Role of Team Captain

[Conor Ryan]

In my time in FRC (this is my 8th year of involvement), the best team captains on any team should have one assigned job. Make sure everyone else on the team is busy at all times. Other than that they should delegate everything they do. But here are some other thoughts on qualifications great team captains should have:
-ability to delegate
-ability to come up with ideas and jobs for others to do (anybody ever look about how many people sit around and become disengaged?)
-ability to make quick decisions
-ability to motivate
-a work ethic to model after
-an idea of what FIRST is all about (heres a hint, its not all about the robot)
-no interest in actually building the robot (there are so many other things for a captain to do, they'll have no time for the actual robot, unless your team is smaller than 8 people (in which case you might want to try Vex).
-the idea of what a deadline is
-social skills to talk to judges/other teams/VIPs
-ability to say screw it, nothing is ever perfect and relax at the end of the day

Being on the drive team, being the person who gets to pick the final design, all of those *perks* are not in the best interest of the team. The best leaders let those who are the best at what they do, do what they do (and then give them credit for it).

Also on a note, being a senior/oldest member on the team/most experienced should have nothing to do with being team captain. Rookie teams have team captains any 9 times out of 10, nobody has any experience. Actually, some of the best team captains I've seen have been from rookie teams.