Team Cohesiveness - Detroit News
Angelique Chengelis posted a very interesting ARTICLE this morning from the Big Ten Media function in Chicago. The article is interesting in its own right, but the subtext caught my attention even more.
The article focuses on how team leaders have used off-field functions to build team chemistry. That sounds like a great idea, and it also underscores how players like Gardner who have occasionally been derided as insufficient leaders are leading in their own way.
The really interesting thing to me, though, was the implications in the article as to team chemistry last year. Frank Clark's quote struck me:
Strength coach Aaron Wellman has been integral in helping the players bond, Clark said, making a point to encourage offensive and defensive players, and black and white players, hang out together at team dinners or as they arrive or leave strength training sessions.
“Coach Wellman says, ‘Let’s make Oreos, baby,’” Clark said, laughing. “You’re sitting there and you walk out, it’s not about a black or white thing at the end of the day.”
Chengelis notes that this is not an indictment of last year's team, but more of a positive step forward. That may be her being a bit gracious, though, since you would hope coaches and assistants (and upperclassmen) would notice any offense/defense or black/white cliquing behavior and work to address it as a matter of course. As Clark put it "(w)hen you go 7-6 -- when you lose that many games two years in a row, you start to sit down and think like something’s gotta change around here”. Indeed.
I applaud Clark for being forthright on this, and Wellman for addressing this, but I was a bit disappointed that cliques (and cliques based on race) were an issue last year. For all of that, it sounds as though Wellman is doing a great job of going beyond simply conditioning and strength training, and working on team building. He may lack Barwis's growl (most of us do), but he seems to be doing a fine job for the team and strikes me as an undervalued asset of the program.
I'm not sure how many sports teams the poster has played on where there are similar percentages of different races, but this idea is not unusual. Most people when they come into a new environment tend to flock to people they think are most similar to them. People in new environments look for comfort or familiarity. So, for example, lets say you take a freshman football player and he sees a group of players at two different tables in which the majority are of the same race, one white and one black. The vast majority of the time that new player will sit at the table of athletes that are the same race he/she is. This happens everywhere. This also happens for example at orientation for college or other places you see a lot of new people trying to assimilate. This is not rocket science. Look at any sports teams and you often find mostly white guys and mostly blacks guys together. I don't think this is neccessarily a knock on either, but just a reality of how humans behave, and if you don't purposefully think about or try to change it, it often occurs that way. But, I do like that the team is being intentional about helping everyone get to know each other better.
The other comment I have regarding the chemistry of the team last year is that I think a lot of has to do with Hoke's tendency to prioritize senior leadership. It seems evident that Hoke often gives seniors preferential treatment. For example, I get the impression that for a younger player to displace an older player he can't just be more talented or slightly better, the younger player has to be significanly better and more consistent before he can displace a senior. Also, Hoke tends to assume the seniors must be the leaders, in fact I've heard him say this. The seniors have gone on the Navy Seal trip in previous years. I think this causes problems when teams like last year's have such big freshman/sophomore classes when compared to the junior/senior classes, especially when the younger guys are playing. It makes for a difficult leadership scenario. Generally to lead to have to play well. When seniors don't play well or get displaced by freshman or sophomores, but those younger guys aren't given to the chance to lead it becomes difficult. I think that's what happened last year and why Hoke created a new system to recognize leaders in younger classes. I also think the big 2012 recruiting class becoming upperclassman will also help with this who should now take on a larger leadership role.