Members of the team gather around their duct taped teammate after they successfully completed their task.

Building Team Chemistry through the Power of Duct Tape

By: Skylar Nosker

Posted: 12/12/08

By Skylar Nosker
slnosker@tbirds.cloud.edu
We all recognize success when we see a sports team play stellar, and we all see defeat when we see a team struggling. What we don't see is the chemistry of the players when they're out on the court, field or track, nor the chemistry that is being built off the field.
During off-season workouts, Head Softball Coach Aaron Acree has his team work on more than just softball. He throws in activities for his young student athletes to help them build team chemistry.
One activity Acree had his team do was to have them figure out a way to duct tape a player to the wall so that she would hang there for five minutes without falling off. The team members had to work together and could use as much time as they needed to complete the task.
The first decision the team had to make together was to pick who would be duct taped to the wall. The lucky player was freshman Whitney Gillman. Gillman, however, didn't mind being the one taped to the wall.
"Being picked to hang on the wall didn't bother me," Gillman said. "I had to do my part to help out the team."
The next step for the girls was to figure out how they were going to securely hold Gillman up on the wall without her falling.
"We had to make sure to secure the arms, feet, and torso first, then we gave her a "diaper" to hold up the weight of her torso," freshman Kalea Bridges said.
Gillman had complete trust in her teammates.
"I fully trusted my teammates. I knew they would find a way to keep me hanging up there for five minutes," Gillman said.
As for the task at hand they were able to hold her up on the wall for the full five minutes. The objective of the activity was also a success as the team felt it helped improve team chemistry.
"(Improving team chemistry) actually did work. Everyone had some input as to what would be the best way to secure her weight in the different areas. We actually thought about all of it first before we put the tape on her," Bridges said.
Bridges feels these exercises are a must to help strengthen the team.
"We have to do team building exercises to build trust in one another so that way we strengthen the heart and soul of the team," Bridges said.
Most of the exercises that help build team chemistry happen away from the softball field.
"We'll eat dinner at coach's house, have a study hall so that we can help each other in our classes, and most of the time we would go out to eat after a tournament and sit together and talk about the game and review ourselves and each individual team member too," Bridges said.
"Whether we're on or off the field, we have to be a strong group of people in order to get what is needed to be done - whether that be in school work, free time, when we're on the field, in the locker room pitching, in study hall, working out at weights, or pushing ourselves and the rest of our team members while doing our running," she added.
Being able to have unity with your teammates off the field is the starting point to having a successful team.
"Team chemistry off the field is what really builds a team, not just being a group of people on a field playing a sport. It takes lots of work and dedication to build a team and I give coach lots of credit because he has put lots of time into building this team slowly, and I know that there is a lot more work to do with us girls," Bridges said.