Tuesday, October 1, 2013

This is not an Example of "Team Building"

If you follow college football, you might have seen this story published by the Daily Hampshire Gazette regarding the football program at the University of Massachusetts. A video was posted showing what head coach Charley Molnar describes as a "team-building" exercise that instills "mental toughness." 

This is what Molnar was reported to say to the Gazette,
“We tried to get these guys to feel that fear, but go out there and do it anyway,” he added. “We never had one guy not go out and box or wrestle. Some of them went out with a lot of trepidation, but by the end of the cycle were thoroughly enjoying the activity. We did all these activities with safety in mind. I’m a fanatic about player safety. I thought it aided in team-building. Guys faced the fear and fought through it. That was the objective.”

As the owner and operator of Upward Enterprises, I can say with expert knowledge in all forms of team building, that this is NOT Team building. Football players being ordered to wrestle each other on the field is just poor judgment. How can beating up fellow team mates be used as a way to build camaraderie and spirit? Disgraceful.

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree, this is disgraceful and ridiculous idea for "team building". This promotes competition maybe, but definitely not team work. I'm amazed people let this happen.

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