29 April 2012

Some points on team selection...

A long time ago I used to row.

I rowed a lot.

I wasn't the best...not by a long shot, but I was pretty good.

Rowing is, for the most part, a team sport...unless you're in a single. Some might say technically that's sculling...but whatever. Sculling can also happen in a team format. I did a lot of sculling, too, and I'm just calling it all rowing. So the two rowers reading this who are getting all twisted about nomenclature, chill out.

A team usually means more than one person. Generally, there is a process for selecting the members of a team. It can be as simple as two (or more) people looking at each other and saying, "Hey! Let's be a team!" And when there are the exact same number of people looking at each other as the size of the team requires, things are usually quite straightforward. Everyone makes the team!


Happy, happy :)


But sometimes it gets complicated.

For example, sometimes there are more people interested in being on the team than the size of the team will allow. This situation requires an actual selection process. A selection process can happen in a myriad of ways, some of which are listed below...note: this is not a finite list:
  1. Some of the people realize that the intensity of the other interested parties is greater than/less than their own, and they maturely recuse themselves from the mix.
  2. Some of the people think they see these differences and immaturely start excluding the 'undesirable(s)' from team communications with no conversation.
  3. A series of selection criteria might be utilized. The criteria could be closely related to the team event or could be completely seemingly inconsequential...or something in between.
  4. A vote might be taken (a popularity contest, if you will).
  5. Some might resort to bribery or blackmail (buying or weaseling their way onto the team).
  6. A coach (or selection committee) might step in. 
In any event, once you get more people into the mix, someone is bound to get left out. It is never really fair. And feelings are almost always hurt. And no matter how determined one is to not take it personally, not making the team always stings. There has to be a reason. And you have to know it. It feels a lot like getting dumped.

In all those years of rowing, I learned some valuable lessons about team selection. The first is this: whenever you put yourself out there, remember you are doing it by choice...no one is making you do it. Number two...however the sh*t shakes out is how it is and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it this time. (Well, except some people do complain about Olympic team selection and take coaches and committees to court ...yes, coaches and committees do bogus crap sometimes). You can hope to be better prepared next time...if it is, indeed, what you really want. And if you're not interested in trying again, you might want to look at that and ask yourself as you're feeling pissed off at not making the team, "How badly did I really want it?" The third really important thing I took away from team selection processes was this: unless you are a superstar (not just in your mind but in actuality) or a favorite (yes, coaches and committees do play favorites), you have to get yourself in a position somehow in which the coach or committee cannot turn you down...you have to create such a strength of presence that in some way shows you are invaluable to the team. 

Or you could just go form your own team. 

It took being left off of a LOT of teams for me to learn all of these lessons. Getting cut two days before Nationals was no fun and was pretty demoralizing. Three and a half years of training to finally get to race for the first time as a senior in college was emotionally grueling. Being a member of the fastest boat in training and having it torn apart by the coach less than a week before the big race pissed us all off. There are so many stories I could share... remember, I rowed for a long time.

The bottom line is this...

A selection process comes with a certain amount of subjectivity unless it is set up to be purely objective. When there is a review, when the decisions are placed in the hands of individuals instead of based upon marks on a tally sheet outlining specific points to be rotely accrued or the time shown by the hands (or digits) of a clock or placement in a trials race, opinions and taste and entrant cohesiveness come into play. Team selection is rarely a random process. As with all areas of life, when you give it your best shot and you fall short of the mark, the best way to handle it is to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, take pride in knowing you did your darndest and start prepping for the next go-round. 


25 comments:

  1. Off topic, a friend of mine rows, and she has the strongest upper body of any woman I've ever met. Awesomeness.
    Other than that, well-written post as usual, and much-needed in our current tee-ball society ("Everybody gets a trophy!").

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  2. Any post that slips in the word nomenclature so seamlessly is tops in my book. The additional greatness is just gravy. Agree, agree, agree. Not getting picked sucks. Having a clear-eyed view of your own abilities helps with that a little. Or even a lower-than-realistic picture of what you can do...then everything is a pleasant surprise. :)

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  3. Very well written. I too like the use of "nomenclature". :D

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  4. Well written and I totally agree. Playing sports my whole life I also have learned this lesson time and again. Never fun, but it always made me stronger and gave me thicker skin (which came in handy for job hunting, lots of rejection there!).

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  5. In middle school - I was a social outcast and scrawny - as a result i was ALWAYS the last person picked for a team during PE. 42+ years later - I still remember what it feels like to be the person no one to wanted on their team. But the good thing that came out of that is it made me self sufficient, tough and resilient.

    And I've heard a lot of horror stories in regards to Olympic and National team selection back when I was speedskating. You would think the clock would be the definite indicator - but it's not....

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  6. Lots of complications for team selection, especially when it's actually a team, like rowing, where everybody has to be in tune. That being in tune is more important than being a superstar. A rowing "team" with one superstar out of tune with the rest of the group is not a team and probably isn't fast. How to select a team that can row well together is far beyond me, but tearing apart a fast team just before a big race doesn't sound productive.

    I, too, am a big fan of nomenclature.

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    1. One thing about the being in tune...coaches and selectors will try to create combos that work well together. It isn't always about the best numbers or shiningest superstar :) Interestingly, it is that 'personal' part that often creates a lot of confusion or frustration on the part of those not selected.

