Coaches are Evil Dictators

Have you ever been on a sports team? If you have, or maybe even if you haven’t, have you ever noticed the hierarchy of the team? Or maybe even the social structure of the team? I’ve noticed the same traits in every sports team that I have been on, and sometimes even the academic teams.
The coach is an evil dictator, no matter what you have to do exactly what the coach says. He/She tells you to run, so you do. They tell you to try harder even though you are already trying as hard as you can and are really tired. They yell at you and rip you down thinking that in the long run it will make you a better player. They are allowed to get mad and scream and yell during games but the players must hold their composure and deal with it. They make every single decision that even remotely relates to the team. The coaches hold all the power on any sports team, but there are others as well…
Captains or in some cases the Seniors, the evil dictators army, these players are little coaches in the making depending on how much they like the people on their team. Captains do the coaches dirty work, like workouts, evil! They lead the team and sometimes help make decisions for the team. They can be considered the spokesmen for the entire team no matter how many people they represent. If they like their team they are generally lenient about punishments or workouts, they always have the best in mind for the team. If they dislike their team, they will take out the harshest punishments even though they too are affected. But it doesn’t even end there…
There are those people who suck up to the coaches or the captains or are their friends. The evil dictator’s political party. These people can get away with almost anything. They take advantage of the people around them and use them for personal gain, mainly for playing time. These people like to act confident and don’t try nearly as hard the rest of the team. They believe that everything should revolve around them. No one really likes these players. They generally butt heads with…
The core of the team, basically, the people under the evil dictator. These people are sometimes oblivious to the structure around them. They are either content with their surroundings or simply don’t care because they are playing their sport. They do everything the coaches or the captains tell them, and sometimes try to ignore the suck ups. Within the core of the team there are generally several clicks. The people who think they are good, the people who know they are good, the people who just want to play no matter how good or bad they are, and the quiet people watchers. Each click deals with the team in a different manner.
The people who think they are good are generally the suck ups. They get angry when things don’t go their way or they have to do something besides play. They tend to want responsibility but rarely pull through on their commitments. They give their “chores” away to the “lower” players mainly the underclassmen. They also complain a lot. A team can do without a suck up, and teams that have no suck ups tend to do better as a whole.
The people who know they are good tend to stick together in a snobbish click and regularly consist of the captains, seniors, and the good players. These people normally work very hard to improve their skills, they almost always listen to the coaches and their opinion on decisions actually matter. When a new player comes they generally test the newbie’s skills through personal challenge. If the newbie passes then they are accepted into the team, if not they are rejected. These snob players are extremely important to the success of the team. They are the ones that take loses very serious and normally personal.
People who just want to play are simple; they just want to play and are happy with whatever position they get. They tend to try hard and take criticism well. They listen to the coaches and the captains without thought knowing that their word is law. This click is normally fairly large and is made up of at least half the team.
Then there is the quiet people watchers, this click tends to be relatively small consisting of no more than four members depending on the size of the team. These people enjoy what they are doing, and probably love playing their sport. They listen to the coach but don’t take criticism very well. They tend to take everything personally and get down on themselves quickly. Players who people watch tend to be socially distant from the team but are very aware of everything that happens socially and physically on the team. They hardly say anything outside of their own click unless they are being spoken to, and generally hang out behind the rest of the team. However, when the click is left alone they tend to talk about the players on the team, or have nonrelated conversations.
So now that you have read the hierarchy of sports teams, take the chance to people watch yourself. Sometimes is will be easy to see the structure of the team and sometimes it will take more careful observation as some people will drift between different clicks.

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