It may be the Work to Play off-season, but for the Take the Lead Team Captains there is no off-season. Every month of the school year (9 in total), including these two off-months in between the Fall and Spring Work to Play seasons, Captains meet with UI coaches to focus on leadership topics such as: self-esteem, motivation, time management, and much more! Huddles typically take place in classrooms or gym spaces.
At Huddles, UI coaches check-in with captains on grades and behavior, providing extra support to students. After checking in, we move onto our topic of the month, discussing how they are relevant in their own lives and how they factor into their roles as Team Captains, for example, how motivation relates to self-motivation and how it relates to motivating their younger teammates.
These discussions allow for a lot of good reflection and awesome responses. One of our Captains at Morton came up with a great definition about self-esteem, as ‘being able to approach new situations with confidence in your abilities.’ We couldn’t have said it better!
Also, we make sure they’re fun! Each huddle includes a physical activity that is designed to relate to the month’s theme. For motivation, we played ‘what goes up’, a game where Captains attempt to keep as many balls in the air as possible in their group. The game specifically relates to goal setting, getting the group to set goals and track their progress. A Libby Captain related this directly to their service learning projects, saying, ‘we could do this with our service learning projects, like if we’re doing a canned food drive, we could set a goal of how many cans we want to collect.’
At the end of each huddle, we wrap up with a challenge worksheet that helps student comprehend each topic and asks them to apply these themes in their lives. Captain’s Huddles are another safe space for UI kids to learn and grow alongside their peers.