Jv Co-Captain Research Paper

Walking on the pool deck my freshman year I was nervous yet excited. I questioned what I was doing as I had never played water polo, but I decided to give it a try. I thought, ‘how hard could it be.’ My first practice proved it was truly brutal. I was out of shape, did not perform the drills correctly, and I could barely swim with the ball.
I was determined to prove to myself that I could play this game. As I was playing my first season, my sister was playing her last. I wanted to improve my skills and be my own player, not only be known as the varsity captain’s little sister. I was exhausted every day after practice, however I eventually gained a deeper understanding of the game and grew to love it. Over the next three years I moved up the team ladder playing on both JV and varsity as a sophomore, finally moving up to varsity as a junior and senior. …show more content…
I understood the importance of collaboration, cooperation, and trust of my teammates. Every win and loss is realized as a team; we shared both blame and victory. Being the slowest swimmer on the team I was motivated to practice harder; as I improved my team benefited.

I gained leadership skills as JV co-captain, knowing the players would listen to me and looked up to me for guidance. It was my job to encourage the girls to stay focused and on task to learn complicated plays. I learned that in order to be an effective leader, the most important traits are listening, communicating, and modeling the right way. Being a leader didn’t mean yelling or giving orders, it meant leading by example and inspiring others through my own actions.

Water polo not only developed my skills to be a hardworking player, but my ability as a teammate and a leader. The bruises, exhaustion, and constantly smelling like chlorine was all worth it in the