The captains council, started at the beginning of this year, enables sport captains to meet every other week and discuss certain topics. The council talks about issues such as current events in professional sports, ways to improve the athletics program at Westhill, and planning events for the Westhill community. Each team is represented weekly to promote them and their athletes. The overall goal is to better the athletic programs, and create more chemistry on and off the field.
“I think having the captains council serves a good purpose because it helps show support to a lot of teams who don’t always get attention,” said senior Stephanie Melia. “Having a group of people dedicated to a sport and want to better our athletic program as a whole is another good reason we invented the council,” she continued. Melia is the assistant athletic director, and helps with scheduling and assisting in anything the athletic department needs.
The council has about 30 members on it. They are made up of seniors and juniors, all from different sports. “The negative is that we need to make sure that the captains are at the meetings in the morning so we can discuss what’s working and what we can improve on throughout the year” said Stanley Villard. Villard says it was created because of Mr. Cerone’s experience at Wilton High School. He saw how passionate the students were and wanted to bring that passion to Westhill.
“Hopefully, in the near future, we can be like Wilton or Ridgefield and be very spirited” said Villard, who is the boys basketball captain. Westhill’s purple pack, along with the council, have been encouraging students to attend all sporting events since the start of this year. Both groups are trying to boost attendance and change the fan culture at the games. As a result of these efforts, there has been an uptick and a bigger presence from students who are looking to cheer on the Vikings. But, the turnout can still be better, and the council is working towards that goal.
“The job as a captain is simple; be a role model, make sure everybody has school spirit, and keep everybody on track” said senior golf captain David Lang. “ Coach Cerone does a great job teaching us skills and showing us how to behave as captain” Lang continued.
The club, while although boosting the spirit and Westhill community, does have its negatives. “Personally, I am a morning person so having meetings at 6:45am doesn’t phase me. However, there are not many captains that enjoy waking up early” said Lang. “With the meetings being so early, less people show up and less people are fulfilling the role of a captain.” Additionally, sports captains must report to the council even when their sport season isn’t currently being played. For instance, the baseball captains still have to attend despite their season not starting for another 5 months. This does lead to frustration and displeasure, but the members know the council exists to improve the school environment.
