For Field Hockey, Leadership is a Team Effort

Athletes frequently attribute success to strong leadership on their team. However, leadership structures have been very similar from team to team and sport to sport. A smaller team might have one or two captains and larger sports such as football will likely have more in place. New Temple Field Hockey Coach, Susan Ciufo asked herself the question "Why am I asking two people to do the job, when five people can do it... they are all so different and interact with the players differently."

Before the team's summer vacation, Ciufo designated her five-person leadership team. The positions include two performance captains, a unity leader, a commitment leader, and an organizational leader. All these student-athletes play unique and specific roles within the team.

Kathryn Edgar and Dani Batze (Performance Captains)

The role of performance captain is identified by Dani Batze as "The ones who are typically wearing the bands on gameday." Batze explained this as the more traditional captain role that athletes perform. Kathryn Edgar shared this sentiment in saying that "me and Dani have the role of leading the team during field stuff and through games." Both Edgar and Batze identified their "lead by example" trait as a large reason they believed they were chosen for this role. Ciufo said that "Dani and Kat are really good at that on-field presence and being able to dictate that presence on the field."
It creates an interesting dynamic for leaders to distribute their duties and in some cases could lead to power struggles within certain environments. However, Edgar shared that she believes it is "really valuable that Christen, Lucy, and Becky have their roles to help the team when things go bad or we need that extra boost behind us." The new leadership dynamic has led to the ability for decisions to be made in a much more representative way of a large 30 student-athlete team. Edgar added that more success will come from "having five of us lead the way and make decisions for the team."

Cristen Barnett (Unity Leader)

Barnett was appointed to this position to "keep the team united and to keep everyone on the same page, mentally, and on the field as well." With a team that has a larger than normal number of newcomers, it is important that there is somebody to help embody a team culture. Ciufo identified the "culture" aspect of this new team as incredibly important. Barnett believes that she was chosen for this role due to "how well I get along with my teammates and I am also surrounded with a bunch of girls that are very easy to relate to." Ciufo added that it was important to have "someone who just gets it" and "understands everyone on the team" in this role.

Becky Gerhart (Commitment Leader)

In the role that is perhaps the most obvious in its title, Gerhart identifies this role as "just making sure everyone is committed to the program." She adds that "with a big team it is really important that everyone from top to bottom is committed to the team." Every team needs an athlete that is willing to ensure that everyone is held accountable. Ciufo added that she chose Becky because "she's just going to keep you in line, you're not going to get one by her."

Lucy Reed (Organizational Leader)

Organization is nothing new to Reed due to her role on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as a two-year executive board member and the current President. Reed identified a reason for being put in this role as "I have always taken the initiative to put things together, like our apparel and just being on time for things." Ciufo added that Lucy is great at "handling all of the outside pieces with our community and our academics." Reed added to this idea by sharing that "we all just fell into these roles pretty naturally."

A Path to Success

Ciufo and the members of the leadership team believe that this new structure will be a great way for the team to start on a new path. Recently this team has fallen short, collecting only two wins last year. Ciufo added that this team "went through the wringer together last season" but added, "They have this aura around them that they just want to win." The aspect of leadership is incredibly important in getting the most out of practice and team events. However, the coach and the student-athletes believe that this new leadership team will lead to gameday success.

"We have multiple people leading and when you have three of them on the field, that is really helpful," said Ciufo. "When you have several leaders, you also always have one on the bench helping motivate the team."

The team has already matched its win total from the 2018 season with a strong 2-0 start. The new leadership team is excited for what this year can bring.

Temple University Athletics

For Field Hockey, Leadership is a Team Effort

Players Mentioned

Cristen Barnett

Dani Batze

Kathryn Edgar

Becky Gerhart

Lucy Reed

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