While reading the Fri check in thread. I noticed several dinners and team bonding mentioned. How important and effective do you see this. My DD has attended these and I have noticed very little intended results of a whole team of bff's. I always coached when on the field you respect and fully support your team mates. When you leave the field you respect and support your team mates. Off the field I do not expect them to be a group of friends doing every thing together. Her current coach seems to expect them to be the best of friends all the way around. Fact is my DD doesn't care for the off field actions of some her teammates and I bet some may not like her. Why do some coaches want to force the issue.
team bonding HS vs TB
- Thread starter Phathead
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MY JV team has breakfast together with me after their 1st Saturday practice. After that they might do pasta dinners the night before some games and other things too but that's all on them! We bond on the field and yes they need to respect each other all the time but they dont need to hang out off the field 100% of the time!
I agree. A travel-ball player spends an infinite amount of time with her teammates, and a HS player is with her teammates almost every day for 10-12 weeks. Their schedules are packed with softball and with those teammates. They need more time away from those teammates than with them, IMO. I've found sleepovers and team trips to Six Flags to be more divisive than helpful. That's where they sometimes find out that they don't like some of their teammates. What they have in common is softball. So let them bond on the softball field. Their personalities and interests are often very diverse, and trying to get them to bond over something outside of softball is unrealistic and often backfires.
Cannonball
Ex "Expert"
- Feb 25, 2009
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The TB teams my dd played for all did team bonding activities and I believe that is why they were all successful. At the HS, much the same. I recall when BB was a freshman, one of the seniors pulled up in a car with other girls and came to the door. She said that they were going to a near by community to get hamburgers and ice cream. This place is really well known and many make that pilgrimage. Heck, I do once in a while. BB was so excited having just made the varsity and been named a varsity starter. Off they went and when she got home, she was so excited that they had included her. Those girls still do that when everyone is back in town. (Wally's in Trenton, Il) Her TB experience was much the same and so, those girls were always in a massive group hanging out at one home or the other. As I mentioned at Christmas this year, I knew that that TB team was coming over and that we would have a house full of college girls for multiple nights. The wife and I stocked the refrigerator and the girls made themselves at home. Those girls will be in BB's wedding some day. First, I really don't think team bonding was something any of these coaches made the girls do. They wanted to hang together. All, without exception, were the top students in their high schools. All are going to be very successful with many working toward being Doctors or Engineers. IMO, those of you that don't see the benefit of this are missing something that could be very special for these young ladies.
Oh, I did the same as a baseball coach with "pizza day," "Peanut Day," and team breakfast.
Oh, I did the same as a baseball coach with "pizza day," "Peanut Day," and team breakfast.
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Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich will always taste much better when its made with peanut butter and jelly instead of peanut butter and ketchup regardless of how much time and effort you put into team bonding.
The key is in bold. What you're describing are mostly things occurring naturally. I was speaking on the artificial contrivances of coaches who are attempting to manufacture chemistry.
Team bonding is huge IMO, not necessarily for everyone to be the best of friends but for everyone to learn how to deal with each others personality and how to work with them. Some kids put off a persona that is unlike who they really are. I do not do team building activities during season, we see each other a lot. During the off season when HS season is in full swing and no tournament ball practices aloud, we may meet every couple of weeks for a dinner. Just to get the girls together and keep their chemistry. Some of these girls text and ask if we are eating this week or next and they are excited about seeing teammates again.
We have 2 girls on the team that have grown apart and dislike each other, both would be happier if the other left and neither know I know this. They have learned to work with girls and support girls they don't really like and I credit our off season get together for keeping them on the team and working together.
- Nov 29, 2009
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I have found pretty much everything you stated is true and tell my teams that at the initial team meeting. As a coach what I have found that works over the years is make sure the girls on the team understand that I do not ask them to respect each other I DEMAND it, both on and off the field. There is no grey area. I use my DD and her catcher as an example. She had the same catcher for 3 years of HS, travel and 3 years in college. On the field the two of them were so in-sync it was almost spooky. Off the field. They were friendly with each other but both of them had their own sets of friends and the two of them rarely did anything together off the field.
Team chemistry starts at the top. The coach needs to be even-handed and consistent when it comes to dealing with the players. When I do games and skill challenges at practice I pick the teams trying to make them as even a possible. I always try to be sure I mix the players up. Another thing that I will do if I have to address a player for not paying attention or goofing off when we're working on something. I put it to them that they are taking practice time away from everyone on the team because I'm there having to deal with them. It puts it in the context that we are all here for the same goal and everyone needs to be 100% focused when we are working. IF I have to address something with the player, she is taking away from her teammates. Don't get me wrong. I joke around with the kids trying to keep it light and positive. But they all know when it's work time, it's time to be there as an individual AND a teammate.
The only time I will do anything outside of softball is when we are out of town I do a team dinner at Golden Corral or sometimes the parents will want to grill. Other than that the players need time away from each other. The biggest thing to understand is you can't force it. You can only supply a team environment that encourages working together. Last season was the best team I ever had in that regards. The girls had their preferred friends, but they never shunned any of the other girls on the team and they supported each other. The parents all got along real well too which helps things immensely.
My DD's HS coach would have a pasta party the day before the first game of the season. After that it was only softball. She was a tough, passionate coach who knows the game and did not take any crap from her players. And they all knew it.
- Apr 11, 2012
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team bonding is a big deal IMO....my DD's HS team did it, usually a team during the week breakfast or Sunday evening pasta dinner and of course a start of the season "lock-in" at the school....team bonding events may not cure a team's lack of chemistry but it can help teammates get to know each other a little better.... and when that teammate needs some electricity when pitching or hitting in a big game at some point, and will need some encouragement. Teams that like each other tend to play better IMO....
Which leads to a sub-question....can teams win without chemistry....the last coach we were with thinks he can this year....I'm not in agreement.....
Which leads to a sub-question....can teams win without chemistry....the last coach we were with thinks he can this year....I'm not in agreement.....
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