Softball Ends Fall With Team Bonding Week
10/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
BUFFALO, NY - The State University of New York, Buffalo softball team is coming off an interesting week. Instead of delving into the last week of team practice for the fall, the 25th team in UB Softball history decided that more important things were in order, TEAM BONDING!
The Bulls participated in several unconventional activities as the week progressed. On Tuesday after lift, they were informed that they had one hour to get with their assigned partner and invent a device that could be used to solve a particular team problem. Some of the problems needing to be solved were: passing the dreaded conditioning test known as "the gasser," erasing errors from your memory, confronting someone with a problem, silencing helicopter parents, being able to relax, being confident in all aspects of the game, preventing injuries, and building team chemistry. They would need to come prepared enough to pitch their innovative product to the Shark Tank, as seen on ABC's hit TV, to see if they could sink or swim.
-The winning team was Madison Vaught and Ashton Earnhardt, with their product… The Lax Pack.
-The Lax Pack can be used as a portable relaxation device. For on the Go Naps! (Not to be used in class)
"Team bonding taught us that our relationships with one another need to go beyond the field to be successful.," said Vaught, a freshman on this year's team. "In order to achieve our goals, we had to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses through several tasks that challenged our mental and emotional abilities. Our first task challenged each group's innovative and collaborative abilities by creating an invention to solve a specific problem in less than an hour. We had to communicate and listen to each other's ideas to develop likable products our audience would want to have. Being aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses while using effective communication skills are essential keys to developing quality relationships which translate to better team chemistry and eventually, success."
When The Shark Tank came to a close, another bomb was dropped on the players. This time, they were expected to "battle" each other in a singing/dancing performance. That's right, the Bulls would be competing against each other similar to NBC's The Voice. Of course, the songs were pre-selected by the intuitive coaching staff. Let's just say the events that unfolded at the show were nothing short of entertaining. Some of the songs included in the program were Party in the USA, Ice Ice Baby, and Started from the Bottom. However, nothing was going to beat the unforgettable performance by Kenzie Koch and Hayley Barrow as they took on Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror.
"Even though Kenzie and I got a slow jam, dancing in the mirror, we were determined to win the team bonding for the day," said Barrow. "We were able to work together and come up with a pretty entertaining performance. We practiced together for an hour, and we were sweating because of all the hard work we put into the routine. It's when we started working together that the real healing takes place...it's when we start spilling our sweat, and not our blood."
After The Voice program, yet another challenge was posed on the team. For the final day of team bonding week, partners had to collaboratively write and slam a poem written about Team 25. What unraveled the following day was everything from being serious to absolutely hilarious, with an occasional group dropping a pretty sick beat to their own lyrics.
Before the Poetry Slam was about to begin, Coach Peel threw yet another curve ball by asking the team to arrive to the performance sight completely blindfolded. They needed to rely solely by communicating. No touching allowed! Needless to say, the players arrived safely and on time!
After the poems were slammed, one poem stood out in particular. Alexis Curtiss and Kelsey Johnson chose to have a Team 25 "Roast," making humorous comments about the players and coaches. Despite the different approach, it was all in good fun! The message behind that poem was something of a work in progress since the team came together in September. Everyone has a story, everyone is different. Embracing individual differences bring people closer together and makes a working unit stronger. Pick and choose your battles and focus on what really matters, playing together and winning games!
"I think the whole week was much needed to allow us as a team to get more comfortable with each other.," said Curtiss. "Some of the things we did put us out of our comfort zone but seeing everyone work through that was good to see and showed that we are all here doing the same thing as one another, we should feel confident in ourselves and the girl next to us. My personal favorite was the poem. It was cool to see people take different takes on the assignment and see what they had to say about the team. Some people went the creative way and wrote their poem to a song while some people had a fun roast of the team like Kelsey and I. At the end of the day everyone took the assignment seriously and it gave us a chance to see a little bit of people's personalities and how they think of the team. "
The feedback from Team 25 was awesome. The players responded very well to team bonding week and several steps were taken in terms of bettering the lines of communication. Barrow stated that "Activities like in addition to the grueling workouts we are put through creates a family atmosphere. When you are faced with challenges, you will learn to fight for one another. I liked that we were able to learn about one another on a personal level, beyond softball stuff. By bettering communication with one another, it will benefit us both on and off the field."
Senior Nora McGuire added that "it was great to see each other in a different light and a different environment. Doing activities that force us to think outside the box allows people to recognize what other talents people may have that normally wouldn't come with the sport of softball. Also, because we welcome 12 new people this year, I think it helps because it makes them feel more comfortable."
Redshirt sophomore Bobbi Langlois wrapped up the week by saying: "Last week we took a step back from the softball field and worked on our team chemistry. We have so much talent on our team but we also have a lot of freshmen and I think we needed time off the field to really get to know each other. We had three days of team bonding. One of the activities we did was a walk around the school blindfolded. Each person had a partner and they were only allowed to direct them with their voice. We couldn't open doors or help them up and down stairs, we could just tell them how to get there and when to step. I think this activity was extremely important because it was teaching us to trust one another and know we have each other's back. We aren't going to let them fall (hopefully) and we will always be there to help each other, even if one person can't necessarily see it. As a team we need to be able to trust everyone completely when we are field. We have a team thing called holding the rope, which is basically who is going to pick you up and get it done for you when are are struggling. This day of team bonding shows that no matter who you are paired with you should be able to trust them completely."
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