Crossword Genius

Senior footballer better practise with no end of vigour (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

captain

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'senior footballer' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'better practise with no end of vigour' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'better' could be 'cap' (both can mean to beat somebody else's attempt) and 'cap' is found within the answer.
'no' could be 'n' (common abbreviation) and 'n' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'tai' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for captain that I've seen before include "Skip" , "Naval commander" , "Commander of a ship" , "Leader" , "Naval rank" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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