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  7. I admired anyone on the crew team at our high school...it never even occurred to me to ask anyone if they were any good. :) love the details to the process you laid out here!

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  8. Hahah. I know what you're referring to, for the most part! :) But I've had this same conversation with my kids many times. Brendan tried out for the Blue Nights Drum and Bugle Corp and didn't make it (well, he made alternate, which is pretty spectacular considering he's only a sophomore...rarely do sophomores make it...and made alternate!! ) but it was tough to swallow and as a parent, it was hard to see the kid's heart break. But I think it also made him realize that you have to really work hard for the things that don't come easy in life. He'll work a lot harder I bet for next year's tryouts. Which is good, but where the hell am I going to come up with 4k for him to partake? Yikes! :/

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  9. Kinda deep. Back to preschool hijinx tomorrow? :) Really, though - good stuff.

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    1. Last post was about the fashionistas at the gym...had to go deep :P

      This station will now return to its regularly scheduled program on potty-training ;-)

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  10. I like the post, but I think it feels a little detached...would be more interesting if you discussed what compelled you to write it.

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    1. I have long wanted to write a post on this topic. Currently there is a bit of discussion swirling about in blogland regarding the Nuun Hood to Coast Relay team. After reading a number of comments and postings about the difficulties people were having with some of the decisions (whether pertaining to who WAS or who WASN'T chosen) in the selecting of the team, I decided to throw in my personal experience with team selection processes. Yes, I did earn a spot on the team...but I could just as easily not have. I've been in that position many, many times. For a myriad of reasons :)

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    2. I don't live in blogland, so I'm not familiar with the rules or politics, and I wasn't trying to get you to say something you didn't want to say, but I did have a feeling this was stemming from the recent relay team picks. If your post had included the above paragraph, it would have seemed more relevant. (if you're looking for that type of feedback...if not, then sorry for overstepping).

      Congrats on being chosen, by the way! I did watch your video and it made me chuckle more than once.

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  11. If this is what I think it's about, it really bums me out. First they put out a product that does nothing more than take money out of your pocket. Then they encourage a situation which seems to create bad blood between people who would otherwise be friends? I thought this stuff we do is supposed to be healthy and fun.

    Mind you, I never hate the player, just the game. And this particular game sucks. True, it usually takes all parties involved to create a proper clusterf*ck. But the way I see it, the marketing manipultion here is downright shameful.

    PS - I like your comment about creating your own team. That's what I did. It's not easy and rarely perfect, but you get back 10x what you put in, certainly in terms of personal satisfaction.

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    1. I'm not dissing Nuun and how they made their decisions. Quite the contrary. I wanted to bring to light that it really is tough on all sides of the team selection equation. And when you go for it, you need to be prepared for whatever that might bring. Sometimes it's disappointment, sometimes it's elation, and it can be everything in between...and then some.

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  12. I think I'm too controlling to be successful on a team, I hate depending on people :)

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  13. I knew what you were referring too, and thankfully I'm not privy to any of the controversies surrounding this. This is also why I didn't apply.

    Well written and to the point. :)

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  14. merely using the ergo kicks my arse--so much respect for rowers. Well stated. I love being part of a team and playing college softball taught me so many transferable skills.

    This was well written XL! Selecting members for a team is HARD across the board and it never changes. If I ever become a mom, this will be one of the hardest things to explain to the kiddos.

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  15. Luckily I've always been middle-of-the-packer in sports. Athletics have never been my forte - I enjoy playing, but lack the god-given talent. And I gotta agree with one of the comments above... I'm way to in-control and organized to ENJOY teams. I hate depending on people. I didn't make the Nuun team, but I was ok with that. It was a toss up for me anyway... since HTC is always the weekend of my daughter's birthday. I told my hubs if I get selected, I run. If not, I throw a kick-ass party for my 6 yr old. I'm better at the latter anyway... :)

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  16. Well said, as always. :) I do hope that everyone on all sides of this works through their frustrations and difficulties and comes out the other side better for it. It's definitely been a learning experience for me in many ways this last week and happily, I feel okay about it all.

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  17. I have been more often on the side who picks the team than on the side of wanting to be on the team. It is not easy to pick a team and to cut people off. Some choices are obvious and easy but others are just a gamble. 2 things are always happening in the end no matter what:
    Some People are smiling and happy and
    Some People are dissapointed and feeling crappy.

    I think in life it is important to take chances and go for things you want to be a part of and rejection IS part of life. I tell my kids that it is important to TRY. You dont try you get NOTHING

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  18. Ren and Stimpy! Man I have missed them. Only the first incarnation, not when they came back after the hiatus and they weren't as funny. Rubber Neeeples.

    Figured it was Nuun related. Because it's not based on something objective (i.e. speed or experience or whatever) there is always going to be politics and subsequent controversy.

    I'm glad I didn't apply, I don't want to deal with that stuff.

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  19. Very apropos post for me right now- I've been thinking lately that there IS an *I* in "team" and *I* certainly get pissed when left out of whatever the "team" decides. I can only imagine the politics behind this but hope that everything gets worked out for the better- Nuun has something a lot of people (even me) want, a spot on that team, I'm not surprised it comes at a cost!

    BTW, log, log, log, log... ;)

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