Army Crew Team

682 Words3 Pages
The Army Crew Team In the case, Coach P. is presented with an ongoing problem with his Varsity rowing team at West Point. Compared to the Junior Varsity Team, members rank higher in strength, endurance, and technique. However, when the Varsity is put head to head with the JV team, they are losing more than two-thirds of the time. This situation has put Coach P. in a stressful state of trying to figure out why the results were happening. By doing several experiments and bringing in a professional on team building skills, Coach P. came to the conclusion that the Varsity rowing team was struggling in working as a single unit and teamwork, which is very important towards rowing in perfect synchronization. To be successful in rowing, all eight members on the boat must perform at the same pace and trust in one another. If one rower makes a mistake, then trust should allow the other members to not compensate and trust the member will get back in the groove. On the Varsity squad, however, there is no real trust bond. They don’t sit next to each other at practice; they criticize one another, and email the coach about certain team members who aren’t pulling their weight. The reason the Varsity team lost to the JV team is because they don’t depend on one another to carry out the team’s goals, they are only concerned with individual performance. The chants of the JV team represent togetherness and winning/losing as a whole, but the Varsity squad has no desire to lose as a team, only to win as an individual and blame loses on others. This problem could have been seen earlier in the season and could have been addressed differently. Instead of combating the situation by moving individuals among teams and monitoring individual performance, have some time dedicated to team building exercises. This could be as simple as taking the Varsity team and JV team out to
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