Team Building 101: Taking on Eagle's Peak
9/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2009
Photo Gallery: The Falcons Climb to Eagle's Peak
Standing atop Eagle's Peak, I realized how far we had come. The people on the terrazzo looked like ants, the buildings child's playthings. As the wind ran its course through the American flag, I reflected not only on the hike up the mountain but of our team's journey that started only weeks ago.
The beginning of the season is like the beginning of the hike. It's slow and full of anticipation. We started the hike off as a team, a perfect combination of eight new and eight old (the symmetry had to be perfect, sorry guys) all tied together starting off on our noble quest. Those of us who had been on the hike before knew the struggles that lay ahead. When the trail became too steep, we had to let go of our newly forged bonds and trust the leader, trust the ones in front of us and those behind. Over the last few weeks of pre-season practice, we have been forced to build trust between the new freshman and the returners.
The hike to the summit is all up hill, our upcoming season reflected in the grade of the trail. We are going to face many challenges playing in the Mountain West Conference; teams with bigger girls, bigger schools and more time devoted to volleyball. We will be okay though; we have been through much worse. At times, we were crawling up the mountain, on all fours, fighting for every inch. That fight will help us in the future. We need that fight to battle with our bigger opponents, whether they are a mountain or a Mountain West team.
Part way up the peak, there is an aspen grove, the trail levels out and the hike becomes enjoyable. We stopped to take one of our infamous pictures in the shade of the trees. We saw how fun hiking can be. It's not just hard work, there is some reward at the end. The end is winning, or not even that: simply playing hard and having fun while doing it. A wise person once told me that if you have fun and play hard the winning and losing will take care of itself.
After our brief reprise in the grove of the white, quaking trees, we continued with our last push to the top. The dirt is loose with rocks and roots used for steps few and far between. But we made it. Or so we thought. We broke through the trees to see part of the Academy laid out below. Looking up, the trail continued, we weren't there yet. Coach White and Kelly took some convincing, but as a team with, one final push to the summit, we made it. We had finished the worst part of the hike. I learned that even when the end is near, it's not over till it's truly over. We shouldn't stop fighting until there is nothing above us but clear, Colorado blue sky.
At the top we rested, massaging tired muscles, filling our hungry, rumbling stomachs we sat and enjoyed the view. At the top, you feel so accomplished and calm. No sounds but the wind whipping by, the silence is not empty but full, full of promise, of hope for the future. The silence ending too soon, we headed back down. To retrace the steps just taken, but remembering all of the lessons learned.
For the entire hike, we carried a piece of someone else, a piece to the puzzle that is our team. We stopped once more in the aspen grove to put those pieces back together. Sitting in a circle, we completed the puzzle on the black dirt, telling each other what we bring to the team. Someone the blender, to help us all mix together creating something sweet. Another a shovel, whose sole purpose is to dig. One more the solder, that inflexible will to win, to hold us together. And a spackle to fill in the holes. A battery to provide energy, a wheelbarrow to carry the pain and the joy. As we spoke our machine--the team--the puzzle all came together.
With an excited yell, we had finished. We made it back to the sign warning of a horrible death if one encounters a mountain lion. We made it through our biggest--if not certainly the highest--challenge of the year. We all felt a great sense of accomplishment, with aching knees we walked merrily down to the chapel, our expectations reaching as high as the glinting metal spires, each one sneaking a peek back to see how far we've come, but looking forward to that eastern horizon spying how far together we still have to go.
- Written by C2C Jessica Hellmann
