Welcome to the TEAM

We started off the season over a week ago with a mini workshop of sorts so that we could discuss team culture, what defines a team, and what goes along with being a member of a team, among other things. During that meeting, several new ideas came up, and one of them in particular seemed to resonate with the people, especially our captains. This year they decided to have a "presentation" of sorts to everyone on the team, once the team was chosen. We had a lot of competition this year for preseason, so once the coaches made our final decisions, the team was pared down to 14 from the original 18 that tried out. The competition was stiff, and everyone worked really hard, but we had to get down to a smaller number.

Jane and Elissa designed this ceremony on their own, and it was really great. They had everyone on the team hang out in the locker room while they got it ready, and then led them into the gym and out onto the end line of center court.
They then presented each person, one by one, with their game jersey, an MCVB sticker, and a green shoelace to represent our commitment to being a "Green Team" this year. They played inspirational (or fun cheesy, depending on how you look at it!) music, and announced everyone's name, hometown and number and had them come out to center court where they were presented with their uniform. A new tradition was born, I think, and I really liked it! Welcome to the TEAM!!

OH, and Brian brought his usual stash of goodies. What has become a real treat to the team, and was a total surprise, but a happy revelation to the Rookies was Brian's donation to the team of some samples and/or seconds from his work. We are all well stocked on our lip balm of all kinds, thanks to Brian's generosity!! Thank you, Brian!