Organizations : Football
Throughout high school, I competed in
one of the most competitive football programs in the entire state of Illinois. We
went undefeated freshman, sophomore, and junior year to eventually lose my
first high school game in the state championship of the 7A playoffs. We
experienced this amount of success right after our high school experienced one
of the most notorious hazing scandals in Illinois high school football history.
However, no matter what my team went through, we did it as a team. We won as a
team, lost as a team, did homework as a team, and even bled as a team. Being
able to put the scandal behind us and still experience this grade of success is almost
unheard of. Although, if any team could persevere, it was my high school football
team. All of this was possible through
hard work and unmatchable organization from our top-notch coaching staff. My
football team was more than just a team, it was a brotherhood. This enabled a higher level of trust amongst the individuals on the team which correlated to a higher rate of success.
My coaching
staff was assembled of some of the most qualified individuals from around the
state. We had multiple coaches with over forty years of high school football
experience and even our kicker coach was semi-pro. The staff was recruited by our head coach. He started his career off as a head coach for a new high
school nearby and led this fresh team to the playoffs six of the seven years he
coached them which truly shows he possesses the “one boss” structure. The “one
boss” structure is when one individual in charge distributes the tasks to his subordinates and organizes the entire group with direct communication. Even though he held a position of power in the organization, he was sure to use both task and relationship management to ensure the optimal level of success was reached. He planned out every practice in six-minute segments which contained a specific plan for each individual position and kept us on a tight-knit and efficient practice schedule. Our previous coaches did not do this and you
could see the lack of preparation on the field. With my coaches “one boss”
structure we succeeded as a team and the lessons I learned were invaluable. My coaches were a huge influence on my teammates and I and I can honestly
say that I consider each and every one of them a friend to me.
Though my
coach was in charge of the organization we were in charge of the execution. To
be a high-functioning team we all had to exceed the coaches expectations in
multiple fields which include: on-field execution, discipline, and holding our teammates
accountable. For on-field execution we had to memorize countless offensive and defensive
schemes and it was on us to watch the film and understand our opponent more than
they understood us. Discipline was a huge aspect of our team as well, as we had
to have two-a-days for almost four years straight. A two-a-day is when you have
two practices in one day, which is physically and mentally demanding. I believe our coach was so hard on us to make the actual games seem like a cakewalk in terms of physicality. The repercussions
for failing to attend or showing up late were not fun and it taught me incredible time
and stress management skills that I still cherish to this day. Lastly, if
one of us failed we all failed which made us one unit. Many teams cannot call
themselves one unit and that is what separated us from our competition. These characteristics
of our team distinguished us and made us a high-functioning organization. The
lessons I learned from football has made me a better person and I know the
lessons translate to life in the real world as well. Even though a "one boss" structure is extremely effective in terms of task delegation, it is up the organization as a whole to pave the road to success.
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ReplyDeleteI must say I know nothing about high school football, in Illinois or elsewhere. My kids didn't play and when I was in high school we didn't even have a team. So I come to this subject ignorant and I hope open minded.
DeleteThat said, I couldn't let go of your mention of the hazing scandal. So I Googled that and found some links to articles about it in the Chicago Tribune. It seems to me that since you mentioned it, at a minimum you should have said whether there were players and coaches on the team from before the scandal broke. It seemed to me that even if the people weren't directly involved it would weigh heavy on them, and thereby impact team performance. As you said the team was incredibly successful thereafter, I have to wonder how that was overcome.
Also, since I'm reading the posts of your classmates as well, and trying to learn from them as best as I can, I will tell you that another student wrote about his high school baseball team, which didn't fare nearly as well as your football team did. He was from a small town school and he reported they competed against other schools that had more resources. So I'm basing this comment on that, not what you wrote. Might your school have had some boosters who gave resources to the coaches which partly was the reason for the team's success? I got that there was great camaraderie among the players and coaching staff, but might resources matter too? If you tried to look at this scientifically, you'd look at the history of those teams that did well and map that against school size and median household income in the community. If you ever saw the movie, Hoosiers, the story is compelling because it went against that stereotype. The camaraderie among the players and coaching staff was there, but the resources were not. So it can happen, but it rarely does.
I was also surprised that you didn't say what position you played, what type of encouragement you got from your family, and whether there were any perqs from being on the team outside of the playing itself, such as being popular with other students at the school. These things would help me as a reader understand why the bond you say was created among the team was so strong.
Then I wondered if you play IM football now and if it produces anything like the same experience for you.
Now let me get a bit more technical about translating the B&D material to what you said. There was a coaching staff for the team. How many coaches were there? If there were several coaches and one head coach, with the other coaches under the head coach, and the players still under the entire coaching staff, that structure is a simple hierarchy, not one boss. In a one boss structure, everyone else is equal. But assistant coaches are not equal to players.
Also, because I know a little about college football, in some sense Lovie Smith is not the boss of the football team, though he is the head coach. Lovie Smith reports to Josh Whitman, the Athletic Director. Josh Whitman reports to the Chancellor.
I don't know how it works in high school, whether the head coach for football is also a teacher or not, whether there is a department head for physical education at an intermediate layer under the principal of the school. But you should consider that there may be some top management that is largely invisible to the players but that does matter for team performance. It's something else to consider.
I was a sophomore when the scandal broke so during our state championship run, the senior class had been directly involved in the scandal. They used it as a fire of motivation and persevered to go to state. There was constant jeering from other schools in the stands and on the field and we embraced this and used it to channel our anger on our opponent.
DeleteOur school had a booster program which raised thousands yearly through donations and a coupon card drive which each player participated in. We also had an Nike sponsorship where we got new jerseys yearly. This helped us as we had state of the art equipment and facilities to practice and walked out very intimidatingly in our new gear. We do not fit the Hoosier stereotype but we still overcame a great deal of adversity.
I played wide receiver and linebacker but predominantly linebacker. My family came to every game and cheered on my teammates and I. It was a great experience taking photos with them on the field after every win. There was a social perk to being on the team, as there was a lot of respect from the students. All of the players hung out all day in school, all day at practice, and bonded in our leisure time which helped reinforce the relationships we made on the field.
I decided not to play intramural football as my body is not fully healthy at the moment. I am working on rehabbing my hip from a bad fall I took playing basketball last summer.
There was about 15 coaches for the team but they were all under the head coach. My head coach did report to the athletic director however, he did not interact too much with the team so he was practically obsolete. The athletic director reported to the principal who reported to the superintendent. This may be a simple hierarchy but the amount of respect the head coach earned puts him on a different plane as the other coaches. My head coach was actually also my English teacher and is also commanded by the department head of the English department. Although, his classes never discussed football so I barely even think of him as a teacher, rather just a coach.