As contradictory I can add “A bad captain can make a great team look ordinary”.
Despite the idea of leadership being accepted as a vital part of life, business and sport research on the subject is very subjective. There are many definitions. :
Influence. Leaders influence the behaviour of other people.
Groups. Leadership is examined in group (or team) settings.
Goals. The leader coordinates movement towards a group goal or goals.
The first and most critical thing is to make a player realise his true worth-sometimes players themselves don't know how good they can be. Then captain makes him realise his importance to the team, how the team depends on him, and how he will let his side down if he doesn't perform at his very best. It's not very complicated really, but small things do make a big difference. It may either get the team behind you or in front of you.
What I meant was that you had some captains who were great players themselves. They led by the sheer force of their performance. Then there were captains , who were not the best players in their sides. Then he had to push the team from behind, get the best players to perform to the best of their ability. Only then inspiration can be flowed from their performances. Whereas a captain who is not a terribly inspiring performer himself has to rely on extracting the maximum from his best players.
Different players need to be handled differently. So obviously a captain has to be different things to different people.
If he treats each player a mediocre, his performance would be mediocre. He has to give little more freedom to those who can give their best. Good captains, experienced captains, know to utilize the smallest openings.
Influencing team members towards the attainment of victory. It's also possible to see here how a good side is often referred to as as 'team of captains'. It's quite possible to be a leader without being captain or coach
A captain