Dear Roy, Our team has been going for 3 years and now we have taken a woman on board. I wasn’t really into the idea but I was outvoted so I thought, well I’ll give it a go. I didn’t realize she’d end up as my Piece Partner. I am Outside Center and she is our new Point.

Well I think she’s not tough enough. When we started flying together she complained that I am too forceful and pull her out of her position, also that I don’t stop. Surely she should just man up and fight back. I couldn’t take her out of place if she was strong as I am, right? I never had these problems with my previous piece partner; we used to fly a lot more aggressively. Sometimes we’d have a little tussle on the way round but we’d muscle through it.

Surely she should just 'man up' and fight back?

It all came to a head last week in the debrief, when the coach became infected by her whining and he said I was overdoing my moves. They were just fine last year with my previous piece partner, so logically it must be her fault, she’s the only thing that’s changed. I can’t imagine how she (apparently) scored a higher average with her previous team than we are doing now, as she just seems to want to slow down all the time, talking about precision and fine tuning. It’s 4-way, not ballet: I don’t see you guys in Hayabusa hanging around looking for references!

How can I make her see she has to toughen up, muscle through it and go faster? This namby-pamby approach is not going to get her anywhere in this team. It’s about time she grew up and got with the program.

Yours
Chris

Hello Chris,

You make me laugh smartass ☺
Indeed, 4-way is no ballet!

Frustration

You sound pretty frustrated to me… I guess it already started from the moment you were outvoted by the team, by picking up this new girl. Honestly I think you have reasons to feel bad about it, if the in first place you didn’t want to have this girl on board anyway. I believe that one of the most important foundations of any good team is, that everyone is happy to jump with each other. If you already had difficulties with having her as your new teammate, for sure it must be even harder to get her as your new piece-partner. But obviously this decision is already made; let us now focus on how we can improve the teamwork.

So first let me enumerate some problems of her; She is not tough enough, she complains that you are too forceful, that you pull her out of her position and that you don’t stop your moves. She is not as strong like you and she needs to fight back to stay in balance with youbutshe did have a higher level than you ever had… Did it ever cross your mind that maybe she has some points? Or are you perfect and it is all her fault? I don’t think that even you would be so cocky to admit you are perfect, do you? 😉

Analyze

Let’s analyze this a bit better. When you say that she needs to fight back, it’s here where your presumption is already wrong. You should NOT fight each other; you have to help each other! If you both are not happy with the way you are flying, and it is such a battle, then it’s obvious you are not both moving in the same direction and that you have ‘timing issues’. You said that you work with a coach; he is in the perfect position to solve the problems.

one of the most important foundations of any good team is that everyone is happy to jump with each other

Adapt

From everything that you wrote it is very clear that both of you are not happy with the way you are working together. I believe we do need to have strength, but we need to use it only when necessary and only when it helps the piece. We shouldn’t be using the other person to help ourselves moving forward or for stopping. We need to be able to fly on our own, and WITH our piece-partner. If you are heavier than the girl (which I assume), than you need to adapt to it and understand the (negative) effect you can have when you push and pull. What you want is that people can say, ‘he is strong when he needs to, but at the same time he flies very light’.

I know some Champions, ‘big guys’, that flew with much lighter piece-partners and it was hardly ever a problem. The reason is that they flew with each other and never overpowered them. It is all about balance and technique. Imagine *you get a new piece-partner, faster, stronger and more aggressive than you, and he would start to throw you around… I guess you would be saying the same things as her, because everyone has a limit of power and speed.

Flying Light

With Hayabusa we train a lot to fly as light as possible, without disturbing the others. The more we fly on our own (starts-stops), the easier and faster we can move as a unit. Of course we also train to use more muscle power but only there where it helps, not just because it is fun to do. And yes, we do look for references, a lot actually.

Good Intentions

Anyway, I know you have good intentions and that you want to make the team better. I just think you need to see it as well from her side and be more open- minded for suggestions and not having it just your way. Give it some thoughts and hopefully you guys will outscore her highest average soon! ☺

Regards,
Roy