Sounds like a boring title, huh? Now I'm no sports psychologist, (But I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night...just kidding), but I think I may be turning into something of a sports sociologist, if there is such a thing. The more I've traveled and the more teams I've played on and coached, the more I'm convinced that there are several types of negative team dynamics that come into play at nearly (if not all) levels of softball, and any one of them mishandled can be deadly, but when they all come together, the result is negatively synergistic (I warned you last issue...I was an English major). Translation: when the poop hits the fan, it multiplies, and it's bad for the team.

Okay..so, here's the first of the Team Dynamics Deadly Sins: You're standing there near the home team dugout, and there it is again – Susie Softballer's father (you can substitute "mother" here easily also) is over bending the coach's ear...hovering in fact, in such a way that I just learned the term is "helicopter parent" – nice descriptive word for everything from a Cobra attack helicopter to one of those annoying one-seaters that makes a lot of noise but has no real range (an "eggbeater" I've heard it called, pretty apropos). Anyways, Susie's a pretty good ballplayer, but not THAT good ...except in Susie's father's eyes, where she's the BEST thing since sliced bread or the full sized glove. How does he know this? He's coached Susie every year up until now, of course. How old is Susie? Could be six, could be in college (sad, but sometimes true),and the older Susie is the bigger her feeling of self-importance – disproportionate to her actual worth to the team. Translation? Daddy has been boosting Susie up, and she's never really stood on her own merits. Yep...we've all seen this...it's yucky to say the least...for all concerned. This is Negative team Dynamics...why? Because now Susie's dad (now called Mr. Softballer) has just introduced the possibility of stress into the team by interfering with the coach and may in fact break team morale. No ball player wants to be replaced at her (or his) position because some parent is being annoying and inappropriate, or as we'll see later, threatens to pull a sponsorship or other funding if his daughter doesn't play the position he darned well knows she deserves. Money doesn't buy a position? Think again...I've seen it happen several times.

There are really three parts to Softball Team Dynamics, as I see it (being the trailblazing sports sociologist that I apparently think I am): there are Internal Dynamics, External Dynamics, and the Nexus -- the place, my Dad used to say, where the rubber meets the road.

It's pretty simple really. When we talk about Internal Dynamics, we're really talking about two main things -- those ever-annoying cliques/groups/buddies (cliques are especially prevalent in the 14-18 set, I've found, and are the second of the Team Dynamics Deadly Sins) and the stress on team unity brought about by competition for positions. There will always be stress brought about by the competition for positions, and if treated well by the coach, can actually be beneficial – driving up the competency level of the two or three players involved, but the methods used in the rating or measurement system must be consistent, fair, transparent to all, and above board – not subject to outside (external) pressures if the result is to be positive and team unity developed.

External Dynamics are things like the "helicopter parents" and financial politics (the third of the Team Dynamics Deadly Sins -- basically an insidious form of softball extortion) where a sponsor or treasurer of an organization ensures that Little Susie gets to play as much as she wants and in the position she wants, or else the team or coach receives no funding. Awful, huh? It is an unfortunate reality however, as I've known at least two cases where continued sponsorships hinged on playing time and position, and have recently heard of an even worse case where a hard-working coach had a portion of her funding withheld when she sat Little Susie on the bench for a single game!

And now...where the Internal and External Dynamics meet: The Nexus. When negative internal and external dynamics meet, the effects are almost always disastrous for the team. I've seen (and played on) teams with heaps of talent...talent oozing out of girls' pores... but the combination of "helicopter parents," a couple of cliques, and a financial threat held over the coach? Well, you can imagine. The morale plummeted and the team began to eat itself from the inside out. A small "select" clique formed around the girl who was the beneficiary of the extortion, hoping to ride her influence. The rest of the team complained, but the complaints went unanswered...the coach wanted to keep her job. Can't blame her for that, but in an ideal world she would have stood up for what she thought was right, regardless. In this case, however, the coach remained silent, and as camps divided, ultimately, the team destroyed itself. Trust me, it was less than fun for all involved. Yuck!

So where do we go from here? My mother taught me to never put a problem on the table without also offering a solution. If you don't do this, she said, you're just whining, and no one likes a whiner ("there's no whining in softball"). The answer to this one is not easy I think, because it requires self-reflection and just plain old guts.

I have three approaches to offer, but they are all tough...they have to do with "doing the "right" thing, and the "right thing" is rarely the easy thing:

If you're a sponsor, and you even think of putting money pressure on a coach or team in return for favoritism, go take a nice long vacation in a land far, far away from me and come back when you're a better person You may think you're righting a "wrong" or just giving Susie Softballer the "leg up" she so richly deserves, but in fact, you're killing the team she's a part of. She cannot succeed without the team. Remember the saying, "the operation was a success, but the patient died. Think about it.

Ladies of all ages: Break down the cliques. They have NO place on a softball team and only lead to gossip, rumor, hard feelings and alienation within the team. If you have something to say, say it to your teammates' face, not whispered in a clique. Coaches, all I can say is that when I'm coaching and see cliques forming or that have already formed, I put a stop to it immediately, with discussion with the players involved and by organizing practice in such a way that the cliques are busted. What they do off the field is one thing...on the field is another.

And lastly, if you're a "helicopter parent"...ground yourself. Susie cannot take flight with you. She must spread her wings and fly on her own. Trust me – I know – my Dad coached me for a couple of years...Yikes! Never again. If you are "managing" your daughter in hopes of a full-ride scholarship or a National Team bid... stop it. You are doing way more harm than good. You are not a manager, and Susie is not a professional. Practice with her if she wants it, even give advice, if (and only if) she asks for it. Back off and let Susie flourish, rising as far as she can on the wings of her own merits – so sayeth the budding sports sociologist.

Until next time, play hard, cuz there "ain't nothin' soft about it!"

If you have experiences or suggestions for a future column on creating positive team dynamics, or if you just have comments or other suggestions for columns in the future, as always, please e-mail them to me at gutallstop@hotmail.com.