I want to start off by saying that I despise conflict and actively
go out of my way to avoid it. And while I don’t get involved in conflicts
often, the one I am going to talk about is rather interesting as it relates to
chapter 8, interpersonal and group dynamics, very well.
The conflict revolved around my junior varsity high school
soccer team. And while it would be reasonable to assume that conflicts would
happen often on a sports team, just by the nature of competition, this conflict
had nothing to do with our play. There were multiple circumstances that
ultimately lead to the conflict, which all happened before the season’s games
even began. It started with the creation of the team, all of whom tried out for
the varsity team and didn’t make it, so we were placed on the JV team. The
problem with this is the age difference, 75% of the team was juniors who saw
this as an opportunity or a stepping stone to then tryout again the next year
and hopefully get onto the varsity team. The other 25% were seniors who didn’t
make the cut to get onto the varsity team, and were given the option to join
the JV team to be leader or role models for the juniors. This lead to some of
the seniors slacking off during practices or not showing up at all. Another
factor that lead to the conflict was the choosing of the team captains, which
was done by a poll of the players, rather than by the coach. And with 75% of
the team being juniors, a junior captain was picked over a senior.
All of this culminated in one practice, before the season
began, when during a scrimmage, one of the senior players went in for a hard
tackle on a junior player. This resulted in harsh words being tossed out on
both sides, eventually the coach and the rest of the players got involved to
break it up but not before the damage could be done. Practice ended there and
the next day meetings were made between the juniors and the coach, and the
seniors and the coach, in order to figure out how to fix the issue. From the
junior’s side, we were frustrated with the seniors’ effort and dedication to
the team, and we felt that they were wasting our time by not putting in the
same kind of effort that we were. On the other side, the seniors were most likely
frustrated about not making the varsity team, and since it was their senior
year, some of them might have been feeling a bit of senioritis and concluded
that they didn’t need to put in 100% effort. The seniors also probably resented
the fact that the captain was a junior as they had been told by the coach that
they would be the leaders or role models on the team.
The resolution was a team-wide meeting where we discussed
many of our differences. Much of the discussion focused on things seen in
Argyris and Schön’s Model 2, like what our personal and team goals for the season
are. This discussion gave every player a better understanding of their role and
expectations on the team, and we came together as a team and had a successful season.
This whole conflict could have been avoided in several ways,
in my opinion. The person who I look at who could have diffused this situation
before it even escalated into a problem was the coach. He is a very laid back
coach, who wants to be friends with everyone, and while that’s good and my
circumstances, it’s not ideal when coaching a team. Relating it to chapter 8,
he has, what I would consider, a very passive style of coaching. If, instead,
he had chosen for higher advocacy, meaning telling players what he expects from
them, or him choosing the captain himself, there would have been much lower
chance of conflict. Or if he had taken a higher inquiry approach and asked what
the players were looking to get out of being on this team, he would have potentially
seen the low work ethic of the seniors coming and some something to remedy it
before it became an issue. All in all though, each side could have acted better
to potentially have avoided conflict, but in the end the conflict was resolved
fairly cleanly, without any lasting repercussions.
The dynamics you describe probably are present in many years on the junior varsity. If so, do you know whether this sort of conflict arises with some regularity? In that case the coach might have learned from the past experience and managed it better, even if he was inclined to be laid back otherwise.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, this might have been a new problem for the coach, something that hadn't happened in the past. I wonder if you know which of those is correct. If you do know this, it would have been good to include it in the story.
Likewise, you really didn't say much about how playing time during actual games was determined. Being on the team is one thing, but presumably team members want to play rather than be on the sidelines. That should be true for the seniors and the juniors alike. If the best players (and how best is determined let's not specify just yet) are the ones who get to play the most, might that have been a way out of this?
If there is some competition during practice to determine who the best players are, the slacking off in practice is rational only if: (a) the player knows already they'll play a lot or (b) the player knows already they won't play a lot. Slacking should not happen if there is genuine uncertainty about how much the player will play. In (a) above, the player is acting like a prima donna, not a leader. The coach needs to pull the player aside and ask for more from the player. In (b) above, there probably is not much that can be done. It's immature behavior but something to be expected.
You did say that not making the varsity is a big disappointment. That is understandable. But some people move on from disappointments. Other people quit. If some seniors quit rather than join the JV, that would have helped in your story. There wouldn't have been conflict with those kids, but their mindset would help me as reader understand the issues at hand that brought about the conflict.