The best captains were good teammates first. You learn to lead by learning to follow well.

Leading is mostly a set of skills you can only pick up from the other side. Knowing what a bad instruction feels like, which encouragement actually helps, how it lands to be left out of a decision: none of that arrives with the armband. People who skip the following part end up leading by guessing.

If you are not in charge of anything right now, you are not waiting around. Watch what your coach or your shift lead does that works, and what does not. Be the teammate who makes the hard job easier, and you will be ready when the hard job is yours.