Presentation instructions: One instructor takes the role of the Varsity Coach, another the role of the team captain. Make the role-playing as realistic as possible.
VARSITY COACH: "Good turnout tonight, Russell:'
TEAM CAPTAIN: "Yeah, the guys seem really pumped. I hope it goes OK:'
VARSITY COACH: "Well, we've got a few minutes-let's take one last look at the team meeting plan to make sure we didn't leave anything out:'
TEAM CAPTAIN: "Got it right here:' (He pulls out a pen and follows the page as he reads.) "Well, the p reopening that's just finishing up-seems to be going well. John and his squad are going to take care of the opening with the flag ceremony:'
VARSITY COACH: "Looks like they're ready to go:'
TEAM CAPTAIN: "And Rick-my co-captain-is leading the business portion of the meeting. We'll have reports from the program managers and a discussion of next weekend's kayaking trip. Then we'd planned to review back country first aid for dealing with broken bones, but I didn't expect this many guys to show up-I don't think we have enough first aid kits to go around. What should we do?"
VARSITY COACH: "Well, we have a few options. What if we combine a couple of squads and have them share the kits? You could also have them figure out how to use materials they find here in the meeting room to make emergency splints and bandages:'
TEAM CAPTAIN: "That'll work. After all, you never know for sure what you'll have on hand in the back country. You need to be able to improvise:'
VARSITY COACH: "How much time have you scheduled for the first-aid work?"
TEAM CAPTAIN: "I told Rick he had 20 minutes total. He's cool with that:'
VARSITY COACH: "Great. What else have we got?"
TEAM CAPTAIN: "OK-10 minutes for program manager reports, and then 10 minutes for the squads to plan their menus for the kayak trip next weekend:'
VARSITY COACH: "Do you think that's enough time?"
TEAM CAPTAIN: "Yeah, I forgot-we always seem to run over when we talk about food. Let's see-if I move that discussion to 15 minutes, we'll still be okay. We're doing a tent race for our game. That should only take about 20 minutes:'
VARSITY COACH: "Sounds like you've got it all under control:'
TEAM CAPTAIN: "I think so. I've got you down to close with the Coach's Corner:'
VARSITY COACH: "Got it:'
TEAM CAPTAIN: "And Jack has volunteered his squad to be the service patrol to clean up tonight and be on hand early at next week's meeting:'
VARSITY COACH: "Good work, Russell. But, you've got a pretty big group here if a couple of them get bored, you may have a lot of conversations going on at the same time:'
TEAM CAPTAIN: "I thought about that, but I think if I try to move things along, we'll be OK. And if we start on time ... "
VARSITY COACH: (Looks at watch.) "Which is right about now. Looks like you're on. You're going to do great:'
TEAM CAPTAIN: "Well, if I mess up, I know who to call:' (Smiles.)
VARSITY COACH: I'll be here, don't worry. Looks like the team is ready; let's get started. We'll talk about how it went after the meeting:'
DISCUSSION OF ROLE-PLAY ONE
Lead participants in a discussion of what they have just seen, using their questions and observations to reinforce the importance of giving young men the tools they need and the supportive guidance to pi-an and conduct their own Varsity team meetings. Among questions that may be helpful in this discussion are these:
What role is the Varsity Coach playing?
What is the team captain's role?
How is the Varsity Coach relating to the captain?
What expectations does the Varsity Coach have of the youth leaders of the team?
In what ways will the meeting be a success?
Of course, no meeting will be perfect. Even with careful adherence to the team meeting plan, there will be portions of some meetings that are not very successful.
The important thing to keep in mind, though, is that Varsity Scouts who are given the responsibility, resources, and support to plan and run their own team meetings are learning extremely important lessons in leadership. Their growing confidence and advancing leadership abilities are a direct result of the efforts of their Varsity Coach to provide support and guidance and then, for the most part, staying behind the scenes.
Assessing a Team Meeting
The review process that occurs immediately after a team meeting offers a Varsity Coach a valuable opportunity to interact with the team's youth leaders to assess their performance and to refine plans for the next team gathering. Let's see how this happens in one team.
No comments:
Post a Comment