No organization can run properly without the presence of a head, I remember there was a time we were heading for a friendly match in the neighboring town, along the way we realized that our captain was not with us in the bus, one of us asked, “where is the captain?” we looked around, he was nowhere to be seen, then all of a sudden everyone starts to panic. It wasn’t that he was the best player among us, there were many of us in the team who were much better players than he was, it’s just that his presence there gave the team morale though he was a less skilled player, now we are headed for the long awaited game like a headless chicken, weakened and discouraged.
We gained our morale back later on when we stumbled upon him at the stadium, he was delayed by a relative who was leaving some house keys with lots of instructions so this led him to miss the bus, so he had to take a fast car, faster than our bus to reach the town ahead of us, he was there waiting before we could perform our team spirit exercises before beginning the game.
Psyche and team spirit is everything, if they lose morale, they lose everything, its psyche which determines how much effort are they willing to put in to win the price, how much longer will they continue to hold on, how much pain and suffering can they take in without quitting, how far will they go, how brave and determined they are, …. Etc.?
Psyche is everything, if its lost, then everything else vaporizes like mist with all the hopes and dreams of the match, you loose everything.
No matter how strong and intimidating the opponent may appear to be, they have got to believe that they are the ones who are going to be victors and not losers, their potential is all in the mind, belief is everything, the opponents with their fans will try as much as possible to discourage them, to frighten & shame them into quitting for them to get the upper hand, it’s the captains duty to ensure the team’s morale remains at its peak.
When the captain is away, the players are in trouble, everyone is discouraged and when he finally arrives even the weakest team member plays as if they have been struck by an electric shock. Even though he does not really play or take part in the game itself, but the feeling that his presence sends across is electrifying. He does not come to solve a problem on his own but to encourage the team to fight harder, yes harder, then much harder. The captain must never show signs of fear even in times of dire need, for fear from the top quickly spreads down into the players and cripples the entire team.
When Arthur is asked by the king how they have become brilliant and excelled in nearly everything they do, they gave back a very simple answer. “How did you become so mighty, so famous and so loved by the people more than my best palace guards?” the king asked them, and the knights reply, “We are many but we work as one,” answered Arthur’s knights, “his victory is our victory, his success is our success and his glory becomes our glory. Cheers to the captain.”
BOOMING VOICE.
I happened to meet the popular local radio presenter Harry Frome, when I met him face to face, it was a mixed feeling of shock and amusement, I wanted to burst out laughing, but I managed to control myself, leaned forward, stretched out my lengthy hands and said this to him. “Hello Mr Frome,” “fine thank you, how about you?” he replied back, Mr Frome is only about three-four feet tall and had a baby face with a goatee beard hanging from his chin.
All my precious years of growing up listening to his presentations, Mr Frome had such a deep firm voice that would roar like a bear through the speaker, I used to think someday the speakers would burst open, it made me believe Mr Frome was some kind of a huge muscular athlete the size of a mighty wrestler because the way his deep voice rumbles would be like a giant athlete, who’s just completed a bullet dash, when he’s quickly surrounded by the media personnel in a filming frenzy and he is gasping for air as he tries to speak/ make comments through the microphone at the same time, so here he is, Mr Frome standing right beside me several decades later, I never thought he was a dw***. It’s nice to meet you Mr Frome.” I shook his hand gently.
I once saw a sport captain who was very good at encouraging his team mates, he was of a relatively very small man compared to the others who were much bigger than him in size, I really looked down upon him when I first saw him till I got to hear him shout commands to his teammates, this guy I would say was small as a squirrel but could roar loud as a bear, his unending shouts and songs of greatness gave his team mates the morale to fight harder till when they were able to beat an opposing team which looked more experienced and much stronger than them, his mere voice gave them the ultimate victory,
Even the smallest of runners can become the best of commandos.
As the head you must acknowledge everyone’s work, even those that contributed the least effort must be appreciated in order to sustain their morale.
People love to be appreciated for whatever little contribution they have made, if they feel neglected without a sense of appreciation, they would rather leave and go somewhere else where they feel at home.
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