your whole team to hear you
- Look your teammates in the eyes when you talk
- A captain lifts people up, find something good to say
Adjust the challenge
Make it easier
Strip it back
Coach whispers a suggested encouragement phrase to the captain if they are nervous.
UpLVL it
Add the next challenge
Captain must remember two teammates' names to praise and share why specifically at the end of practice.No account needed
Build a practice plan
Add drills, keep the plan in this browser, then share a link with your staff or parents.This library helps you find the right drill. Inside UpLVL the right drill finds the player.
This library helps you find the right drill. Inside UpLVL the right drill finds the player.After every practice, UpLVL automatically surfaces the drills each player needs to work on most. See it for yourself.