The teammate bond- A Foxhole experience

War is horrible for the participants but for those who survive “the foxhole,” a bond is established that lasts a lifetime.

Once, when he had risked his life against all odds to charge bravely against the Germans, World War I Medal of Honor winner Sgt. Alvin York was asked why he had done it. There were hundreds of the enemy, and at times he seemed to be all alone.

“Did you do it for the glory?” a cynic asked.

“No,” said York.

“Well, then,” asked the reporter, “were you thinking of your family back home?”

“No,” York said again.

“Your country, then?” the question came.

“Nope,” York said.

“Well, why then?” asked the frustrated reporter.”Why did you do it?”

“I did it,” said York, “for the guys in the fox hole with me.”

Team bonding is a unique idea that is used to connect the members of a team and strengthen the relationship between them. Team bonding is an ongoing process that helps to increase loyalty among the team members. A common trick of applying the objective of team bonding is to address by discussing positive past experiences in the form of fun activities. This small initiative has the powerful capability to release stress and convey thoughts. Team bonding matters a lot in organizational culture as it motivates team members to impart wisdom and effective suggestions.

Football is not a war with life or death consequences. It is just a game, but with symbolic “fox hole” fights of its own kind for those in the arena.

Capturing the essence of Bryan’s comment was on display at Lometa Ranch in March of 2018.

 the Road to Lometa

Jay Arnold shares a story about Mark Halfmann

 I was sitting in the locker room at the cotton bowl after practice getting ready for the 1973 Cotton Bowl game.  My locker was next to Randy Braband. The Dallas sportswriter Blackie Sherrod was interviewing Braband for the upcoming game against Alabama (whom we upset and ended up No 3 in the nation that season of 1972). Blackie asked Braband who was the best center he faced other than Bill Wyman.

Without hesitation, Randy said Mark Halfmann. Blackie said who does he play for?  Randy said “he’s the center on our attack team and he will knock your butt off.

Other than Wyman, Mark is the best center in the SWC”.  Incidentally, Braband made the play of the game, stopping Alabama’s great running back, Wilbur Jackson, on 4th and one late in the game that preserved our lead and eventual victory over No. 1 rated Alabama. They met on a straight dive play, and Braband stopped, straightened up Jackson, and drove him back for no gain, and our offense took over, and Lowry ran out the clock preserving our victory.

 JLA

 “It’s funny that our educational system considers athletics “extra-curricular,” when in fact it’s one of the greatest learning experiences there is.”

On March 10, 2018, at Mark’s Hunting Ranch, a bond formed in the early ’70s by former Longhorn football teammates worked its magic converting men into boys for a weekend. It was a special moment for all participants. The quality fellowship that I pray everyone has a chance to experience in their lifetime.

The guest list included a doctor, lawyer, home builder, ranch owner, oilman, accountant, tour director, restaurant owner, investor, and manufacturer Rep. Don Burrisk, God Rest His Soul, was there even though he was fighting life-threatening health issues. In 2019 after battling health issues for five years, he passed away.

All the invitees have spent their lives building bridges for future Longhorns to cross, but this weekend, all the bridges built were to the past where special memories reside.

All teammates told great stories, but Dan Adams and Bob Tresch’s story captured the critical dynamics of how a team bond begins. 

Eric Sorensen, a Jesuit scholar, tells a story about directing a difficult canoeing trip. He said, “It would rain for days, everything would be wet, your gear wet, your clothes and nothing would dry, and everyone was miserable.” It was not a fun trip. What Sorenson wanted to accomplish on this trip was a sense of deep connection between the paddlers. He achieved his goal.

Dan Adams and Bob Tresch also shared a canoeing trip. A three-day trip down the Guadalupe. For some reason, Dan and Bob forgot that canoeing the Guadalupe during the rainy season is not a good idea. It was a miserable trip, and their story told around the campfire that evening at Lometa ranch had all of us laughing.

Their story captures an essential element necessary to build a bond that lasts a lifetime. Dan and Bob shared a struggle and survived the adversity by working together to complete the journey. 

Team bonds such as football require a more complicated process to form than two guys in a canoe sharing one experience. Team bonds need time to develop- forming only after shared experiences such as victories, losses, workouts, sorrow, pain, joy, and other elements.  

Respect

Winning is a goal but it is not the end game.  The end game is the team bond that lasts a lifetime. Shared experiences both good and bad result in a bond. However a bond is not complete until respect is earned not given.

Author Dick Baird said Football has an incredible bonding aspect to it. It demands an emotional investment. This is what makes it such a dominant force in character development as well as sacrifice. You never question anything about each other. It’s understood respect. This is my teammate. We will always be on the same team.”

Bonds, based on respect, create deeply embedded roots in our psyche.

Psychologists for decades have tried to quantify why team bonds last a lifetime. One Cambridge study sought to quantify individual personalities by five metrics—“Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.” 

They were unsuccessful. A team bond formula is not quantifiable. It requires complicated interactions between trust, honesty, sacrifice, collaboration, cohesion, communication, and synergy.

 Below are some paraphrased articles about the team bond from other authors. Their comments are denoted in blue font. On November 19, 2015, Kirsten Dodds Published for Resource Development at United Way of Calgary and Area necessary components needed for a team bond.

Student-athletes hone their skills for over half of their lives, and being part of a team is second nature to athletes. The players’ team is his family, the universal pursuit of common dreams bonds each.

 Athletes know there are several ways to achieve success, all relying on one factor: teammates’ support. Through team bonds, student-athletes learn how to communicate openly and effectively thoughts and ideas. Playing as a team, athletes learn how to inspire and motivate other team members and push everyone to work towards a common goal.

Author Dick Baird wrote an article in 2003 stating, “Just last week, I got a chance to spend the day with a couple of old teammates. Lots of stories retold and lots of heart involved. Friends forever held together in the bond of football brotherhood. College roommates as well as survivors of a “Junction Boys”-type football experience.” 

Tongue in cheek, Dick says, “Obviously, we all are better players now than we were then. That’s part of aging; you get to embellish as the years go by.”

“Sure, it was only in our college days, but for us and a lot of other men, those days will last forever. In our last season together, we only won two games. But those wins came against Idaho and Washington, and they were the last two games of the season. A season from hell ended with a taste of victory and lives on today.”

Years from now, all players will realize the experience was what it was all about — sort of like it’s not the destination, but the journey that is important. Along the way, mutual investment in emotion creates bonds that last a lifetime.

50 years after playing football together at Texas, the team bond manifests into a special weekend at Lometa Ranch.

The Lometa Open Horseshoe National Championship double-elimination tournament

The Lometa Open was the critical competitive sports activity for the 1970 recruiting class reunion weekend. Competition in other sports was available, but age precluded most action except for Soccer great- in his own mind- Dan Adams.

Horseshoes offered a sport that everyone could play and not get hurt. Well- everyone except Dan Adams, who popped a blood blister throwing a horseshoe. THE HORROR of the visual! Sympathetic teammates all quoted their head trainer in the ’70s, Frank Medina, who always said after an injury on the football field, “shake it off, son.”

Billy Dale- proud member of the 1967 Longhorn football recruiting class