Coach Precezewski should give the varsity team some insight on how a group and team should work. Since the varsity team has other hardships like, being the best individually as well as a collective. The true essence of why they gathered begins to fade. The coach should also include the Junior varsity team because they need to comprehend the knowledge of how groups/teams work together, like what state a group is in at the moment of competition (Wheelan 2009). Coach Precezewski should begin phases of moving people up to varsity from the JV and moving some people from the varsity down to the junior varsity. This will first, show the varsity that the coach wants cohesion or everyone is replaceable like the idea of the crew composition effect ( Tziner & Eden 1985). Secondly, this will show the junior varsity that with hard work and being a team player. The team member who should be traded will be the “place kickers” since they are the ones who rarely talk. The next members who should be changed from varsity to junior varsity is the number eight seat. The number eight seat sets the rhythm and is crucial for reaching synchronicity, The coach’s greatest feat would consist of intervening when the varsity meet alone. One option would be to allow the team to explain why they feel like they do, this could give a coach and players on the team a first glance of why there is no cohesion and developing chaos on the varsity side.
Works cited
Tziner, Aharon, and Dov Eden. “Effects of Crew Composition on Crew Performance: Does the Whole Equal the Sum of Its Parts?” Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 70, no. 1, 1985, pp. 85–93., doi:10.1037//0021-9010.70.1.85.
Wheelan, Susan A. “Group Size, Group Development, and Group Productivity.” Small Group Research, vol. 40, no. 2, 2009, pp. 247–262., doi:10.1177/1046496408328703.
I like the idea of changing people from JV to Varsity, however, since there is only 4 days till Nationals, it might be hard to find the right combination within that time. I like the idea of bringing the coach in on conversations between the Varsity team. By doing this, the coach is able to moderate the conversation so that everybody can express their feelings for why they aren’t performing to their potential.
I do believe that your group’s solution could work, but also I want to point out one issue that I think you guys should consider, if you haven’t done so already outside of this post. Since every single rower must be in tune and in sync for a rowing team to be great, I believe that you have to add more than just 2 or 3 new rowers to the varsity boat. I feel like the addition of those JV rowers may only raise jealousy and resentment on both the new JV members and the old varsity members. The terrible attitudes displayed by every single member on the varsity team would surely affect the JV members spirits especially if the JV members are the minority.
I think you guys made some really good points! I especially found it interesting when you mentioned the crew composition effect. I think the fact that the varsity team is so focused on being the best individually, makes it much harder for them to perform interdependent tasks in a way that would facilitate productive group performance.
I like your idea of slow integration between the two teams. I think that is the process the coach should have tried at the beginning of the year but with only four days until the competition do you think there would be enough time to find a properly integrated combination of varsity and junior varsity rowers? And how would you handle junior varsity players that don’t want to move to varsity because of the ‘toxic’ environment?
The idea of integration of the teams is certainly interesting. Do you see any cohesion issues arising from those switches or do you expect the team to mesh better? Some teammates surely will not be the biggest fans of members of the other team due to the conflicts between varsity members.