BECOMING A TEAM 

As a high school dance team coach, each season I hear dancers comparing last year to this one and inevitably I hear, “We’re just not as close as last year, we just aren’t the same type of team.” What the dancers don’t realize is that you can’t compare the bonds a team had at the end of a season to those at the beginning of a new season. It would be like comparing the relationship of a couple on their first date to a couple that had been married for years. The closeness and trust just doesn’t come overnight.

Following is a piece I wrote for my team in mid season to let them know that “No, we aren’t the same as last year, because each year is different and unique in its own way, but we are becoming a TEAM.”

WHAT MAKES US A TEAM?

We have worked so hard, and bit by bit we are becoming a TEAM. We all play a role in this organization. 

Some of us are the ones pushing, some of us are the ones pulling, some of us are the ones hanging on for dear life, some of us are the ones who dust off those who fall, some of us give pats on the back, some of us are the smile to a teammate in need, some of us are the kick in the butt we need, some of us are the dance team police keeping everyone else in line, some of us are the nodders giving positive affirmation to those leading, some of us are the comedians who keep us all laughing, some of us quietly go about the business of dancing--we don’t hear you often, but we always know we can count on your dedication and presence. 

It takes a lot of different people to make a team, but we have all of the ingredients. Try not to judge and fret over where everyone fits in or who is doing what. Just do your part and that team feeling will happen. Trust me!

As we go into the competitive season please remember this: We are not just competing against other teams. We are competing against ourselves to improve on how we did last week, yesterday, and even this morning. The ultimate competition lies with ourselves; To constantly be striving to do it better than it has ever been done before. We cannot ride on the accolades of the dance teams that came before us. We need to lay new ground to make our own path. Set new records. Earn our own glory. That will be the one and only way you will experience the “high” I have talked about. You need to make it happen! No one can do it for you. The team needs to blaze its own trail. We can do it with teamwork!

Quotes to share with teams:

“Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way!”

“Winning isn’t everything striving for excellence is. It is the trying and caring that is important. Winning is a BONUS!”

“Be a Winning Dance Team

Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all-time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all of the time. WINNING is a HABIT. Unfortunately, so is losing.”

“It’s a reality of life that we are all competitive. It’s why we practice day in and day out. To achieve excellence. To win.”

“In truth, I’ve never known a dancer of any worth who in the long run, deep down in their heart, didn’t appreciate the GRIND, the CLIMB, and the DISCIPLINE. There is something in all good young people that really yearns for discipline and a challenge.”

“I firmly believe that your finest memories, the ultimate fulfillment, will be the moments when you have worked your heart out for a good cause and lie exhausted in your field of battle, VICTORIOUS!”

“Perseverance is that hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”

Take it one day at a time. 

Really! Don’t keep making a mental list of I-Have-To-Do’s. Just handle what you can handle. Eliminate stuff you really don’t have to do. Enjoy moments. Really try to take pleasure in small things. They are life’s true joy. 

Take time for you. Dance team coaches are givers. We need to take time for ourselves, too!

Cindy Clough