Winter Athletes Reflect on Team Culture

At the beginning of each sports season BBA teams come up with three words to describe what they want their culture to be for the rest of their season. Dave Miceli, Burr and Burton’s athletic director describes the process: “[It] starts with the idea of being intentional about who you want to become. Teams and team leaders have a discussion of how they want to be described [by students, coaches, or competitors]. Everyone suggests words, and from there [the words] are narrowed down until the team finds [three] words they all agree upon. The exercise involves the students examining what are the things that get in the way of their words and what actions they can take so those behaviors aren’t a part of who they are. We use the words to help remind us who we want to be at practice, games, [or simply on the] bus.”

As we near the halfway point of the winter sports season, we asked captains of winter sports teams to reflect on the three words they picked in the beginning of the season by answering two simple questions: What are your words, and how do these words impact your team's culture? Each team has a diverse set of words and a complex description of why those words matter to them. Though some teams may have similar words, the definitions of these words differ. Each team has their own individual culture and values, which is why it's so important that teams explain what their words truly mean to them.

Tristan Prescott ‘23, a captain of the girls gymnastics team, responded with this:  “The Burr and Burton Gymnastics team picked the words Positive, Commitment, and Power. We picked [those] words to help our performance in the gym and to help outline our expectations for each other as teammates. We chose Positive to remind each other how important it is to have a growth mindset and be willing to learn and grow in our sport. We chose Commitment because we want everyone to be committed to the team but also committed to goals and skills [in order] to stay safe. Finally, we chose Power because our sport requires a powerful body and a powerful mind. We must be strong and fearless.

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These words have helped us bond as a team. Coming up with the words helps show what each person valued and how they may need support throughout the season.”

Calum Morell '24, captain of the boys basketball team, says:  “Our three words are Poise, Family, and Grit. We picked these words because we want to have Poise in tough situations, we want to be as close as a Family, and we want to play with Grit. These words help us keep each other in check and allow us to become closer as a team.”

Kalein Downey ‘24, a captain of the girls hockey team, responded with: “[Our words are] United, Passionate, [and] Encouraging. These words are three things we lacked last year. We wanted a different team, and so we chose words that would help us become a better team on and off the ice, and we are a better team.”

Jack Waller ‘23, a captain of the rock climbing team says: “The BBA Climbing team chose Determination, Trust, and Ingenuity because these words [play an] essential role in our sport. 

To start, Determination is by far one of the most important factors to stand by for any sport, but when it comes to climbing, we need to keep our head in the game and focus on solving what’s ahead of us. 

Second, half of climbing is Trust. We put our life in our friends' hands making it an extremely dangerous sport. Whether it’s 20 feet or 200 feet, when we climb we need to use utmost safety and be able to trust our friends, and gear that could spare us a serious injury.  

Lastly, where would climbers be without Ingenuity? On the wall, we need to basically figure out a puzzle. We take in everything above our heads and prepare ourselves for the next few moves, and without problem solving skills that’s not exactly easy. When it comes to gear, climbers make and use cams, bolts, atc’s, ascenders, and anything else to get vertical, but all that came from the people that know the sport, and engineer these things to make sure the sport lives on. (And allow it at a school of course).”

Eli White ‘23, a captain of the alpine skiing team says: “Fast, Fun, Grit. These words describe the alpine team. We picked these words because they are a great representation of the team. The goal is to be as fast as possible. We are always having Fun, even when conditions are poor . . . one needs a level of Grit to successfully skip a race course. Nothing about ski racing is perfect; it is all about managing mistakes and moving on. Grit is how you move past these mistakes and have successful races. As a team these are the words that describe our sport and remind us of what is needed to have a successful run and season.”

 

Sadie Stefanak ‘24, Ainerose Souza ‘24, and Julia Decker ‘24, all captains of the girls basketball team, said:  “[Our words are] Driven, Effervescent, Fiery.  We chose these words because they perfectly describe our group as a collective whole. 

Driven because we all have a common goal and we are willing to face any adversity in our path to get to what we can do. Effervescent because we are all pretty enthusiastic people and are outgoing in all situations. Just happy to be there. Fiery because we got some personality but it all mends together in the big picture. 

These words impact our culture because they are part of our expectations outside of what’s expected. In order to have an impact on girls varsity basketball, our words are something to help motivate you to be at your best for those around you. By taking these expectations seriously, girls varsity basketball will achieve the loftiest goals.”

Max Brownlee ‘24 a captain of the boys hockey team responded with,“Our 3 words are Driven, United, Competitive. We chose each of these words because we believe that they all reflect who we are on and off the ice. 

We chose Driven because we want to pursue excellence every single day whether that’s in practice or in games. We chose United because we believe that if we are united it will establish trust within the team which will have benefits on and off the ice. We chose Competitive because one of our goals for the season was to be competitive in every single game as well as every practice.”

Good luck to all BBA athletes and teams as we move into the second half of the season! 

Boys Basketball photo by Elijah Blesofsky.
Gymnastics photo courtesy of the gymnastics team.