Retreat and Standards

This weekend we took a huge step with our team.  We had a quick 7 hour retreat on Sunday.  We met with our leadership coach Dr. Skinner at 1pm.  He then went over our team values.  These are the things that are mentioned in the last blog (Team-First, Loyalty and Honour).  With each of those three values Dr. Skinner went around the room asking different players to define what they mean and to give an example.  He broke it down to game, practice, school, social life.  It was great to see some freshman players speak up about their experiences.  The interesting topic was Honour.  It is not a word that a lot of the athletes associate with a team concept.  In Brandon, the university women’s volleyball team are considered one of the top female role models in the area.  A little reminder to them to be aware of what they do in public and pictures they post on their facebook page...etc  Everyone is watching a judging, you are a Bobcat.

After this session they split into groups and participated in a digital scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt is a great way for the new athletes to get to know where everything is in the city.  It is also a chance for everyone to make a bit of a fool of themselves in front of each other.  This will help break down barriers between fifth years and first years.  Some of the pictures were; posing as a mannequin in a store window, spelling cats out with your body, riding a ride in the mall, sitting on a slide, air banding (word from the 80’s) on a stage...

Then we came back to our meeting room and split into groups, they then worked their way through 10 questions.  These questions were to show each other’s personality and a chance to understand each other.  One of the questions was “what is a fear you have for this season?”  The fifth year athletes both said “it their last one” a couple of freshman said letting down the older girls. I felt it was a great bonding activity, plus they found out a lot about one another. 

Next we had to compete.  We decided on spoons the Card game.  We broke the team into groups of 5. Then put out 4 spoons.  You then have five sets of numbers.  All four suits of the aces, all four suits of the Kings...  Shuffle them up and then deal out.  Every person passes one card at a time to their left.  When someone gets all four of a kind they grab a spoon.  Once one spoon is grabbed the rest grab a spoon.  The last one to grab the spoon gets a letter.  It was a lot like horse in basketball.  The game started out fairly quiet and tame, but after five minutes people were cheering and screaming.  After 20 minutes we stopped and debriefed the game.  We asked the athletes if it was a fun card game, then how you could tell it was fun.  They were cheering and competing. One player actually shoved another player out of the way to make sure she wasn’t left without a spoon.  We then asked them how we can transfer that to the volleyball court. If volleyball is suppose to be fun, why don’t we play the match like we do the card game.  Of course playing CIS there is more at stake for the athletes and coaches than a fun volleyball game, but I think the message of celebrating success and bringing positive energy did get through.

Then Dr. Skinner came back and went through the values again.  This time he was asking for negative examples, things that teams have seen in the past.  It was a very open session that was important for us. 

After this we wanted to leave the room with 8 -10 Standards, actions that we want to have as our baseline for behaviour this season.

Brandon University Bobcat’s Standards for 2011 – 2012 Season

Being on time Be an positive energy creator	This shows you value your teammates time as much as your own
Take care of yourself (physically, mentally, spiritually)	Value workouts, nutrition, time away from team.
Commit to team ( School, Culture, Weight..ect)	Ask your self does this help us get better?
Hard work	Be ready to practice every day, do what you can to make us better
WE are this year’s team	Everyone comes from a different background, work hard to buy in to this team, not try to make this year’s group  your past teams.
Respect	Coaches, players, staff, opponents, league, community
Ask for Help, or intervene if help is needed	Team is more powerful together; don’t let things get out of control.  Issues that come up we will confront quickly.
Stay in the moment	Work hard to be present on each play, conversation.
Make it memorable	Each player’s responsibility to get involved in the team.  To get to know everyone on the team.  Create memories

Then after the classroom session we went to a players house for a team BBQ.  It was a fun time, everyone chipped in with the work and food was prepared and the chicken was cooked quickly.  It is September and everything is always roses, but right now I love the make up and personalities on our team.

Go Cats!