Who Owns the Captain?
Timely situation here, given that we are all living in the wake of the Cornell gang r*** incident, AND for me personally, I was literally planning a presentation with a colleague yesterday that deals with “what does ACCOUNTABILITY actually look like?”
I won’t claim to have all the details about this situation in California, just what you can read HERE. But here's what we know. A football captain at Piner High School in Santa Rosa posted “Free the Cornell 7” on his IG. More than 200 students subsequently walked OUT of class in protest over what they saw as a lack of accountability. The football team then forfeited its next game, although the reported reason was a shortage of healthy players, not a disciplinary decision.
First, I give a TON of credit to the students who walked. That is taking matters into your own hands, standing up with action for what you believe in and forcing the powers that be to see and feel your rage at what appeared to be apathy to the post. And while I don't know what conversations happened inside that football program, I sure hope there were some difficult ones.
Now, this is as cut-and-dried a TeamsOfMen activatable conversation as we’ve had in awhile. Put up the idea that “one of us posts ‘Free the Cornell 7’”…and then simply ask “What should happen?” and wait for the responses.
I would imagine you are going to get a ton of guys saying “well, HE should pay a price, but NOT us” and to that I tell you, “That is EXACTLY where your convo needs to take place.”
Because the “captain” was either chosen via VOTE…or via promotion. Either way that is a decision made by the players or staff that “he represents US.”
Now, that doesn't mean every player on that team agrees with what he posted. It doesn't mean they all deserve the same consequence. But it DOES mean they have to confront what it means when someone chosen to represent them acts in a way that contradicts what they claim their team stands for.
If your captain represents US, what responsibility do WE have when he does something like this? Is removing him as captain enough? Is sitting him for a game enough? Is making the entire team forfeit a game accountability? Or is it simply punishment? And who gets to decide what is ENOUGH?
I would hope that somewhere inside that program, coaches and players are having a discussion around “What he posted CANNOT represent us. What are WE going to do to demonstrate that?”
Because accountability cannot simply be something that happens TO a person. There has to be some responsibility taken by the people and institutions that gave him the platform in the first place. And if we are serious about building teams where “we are our brother's keeper” actually means something, we better be willing to wrestle with what that responsibility looks like when our brother is the one causing harm.
COACH PROMPTS
When a player you've entrusted with leadership causes harm, what responsibility do you have for how your program responds?
What's the difference between holding an entire team accountable and simply punishing an entire team?
If your players disagreed with your response to a teammate's harmful behavior, would they feel empowered to challenge you?
PLAYER PROMPTS
If one of your teammates posted “Free the Cornell 7,” what do you think should happen to him? What responsibility, if any, would the rest of you have?
If you voted someone into a leadership position and they did something that violated your team's values, would you feel responsible for doing anything about it?
What's the difference between saying “That doesn't represent us” and actually doing something to prove it?
