Part 6: I can't believe we have homework.

The excitement at dinner is palatable and hanging in the air. We changed our plans to include dinner in the dining room for this evening instead of having to try and scramble the first day.

To be honest, having Cathy take care of all of the booking and room allotment stuff, her and Marvin working together to iron out the details of the budget and what is being spent has taken a huge load off my mind. It has allowed me to concentrate on the reason we are here.

I'll step back to April/May when I first started to connect with the guys from NCCP and asking for feedback and guidance on how to best present a team building seminar. This thing has really been a long time in the planning, I tended not to bother thinking about execution as I have been part of similar events - just not being totally hosted and facilitated by myself. So far we have been lucky and no curves have been thrown our way - the weather has cooperated and the players seem to be content - did I mention, so far?

Jumping back to the present as I am told no good writer does - but then again I do not profess to be either good nor a writer so, I suppose that gives me some sort of creative license. Doesn't it?

We all pile into the dining area and are met with wide-eyed stares from the patrons that are unwittingly and through no real choice of their own, are pulled into the vortex of estrogen that is our camp. At least they will have something to talk (complain) about when they retire to their rooms while they silently give thanks that they haven't been put on the same floor as this "hockey team."

For the first time, the food is not quite up to par. The buffet seems cold and the selection is not fantastic. We adults of course have found something to enjoy, albeit cold or not quite hot... that only leaves 15 hungry young women who must find something to eat. A couple of the girls didn't really have a hearty dinner that night and I saw a few packages of crackers being spirited away from the restaurant.

Surprisingly, the fish is not popular with the crowd. Go figure, I thought it was quite good.

The question is posed and will be repeated for as long as we are guests here, "what time do we have to be in the room and are we really doing homework?"
Answer 1: 7 PM ( it is just after 6 ) Answer 2: Yes, there will be short group assignments each night.

It is almost comical to watch them walk away, not really knowing if it is true.

CLASSROOM SESSION #1: Coming Together

First an ice breaker: To get the players loosened up and feeling a bit more comfortable in this crowd. We call this the name game.

Players sit in a circle, each person says their name and one thing about themselves. The following person repeats the names of everyone before them and what they said, then introduces themselves. It works, it is bit looser in there than before.

The onus of the meeting will be Competition – How to prepare yourself.

The term Competition will be broken down into two distinct elements:
1. Pre-Competition (practice) – which is termed Competitive Preparation. 2. Competition (game or tournament) – which is termed Competitive Execution.

All the onus and responsibility will be on each individual player to use the tools given as well as some of their own preparation techniques – explored and examined in several situations – to be ready. Each time we are together as a team will be a competition. The attitude this team will follow through on this season is one of being able to adapt to any situation put before them. We achieve that in the two ways outlined above.

The challenge therefore is to have every player on this squad improve in their skill sets. This is achieved by each player putting forth their best effort each night and every time we are on the ice – regardless of circumstances, time or record to that point.

This season we will practice how we want to play and that is executing at top speed whenever possible. When you play the game at top speed, your opponents have much less time to adapt to your attack and defense strategies.

This will allow our players to be much more creative in their attack and defense because the opponent will often try and anticipate and overplay which will open up another area of the ice. When that happens, a simple break-out/break-in play opens up so many more possibilities, by having them unsure of what is coming next opens up more and allows up to exploit weakness and deficiencies.

Even the greatest teams in the history of hockey needed to improve through the skill development and team synchronization. The term Team Synchronization means simply the coming together of the various players in the team dynamic. Learning to play with one another, learning one another’s tendencies and using the strengths of the many to mask the weakness of the few. Nobody is perfect at everything in this game however it is through the support of the team as whole that a team becomes truly great.

For example: a slower player may not be able to execute at a high rate of speed and do things as quickly as another player so we depend on the faster player to support their teammate to help the unit become stronger. Supporting the puck – on offense and defense – supporting the position and prime scoring areas on the ice, with more than one player at a time working together to achieve a common goal. The team as whole wins and both players can feel empowered when on the ice.

The upside an inescapable reality of the situation is that the player in the instance who may not be as quick or skilled as another must work harder in practice to overcome the gaps in skill to bring their level to the same height as their teammates. They must learn the game in such a way so as not to get caught out position and thereby the support coming from the team is easier to execute because the system of offense and defense is followed and they know where each other will be.

On the other hand – the more experienced player must help their teammate to understand and elevate their game through positive reinforcement and having a team first attitude.

