For a sports team to flourish, it must have talented players and excellent coaches. Although it seems like a simple concept, there is an important and often ignored variable—team chemistry.

A team can have the most talented players in the world but if the team does not have chemistry it will not be successful.

Building team chemistry is tricky because it takes time to develop. Normally it progresses with the season, but many teams do not have that luxury. In most cases the roster is made, the schedule is created and the team is expected to win. This is one of the challenges coach Phil Wright faces with the SRJC softball team.

Wright’s roster consists of 13 players with only one player returning from the previous season.  To speed up the process of building team chemistry, Wright took the players to Tahoe’s North Shore for a bonding retreat.

The purpose of the retreat was to strengthen and build the bond between the players and coaches. The players were placed in groups and asked a lot of questions of each other, many that led to tears between teammates.

Wright experienced coaching teams in the past where the girls did not get along. Therefore they did not have any team chemistry, so he was determined to make sure that didn’t happen again.

“If we can win in the dugout with ourselves, we can win on the field because we have the talent,” Wright said.

During the retreat, players were given the opportunity to learn about one another and create closer relationships with their teammates. Considering they were all sleeping over, the players saw sides of one another they had never seen before.

“We got to know everyone on a more personal level so we got much closer,” said Megan Winters. “It’s different when you get to spend the night with people because they act differently than they do during the day.”

Once teammates get to know each other on a personal level they learn to communicate more effectively. It keeps the players from making the wrong remark decreases the chances of players making mental or physical errors on the field.

“I feel it was needed for our team in order to bring us together and I think it was an overall success,” said team captain Taylor Morgan. “It will help us trust each other which is important and it will help us win more games.”

Getting to know the players as people allows the coach to set the right goals in place for the team to triumph. The coaches can treat players differently when they know them on a personal level, making it possible to coach on an individual level.

“You get to know their personal lives and learn what they go through and then you look at them from a whole different perspective,” Winters said.

When players know and accept their roles on the team, it improves the group dynamic, their focus increases and the team’s mentality strengthens. But when players don’t buy into the team concept, they become unproductive. Good chemistry allows them to surpass the goals they set in the beginning of the season.

When the right formula of players, coaches and chemistry is combined, it can create a hard-to-beat team and may lead to championships.

“When we were done almost every one of them talked about how they were a team now, how they all get along and how things are way better,” Wright said.

The new and improved bond between the players and coaches on the SRJC softball team will surely be tested this season as they begin their playoff push.