Servant Hearted

Tonight our new football team (Newton Wallacetown FC) won their first game against The Space Place (Prestwick). They were down 3-1 at half time and in the second half they brought it back to win 4-3. I had 10 guys playing for us, 1 wee guy was appointed as the captain of the team. We took a vote last week within the team to determine who would be the captain and the majority went to this one wee guy.

I’m guessing they all picked him because he was naturally a loud person who likes to command the team, puts a lot of energy in to the team and generally quite confident.

It’s funny though how it came to the actual match this evening and one other wee guy in particular stood out more to me as a ‘leader’ to the team more than the other wee guy. Sitting here it has reminded me of my position as a youth worker. I desire to be a leader who doesn’t need to have the ‘captain’ armband on. This one wee guy in the team reminded me that leadership is not about the whole ‘up front, microphone in hand, front pew sitting’ kind of person. This wee guy actually wasn’t picked among his mates as the captain but in my opinion merited it more tonight than anyone else on the park.

And the thing is, it is that type of leader that stands out more, who people are more drawn to, who have influence over others. Funny, that wee guy might never know the impact or message he’s put out there but it’s really humbling.

Advertisement