Support is a two way street. We all win when we work together – for each other. We enter a quick group discussion to try and lay the foundation for the group (the room assignments) to be able to work together and answer these questions.

The room where the fridge is kept has been opened and to my surprise and delight I see a flip chart and easel - it struck me in my room after dinner another thing that I failed to pack (see how it's all coming together in a neat little package) was my easel and large chart paper.

I happily push forth and start the presentation, in my mind I am trying not to sound like a boring teacher by droning on and on but, this will undoubtedly be the slowest night as the rules have to be laid down.

Keep moving ahead, he girls have opened their notebooks with the pre printed agendas and topics so essentially for the first session they will be reading along.

Question: How can we as a team learn to support each other in our systems and game situations? Looking around the room I see that some are getting REALLY comfortable in their chairs, it does seem stuffy in the room.

Waiting for someone BESIDES Kellie to raise their hand - I try and prod them into it. As has been shown to me in many sessions in clinics and seminars, people are basically shy and not wanting to take the lead.

The trick is to get them to loosen up a bit more when posed with a challenge and not be self-conscious. I want the team members to be able to speak their minds on any subject and be comfortable enough to speak up when something is bothering them. This all has to lead to the team dealing with issues in the dressing room. Some call it conflict resolution, I call it growing up.

I repeat the question (this time with a bit more voice behind it):

What would you see as a benefit to us learning from our mistakes and taking our tactics and using them to our advantage?

How can we learn from our mistakes?

How can we learn from each other?

Some good conversation and back and forth starts and I finally feel we are on the right track.

TOPIC 2: Team Identity – Who are we?

Team Identity – This will be the first session group exercise. This initial discussion will be lay the groundwork for the players to be able to break off and complete the assignments given them in their groups and help forge an independent spirit.

This will be after the group discusses what they feel is the most important elements that each player brings to the team. From there we can openly discuss the direction of this team and how we will achieve what we have set out to do.

A team identity: What is it? In this particular instance we are going to strip away all of the definitions and take it down to the bare bones of the idea. A team’s identity is usually based on the systems or tactics that a team employs during the competition phase of the season. How they come together, how they support each other and then how they execute as a unit.

I personally feel it runs much deeper than that. I believe that a team’s identity is forged in the first few weeks that team spends together. If the atmosphere is positive and the player’s are willing to put everything they have into everything that we do as a team – then the identity can be formed around a team that cannot be outworked. A team that will never take a backwards step and never allows the negative to creep into the team’s domain. A team that believes in one another and supports each other no matter what the circumstances. The key is establishing unity – a common goal and never losing sight of it.

I envision this team as being a blend of experience, speed, skill and a never say die attitude when it comes to competition. The biggest hurdle we will face this season is how to translate this into a team attitude that can never be broken no matter what the circumstance.

This must be a team that strives to excel at every thing they do. This needs to be a team that cares about, not only the outcome of the game but genuinely cares about the player sitting next to them on the bench. A group of individuals that sees beyond the obvious – wins and losses and strives to learn and grow as the season carries on. This can be team that doesn’t like to lose but conversely when the inevitable loss happens – we as a unit learn from it and are better for the experience.

Motto: You may lose the contest but NEVER lose the lesson.

This spirit of achieving and striving for the best we can be has to start with this camp and carry on throughout the rest of the season. Never getting too high nor too low.

Taking the triumphs in stride while being aware that we can always do something better and it that willingness to never accept a runner up role is what great teams are made of.

Questions for the group:

1. What do you feel should be the team’s seasonal goal?
2. How important is each player’s participation in reaching this goal. Rate on a scale of 1-10.
3. Do you feel that each player’s role on this team should be based on skill alone?
4. Do you feel a player can earn a larger role in the various game scenarios? How can they do this?

Based on the four questions posed, can we establish and more importantly identify our team identity?

Group analysis tip:

The biggest part of establishing a team identity is to take your strengths and weaker traits using the support methodology presented in the previous section – the theme of support to become stronger and thereby multiply the overall strength of this team.

A team must show compassion for all its members. It can never be spiteful nor jealous of one of it’s own. The power you have over a person’s self-confidence and overall perception of themselves is entirely in your hands. Can you put aside the very human nature in every one of us to belittle someone less fortunate or struggling during the game? Are you a big enough person to offer your hand to that person – to help them?

We break on that note - explaining that the first thing we will be covering is the debrief on the questions.

Now I set them loose for 2.5 hours on the unsuspecting public that has chosen to stay at the Nottawasaga Inn this evening.

Day 2: More of the same but... different.