You don’t become the leader by announcing it. You become it after months of being the one people can count on.

Authority that works is granted by other people, not claimed. It accumulates out of small verifiable things: you do what you said, you are there early, you tell the truth when it costs you something. One day people start looking at you when a decision is needed.

Stop auditioning and start being reliable in public. Choose the unglamorous job nobody wants and do it all season. Be the one who remembers the kit, texts the group, stays to help clear up. Months of that is the entire method, and it works at sixteen as well as it works later.