Tuesday, April 12, 2011

I am so Mad at You! :(


WHAT:
Every team usually has some\ conflict that arises.  This conflict is not always handled in the most efficient way.  There usually is a sense of fear when conflicts arise because no one wants to upset the other members of the team. Conflict is defined as Conflict Definition. Internal conflict was extremely prevalent during my Junior Lacrosse season. Because the conflict was never made public our coach was terminated.  An example of a person realizing conflicts importance is found at Importance of Conflict.
SO WHAT:
      My Junior year of high school, a club team for girl's lacrosse was formed.  My best friends and I decided that we were going to join the team.  In our mind we felt cool that we were going to pioneer this sport for our school.  All seemed to be going well. We had what seemed like an awesome new coach that seemed really knowledgeable, a board of directors that was extremely supportive, and a group of girls that were extremely excited to begin learning the game of lacrosse.
      However, this started to derail quickly.  The coach was not able to perform to the best of her ability.  She always was skipping practice and games.  Even when she came to these events, she never was completely with it.  Her multiple boyfriends would show up to the games and practices. She even would come to the games intoxicated.  None of these instances were okay but because we were so scared to say anything nothing got done.  Honestly, if we had spoken up we would have had the problem solved immediately but we were too nervous and let the situation grow as the season went on. 
     Every game and practice we would be unsure of whether our coach would even be there or not. None of us would speak up though and that was our ultimate downfall.  Our fear of conflict continuously derailed the season.  We had the potential for a winning season but that was overshadowed by our inability to speak up. 
     
NOW WHAT:
   I learned that to have things run smoothly in a team then any source of conflict can be turned into a positive.  If you avoid speaking the truth and bottling all your emotions up then you run the risk of exploding.  I will now speak up when I deem it appropriate.  As long as I speak my mind in an ethical, unbiased manner then I think any source of conflict can be discussed. 
    The coach of the team ended up getting fired before the end of the season.  She was no longer allowed to even come to any of our games.  The parents and the board of directors deemed her a risk to not only to us kids but also the club as a whole.  Some basic information can be found at General Conflict Information. This website discusses why conflict is not as big of a problem as people think as well as conflict resolution tactics.