Taming Bacchus

Kyle Barrett is a serious ultimate disc player. He became involved in the sport-which is a bit like soccer only with a flying disc-in middle school and played competitively in high school. When he went to college at a small liberal arts school in the Pacific Northwest, he was excited to find the school had an ultimate disc team.

His excitement quickly turned to dismay when he found the team members were more interested in partying than playing. Kyle remembers this about his first year on the team: "The team really had this sort of fraternity culture in that there was light hazing, drinking was a priority, and tournaments were about parties, not competition. The team threw a lot of parties and had this reputation for exclusivity." Even the team's name, Bacchus (the Roman god of wine and drunkenness), reflected this culture. Kyle found a like-minded soul in his teammate Harrison, and together they sought to turn the club team into a program that operated on a more competitive level.

The pair was chosen as team co-captains and began to share their deeper knowledge of the sport with the team. They also communicated their aspirations for success. This flew in the face of some team members who were there for the parties. As one player put it, "You were either down with it, or you decided it was too intense and you left the club." The two captains knew that the team's culture wasn't going to change just because they wanted it to. They also knew that they couldn't be captains, coach the team, and be players at the same time.

So they began taking a number of steps to help the team change its own culture. First, they brought in Mario O'Brien, a well-known ultimate disc coach, to help guide the team and teach the players skills and strategy. The team had had other coaches in the past, but none of those had the knowledge, experience, or reputation that O'Brien did. "That really took some forethought," says a player, "to be able to step back and say, ‘What does this team really need to become a strong program?' And then making a move to bring in someone of O'Brien's stature."

After a few weeks of practice with O'Brien, the captains and coach organized a team dinner. Before the dinner they asked each player to anonymously submit in writing what he thought of the team and what he wanted to see the team be. "There were no rules-just say what you need to say," says a player. Each submission was read aloud and discussed by team members. "No one was put in the position of having to publically speak out and be embarrassed in front of the others," says a player. "We came out of that meeting more together, more bonded as a team. We hashed out a lot of issues, and came to the realization that we were looking for the same goals.

The process helped filter out those who weren't as committed to those goals, but not in a confrontational way." The goals agreed to at that dinner meeting were for the team to do well enough at the sectional competition to obtain a berth at the national collegiate competition. But the team was young with a number of inexperienced players, which sometimes caused stress frustration, and friction. The captains, however, continued to have multiple meetings to talk about concerns, discussed the team's goals before and after each practice, and organized social events (with a minimum of drinking) where team members engaged in activities together other than playing ultimate disc.

Older, more experienced players began mentoring the younger, newer players to help them improve their skills. Even Harrison, who was an exceptional offensive player, put himself on the defensive line to help improve those players' skills. While it wasn't optimal for his own enjoyment and playing abilities, he felt it was needed to help improve the team. Bacchus reached its goals two years later; it came in second at sectionals and earned a spot in the national competition.

After the team completed its last game at nationals, Kyle and Harrison gathered the team members together in a circle. "We accomplished something more than being here today," Kyle said. "We've become a family with goals, and with respect for one another and for our game. And that's a better victory than any other."

Questions

1. What changes were Kyle and Harrison trying to make? How did these changes affect the beliefs, attitudes, or values of the players?

2. Were the challenges the team faced technical, technical and adaptive, or adaptive? What examples can you give to explain your answer?

3. Citing examples, explain how the captains engaged in each of these adaptive leader behaviors: (1) get on the balcony, (2) identify adaptive challenges, (3) regulate distress, (4) maintain disciplined attention, (5) give the work back to people, and (6) protect leadership voices from below.

4. Describe the holding environment that the co-captains created for the team. Do you think it was successful? Why or why not?