Andover Football Co-Captain Aidan Porter ’23 believes accountability and commitment are the keys to success for a team. After a disappointing string of losses in his last season, Porter aspires to bring new and returning teammates together for a more triumphant season under his leadership.
Porter strives to help the team stay grounded in strenuous game situations. According to Porter, it is important for the team to focus on the present rather than dwell on mistakes from the past. Thus, he pushes himself to spread positive feedback during games, creating an open and encouraging team environment.
“Football can just be a roller coaster at times, especially a roller coaster of emotions. One big play can really change the swing of the game, and that can get guys emotionally kind of worn down. I think it’s definitely my job to try to keep everybody on this team going. I’m trying to convince them, ‘listen, it’s just one play, it’s out the window now, there’s nothing we can do about it. We just got to focus on right now’ and I just really try to preach to them, ‘it’s a marathon it’s not a sprint––we have to really take the game and one play at a time,’” said Porter.
On the field, Porter, a fullback and linebacker, never hesitates to share his extensive knowledge of the sport with the rest of the team, according to Nick Jones ’24. In addition to his approachability, Porter consistently displays fearlessness and persistence during gameplay.
“He knows exactly what he’s doing at all points in the game. He knows where he has to be [and] what [the] assignment is. Whenever someone has a question or is unsure, we can always go to him and know what to do. He is very aggressive and a very good tackler, and he’s not afraid [of] contact, and he’s not afraid to go up against guys who are a lot bigger than him. So it’s very inspiring,” said Jones.
Logan Cove ’24 highlighted Porter’s commitment to the team off the field. After Cove suffered an injury, Porter stayed by his side throughout the recovery process.
Cove said, “I think a big one for him is commitment. I think he’s really committed to not only football, but the key things, keeping the team together, keeping our heads up, keeping everyone together. He’s a great leader. He doesn’t only worry about the football things, I recently was injured and he lives next door to me, and he’s checking on me multiple times a week, seeing how my recovery is going. For me, that’s huge in a captain. It’s not only about football, but caring about your players outside of sport, and he definitely does that.”
Jones shared a similar sentiment to Cove, reiterating Porter’s devotion to the sport.
“He’s very hardworking, he never quits, and he always knows what to do. For practice, he shows up early — gets locked in. He’s a really great role model for the team, and that’s really something that the guys look up to,” said Jones.
According to Porter, ensuring that the team sustains the values he upholds is equally as important as him leading by example. Porter’s hope is for the team to find success performance-wise, and while doing so, form deeper connections with one another.
Porter said, “I definitely think accountability is one of the [core] values. I mean, not just the captain’s uphold, but it’s something that we expect from everybody on the team. You know, I mean, it’s just making sure that everybody’s doing the right thing when they’re supposed to do it, how they’re supposed to do it.We’re always checking in on one another, we’re always making sure everybody’s doing the right thing. It moves the team forward in the direction that we want to get faster, so I definitely think accountability is one of the big things that we try to uphold as [captains] on the football team.”
