In an effort to gain motivation and set goals, the Wootton football coaching staff set up a night of team-building with the help of speaker John Rowbotham from motivational company Bigger Faster Stronger (BFS).

This seminar was open to all sports, but focused on football.

The slogan of the night was “On a scale from one to ten: Be an eleven.”

According to BFS, “An ‘eleven’ is a person who holds himself or herself to the highest possible standards to attain his or her highest personal destiny and to help others attain their true destinies.”

To be a true “eleven,” a person needs to have respect for what they do, set high goals, focus at all times, and have a strong desire, a positive attitude, and commitment to the sport. Teams need to help each other to make themselves better, embracing the idea that there is truly no ‘I’ in “team.”

The night included many team-building activities and strategies to increase motivation. Rowbotham instructed the attendees to write down goals that they want the team to accomplish.

“The program helped the team to formulate goals that we will focus on in the upcoming season,” said junior George Johnson.

He also told the team that everyone makes mistakes, which people seem to forget.

When somebody makes a mistake on the field, people need to encourage the player to get better and not yell at the individual for making a mistake.

The team-building exercises emphasized that in order to get things done, players needs to work with one another.

One of the activities included participants getting into groups of eight and standing in a circle. Each group member then had to hold hands above their heads with two different people who were not next to them.

Finally, without talking, the team had to untangle themselves without letting go of each other’s hands.

This activity taught the team that communication is essential for getting things done, because the web was difficult to untangle.

Junior Sean Porter said he learned, “No person is bigger than the team.”