Throughout the first two and a half years on my school's crew team, we had a culture that had more of a social agenda than of driven competitive one, we had coaches come and go, and the overall atmosphere was inconsistent and without purpose. Individuals interest varied greatly and there lacked a vision, but overall people were satisfied with the status quo. The reality was we were 30 boys in the desert trying to keep up with well established, financed, and consistently coached teams. In order to break this cycle, a dramatic change to our culture would have to occur. Unbeknownst to the team, that transition was about to take place. This surprise came as our head coach, a day before an out-of-state Regatta, was terminated. Upon receiving the
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At this point, the coach met with us and agreed with our ideas and noted that the only way this would happen is: "you boys taking on the leadership roles and never wavering from your commitment". From that day forward, our team began its transition to a competitive, well respected program in the Southwest. Before we could go about changing our culture, we needed to set goals that had never been set before. Our primary goal was to place at a national Regatta. Soon after setting these ambitious goals, we were notified that our only water source was going to be drained for our entire spring season, bringing our team morale to an all time low. Again, we needed to reinvent our path without changing our goals. Our training was going to be the most intense we had ever experienced as a team. Regardless of how I felt or how a practice went, I knew I had a responsibility to lead the team through the goals we set. This meant not only taking care of myself during practice, and maintaining academics, but also reaching out to those who struggled the most. This was a pivotal moment. It became became evident to my coach and then to myself, I was not leading alone. Every member of the team took on new responsibilities and showed greater commitment than we had ever seen. In conclusion we achieved our goals: the team medaled at Regional, Scholastic, and Youth National Championships. The attention from this success resulted in recorded high new recruits, which nearly doubled our team
At this point, the coach met with us and agreed with our ideas and noted that the only way this would happen is: "you boys taking on the leadership roles and never wavering from your commitment". From that day forward, our team began its transition to a competitive, well respected program in the Southwest. Before we could go about changing our culture, we needed to set goals that had never been set before. Our primary goal was to place at a national Regatta. Soon after setting these ambitious goals, we were notified that our only water source was going to be drained for our entire spring season, bringing our team morale to an all time low. Again, we needed to reinvent our path without changing our goals. Our training was going to be the most intense we had ever experienced as a team. Regardless of how I felt or how a practice went, I knew I had a responsibility to lead the team through the goals we set. This meant not only taking care of myself during practice, and maintaining academics, but also reaching out to those who struggled the most. This was a pivotal moment. It became became evident to my coach and then to myself, I was not leading alone. Every member of the team took on new responsibilities and showed greater commitment than we had ever seen. In conclusion we achieved our goals: the team medaled at Regional, Scholastic, and Youth National Championships. The attention from this success resulted in recorded high new recruits, which nearly doubled our team