Team Bonding Review

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Thanks to the great turnout last night.  Looks to me like everyone enjoyed at least a good portion of what was thrown out last night by Rick.  I always appreciate Rick's energy and straight talk regarding real life and how it fits in with our team.  I have included the summary of last night for you to review and ask yourself some simple questions:  1) What do I expect from this year? 2) Will I come prepared with a plan? 3) Would there be a reason I would give anything less than my all the next few months? 

* Nail Challenge – Visual of Teamwork!  Teamwork Makes the Dream Work! 

* Toothpick/Fork Challenge – It is amazing what happens when you work together.  Working for those “Wow”   moments as a team!  I had the returning guys just show the younger guys the Nail Challenge and Toothpick & Fork  Challenge.  We briefly talked about the components of teamwork and being able to put a team goal ahead of your own goals.  It has to be more about “WE” than it is about “ME”. 

* Team Launchers – Working together in groups...teamwork, communication, leadership, timing, consistency, ball control, cooperation, dealing with setbacks is crucial… maintaining enthusiasm, determination, focus and intensity!  I don’t think you saw this one with the mini parachutes?  They were in groups of 5-6 and had to work together shooting the ball up in the air with the parachutes down and back on the BB court.  If the ball dropped, they had to start over.  It takes everything you need on the field and obviously, you get better with focus practiced.  Who ever controls the ball wins the game.  When the time to perform comes the time for preparation is GONE!  We talked about the necessity of practice and how it DOESN’T just magically happen at game time. 
 
* Moon Ball – You were there on this one… with the big ball.  NEXT LEVEL.  As the challenge escalates the need for teamwork, effort, patience, enthusiasm, thinking/planning, etc have to elevate.  There are no short cuts to success.  Eventually you hit the wall… how are you going to respond!?  In the end… the last five minutes they tried to see how many they could get and they were MORE enthusiastic… it was all because they were trying to outdo what they had done before.  It takes everyone to reach the goal. 
  
  * Reaction Balls… your attitude will determine your altitude. 

* Car puzzles – All about working together to reach a goal!  Having a VISION and what you are trying to accomplish.  Too many athletes want to WIN, but they have NO idea what level of performance they want to achieve.  Just like when they put they puzzles together they looked at the box… same thing in athletic… you have to have a picture of what you are trying to accomplish.  Challenged them to watch Lacrosse at a higher level.  YOU CAN’T OUTPERFORM WHAT YOU CAN VISUALIZE IN YOUR HEAD! 

* BD Challenge – Proving the importance of communication… essential to success.  Getting EVERYONE on board with a mission.  They could have done that challenge in about 4 minutes, but instead it was 18 minutes when I stopped it and they weren’t even done yet.  I challenged a few guys during the course of that challenge and just asked them, “How are you helping your team right now?”  As you know, that was a frustrating one for Jake and Mitch (before he had to leave early) because they were trying to get everyone on board.  Leadership doesn’t work unless everyone is willing to listen and follow.  We talked about how lack of focus KILLS teams.  Focus is the ability to TUNE out all the distractions and fix your mind on the task at hand.  Obviously on this one was that the distractions weren’t even outside forces, it was more about some of the guys messing around and not being concerned about the task at hand! 
   
* Popcorn Challenge – Dumping the whiffle balls out. Creating excitement about KNOWING you are getting better!  They did a GREAT job on this one!  Partly because they had a stopwatch on them and they knew they were getting better.  I think it is HUGE to be able to see how you are improving.  It comes down to DETAILS and ADJUSTMENTS!!  People who excel are constantly looking for those little things that make a big difference and then they CELEBRATE PROGRESS!!  That is all about the process component of goal setting. 

Thanks Rick again and I hope you each look back on this from time to time throughout the year.   As a testament to this you will/have seen our 2013 metrics on our team site.  These are all intertwined stats that add up to our team goals.  Let's all be aware of these measuring sticks moving forward.