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WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

Team spirit or team splits

Barbara Morrrison
Editor-in-Cheif

This is the second article in a series on the dynamics of girls’ sports teams.

Many coaches and players, alike, point to spirit days as a point of friction among team members. Josh Vadala who assistant coaches Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse and coaches Girls’ Varsity Cheerleading

“In girls’ sports in particular, spirit and team dinners… can do one of two things. It can bring a team closer if it has a healthy dynamic, but if it doesn’t have a healthy dynamic those team dinners and those spirit days are really going to highlight the social issues that are already there and split the team apart even more,” said Vadala.

Kelly Huber, the only freshman teammate on the Girls’ Varsity Soccer team this fall, agrees with Vadala’s comment.

“At spag. suppers there are definitely people who are all friends and then there are those… that sit at the end of the table and listen instead of participating,” said Huber.

Lauren Brett, a senior on the Girls’ Varsity Soccer team, did not see spaghetti suppers in the same light as Huber.

“You go, you eat, and then you get out,” Brett said after joking about how much soccer girls like to eat. “For WAGS, spaghetti supper isn’t a social pressure- it’s just about eating.”

Brett believes that there isn’t any divide. She said that if teammates feel like they do not fit in, it is a personal issue, not a result of team dynamics. She explains that though she has felt left out, it was about her own feelings, not an actual divide.

“I wasn’t getting much playing time so I felt inadequate, so I was less open,” said Brett, explaining she thinks most girls who perceive divisions may actually be causing separation due to insecurity.

According to Vadala, as a coach, he has watched teams become divided and says their performance has suffered because of it.

“Our most talented class had the worst and the most unhealthy dynamics,” said Vadala. “That year the most talented team underachieved.”

Additionally, he saw that once divisions had developed, spirit became a point of friction that exacerbated the problems.

“That year that we had negative dynamics, if the seniors picked a grand thing to do and everybody didn’t follow it, it became a real social problem.”

For volleyball players, there is added social pressure regarding “team spirit” though it is not coming from within the team.

A group of mostly upperclassmen boys have taken it upon themselves to attend the Girls’ Varsity Volleyball games and cheer on the players. They call themselves the Superfans and, according to team members, boost morale during games with their original cheers.

A senior volleyball player who prefers to remain anonymous discussed how the Superfans can put pressure on the players and emphasize divisions between captains and other players.

“They [captains] are the people that the Superfans love the most, which is a big deal because it is a group of guys who follow the team around.”

Lorraine Harhen was one of only two seniors who did not have a Superfan assigned to cheer specifically for her. Though Harhen wasn’t a starter, according to her, there were other non-starters who did have a Superfan, so not having one made her feel left out and inadequate.

“They create cheers based on the starting players. Then Henderson will throw you in [to the game] and they’ve got nothing,” said Harhen. “All you can think of is I wish I had one.”

Russ Coward, who has coached Varsity Girls’ Basketball, JV Girls’ Volleyball, and JV Boys’ Volleyball in his time at WA, also believes that divisions and unhealthy dynamics are a problem on girls’ sports teams.

Like Vadala, he saw spirit as a point of friction. He believed that rather than having a team-building effect, spaghetti suppers and sleepovers created problems by mixing social activities and pressures in with the athletic activity.

“We talk a lot about the chemistry of the team and the dynamics of the team, and how we can enhance them,” said Vadala. According to him, spirit only emphasizes the dynamics already present while getting issues out into the open and actually discussing issues is the way to foster a cohesive team.

If you have additional information you would like included in the series, or a personal experience on a sports team, please email me at [email protected].

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    Maria HrafnJan 26, 2010 at 1:07 am

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