When you’re picking teams, the kid left for last remembers every single pick. Mix it up.

Picking teams is a public ranking, and everyone standing in the line knows exactly where they landed. The person taken last is not upset about the game, they are doing arithmetic on how they are seen. Whoever is picking rarely thinks about it at all, because from that side it is only a quick decision about winning.

If you are choosing, take someone early who never goes early, and say one sentence about what they actually do well. If you are not choosing, pass to them first. Neither costs you the game.