Choosing captains at the end of each athletic season is a common tradition at Staples and the majority of the chosen candidates are seniors. But recently, students who are juniors have been awarded the title.

“For me personally, it doesn’t matter what grade the captain is in as long as he or she is someone the rest of the team can look up to and view as role models,” girls’ soccer captain Caroline Rossi ’17 said.
As juniors Rossi and Lydia Shaw ’17 have been elected captains for next season alongside senior Elizabeth Mitas ’16. It was during a one-on-one conference at the end of the season that head coach Barry Beattie told the girls they would be captains.

“All three have accumulated huge high school soccer experience and have already displayed various characteristics of a captain; so, for me, the choices are very good ones,” Beattie said.

Although Rossi and Shaw are going to be junior captains, they have definite plans to improve the team for next season by “following the example that all the captains before me have left,” Shaw said.
The girls’ soccer team has had junior captains before. In fact, last year’s captains included three seniors and one junior. Captain Lauren Garcia ’15 saw no difference in the level of authority between herself and junior captain Kate Lesch ’16.

“Having Kate as a captain was good,” Garcia said. “You could tell that she cared about the team, which is very important when being a captain.”

Mary Bennewitz ’15 was captain of the girls’ golf team last year as a junior and is looking forward to being captain again.
“Since I know how everything works, I’m more confident in my abilities to motivate and organize the team for the coming season,” Bennewitz said.

To Bennewitz, age doesn’t matter when it comes to leadership. “Leadership isn’t based on grade but rather maturity and responsibility,” Bennewitz said.

Beattie echoed her sentiments saying, “The saying goes, ‘if you are good enough, you are old enough.’”