Follow the Leader

photo by: Linda Holbrook

“You’ll be here next year. I promise.”

At the swimming state championship meet four years ago, coming from my mentor, best friend and then-senior captain, Benn Schmatz, these words were painful, but also created a deep sense of hope for the future. As I sat by the side of the pool freshman year watching the team hoist the state championship trophy, I sobbed from not being a part of that title. But while the rest of the team celebrated, Schmatz came to me after the meet — not to rub in my face that he won, but to console me on the fact I wasn’t part of it.

Leadership, especially in sports, is not black and white, or something done by the book in every instance. Each team dynamic is different, but what Benn did so well was tailor his approach to every swimmer on the team, while keeping the same attitude and level-headedness to everyone.

That day in 2015 changed my drive towards swimming at East completely. Not did I only want to be able to join my teammates in hoisting up a state trophy in the pool, I also wanted to become an influence for my younger teammates – to become the Benn Schmatz of my team. I wouldn’t be the swimmer, leader and person I am today without Benn and the team that I always had surrounding me.

The best captains are those that don’t try to be. I wanted to be a friend to those in grades below me first, and an experienced varsity swimmer second. Simply introducing myself to freshman at the car wash fundraiser each year, learning names and giving encouragement for anyone wanting to try to swim with varsity, went a long way. I am extremely grateful to have been named captain at the end of the year, but that was never my goal at the start of my senior season.

Benn’s ability to connect with every member of the team, whether it be freshman sensation Aidan Holbrook (who turned out to be the second-best East swimmer ever) or not-so-sensational freshman me, drew the team closer as more of a family. Benn’s willingness to include and care for every swimmer, even if they might not reap benefits that directly affected himself, made him a leader that everyone could appreciate.

I, along with other senior swimmers Brian Christian, Tyler Cunningham, Carter Kirkland, Evan Root and Holbrook, tried to continue this welcoming presence we felt our freshman year in our final year on the team. This year was the biggest varsity team we’ve had in my four years, but we also had the smallest state team.

What the seniors did this year, which was completely different from earlier years, was simply provide encouragement to those who thought they might want to be on varsity – to just try it for a week. In this way, we were able to hook a lot of underclassmen on the attitude and camaraderie of the swim team. Team dinners became just that; freshman were told to sit with the rest of the team rather than isolating themselves out of intimidation. This past season, more than any before it, felt like a family.

This sense of family wasn’t because of domineering pressure from the seniors on down through the chain, it was because we wanted – I wanted – people to experience what has been the best part of my high school life. My experience with Benn and the swim team has formed friendships and a bond that has been created regardless of class.

Every team dynamic is and rightly should be different. Just as Benn altered the way in which he approached each team member for me, seniors in every sport can change the way in which they talk to their teammates to fit their respective sport. Leadership isn’t a born quality. It’s fostered through experience and as weird as it may sound, not trying. Sure, I was trying to leave an impact on the team, but from Benn I knew that the best way to do that is let my actions and the fact I was a senior on the team do that for me.

Seniors on all teams have a responsibility to make the team better than when they left it. The underclassmen are the future of all programs, and no matter the circumstance, will look to the seniors for guidance. The tone and attitude that the seniors set will continue past the end of that season. Good leadership isn’t done through pressure and anger, it’s done gradually with true care for the team as a whole, not just fellow upperclassmen and team stars.

Even though mine was an isolated experience, having only played one sport in high school, it was a formative one, and easily the most important experience of my life. The lessons I learned from my experience as a member of such a good team will stick with me throughout college and my professional life. I was taught not by a coach or teacher or parent, but by an 18-year-old kid who I spent three hours a day with for only 100 days.

Influential leaders don’t have to be powerful adults. Fellow student athletes, even if they’re only one, two or three years older, can make a major impact on their teammates. I encourage anyone who is in a position that is remotely similar to what I was my senior year, to embrace it. Leadership isn’t for the one who is actually leading, it is rather to make the experience of those around you better. They are the ones who will be there after you’re gone; the ones carrying on how you taught them to lead.