The Bonding Culture of Brevard College Softball
This edition of #NadoCulture features the 2019-20 Brevard College Softball team. Stay tuned to bctornados.com through the Spring of 2020 for #NadoCulture features on all the Spring sports at Brevard College.
BREVARD, N.C. – Similar to every program across college athletics, the Brevard College Softball team's 2020 competitive season ended with the cancellation of this year's remaining schedule due to the impact from the COVID-19 virus. The BC Softball team, which finished the season on a seven-game win streak, continues to build a bonding team culture established under the direction of Head Coach Robyn Rohr along with Assistant Coach Jenna George and Volunteer Assistant Coach Charles Kielson.
A Bonding Team Culture
Since her arrival to Brevard College in January, Head Coach Robyn Rohr has been able to rapidly implement a team culture centered around a bonding, family-like atmosphere, using a variety of techniques.
"We have a bonding culture," said Rohr. "I wanted to make sure that the student-athletes felt that they had 18 teammates and also a whole section behind them of support, not just with softball but all aspects of their lives. We have been developing a bonding culture that results in each student-athlete having support constantly, developing them now for a successful future."
Assistant Coach Jenna George echoed Rohr's sentiments, while also emphasizing the importance of the familial atmosphere.
"Both Coach Rohr and I were brought up knowing that team culture could either make or break a team," said George. "We have stressed the importance of being strong teammates to one another. The family and the sisterhood aspect of it all is key."
Student-Athletes Embodying Tornado Culture
The coaches were able to quickly instill their ideals for a successful team culture to the Tornado student-athletes. Three examples of BC Softball student-athletes who were able to experience personal growth both on and off the field this season while embodying that team culture are junior Brittany Franks and sophomores Lauren Dowell and Summer Wilson.
Franks, an outfielder from Belmont, North Carolina, serves as the President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) while majoring in Biology with minors in Health Science and Chemistry. The team captain is a member of the Tri-Beta Biological Honor Society, a Learning Consultant for BC's Experiential Learning Commons, a Peer Mentor and has served as a supplemental instructor for a Biology intro course.
"Brittany embodies the title of student-athlete," said Rohr. "She takes her education very seriously, working at it and managing her time so she can be at 100% for everything that she does. She constantly is looking out for her team. Before my arrival, she was labeled as one of the captains and prior to the season came forward and informed me that she wanted to prove to be a captain, not just given the label. After seeing her in action, she has proved even without a label that it is in her blood to be a leader."
"Brittany was a stellar player for us and it was great to see her step out of her comfort zone and take on the role as a leader," said George. "She not only kept herself accountable but also kept her teammates accountable which was huge for us. Brittany is a great role model for Brevard College."
Dowell, a sophomore infielder/outfielder from Sparta, North Carolina, is a Health Science major who is on track to graduate academically a year early. An aspiring x-ray technician, she has an internship in place with a local hospital to pursue her career path.
"Lauren is the glue for the team and has that kind of personality that gives you goosebumps," said Rohr. "Even if you are having a bad day or if she is having a bad day you wouldn't know it because she just picks you up no matter what. She is extremely coachable and ambitious to learn in just an incredible way."
Coach George also commented on Dowell's positive mentality as a softball student-athlete.
"Lauren always has a positive attitude and mindset," said George. "She is an extremely fun, gritty player to watch. Lauren adjusted and adapted very well when we needed her to. Full of confidence and always with a smile on her face, she is a fun player to watch.
Dowell herself acknowledges the personal growth she has experienced during her sophomore season.
"I got to find out this season who I was as a player," said Dowell. "Coach challenged me to be more vocal and I felt like I fit in with the team better this year than as a freshman."
Wilson, a sophomore infielder/outfielder from Burnsville, North Carolina, is a Health Science major with a minor in Exercise Science. She plans to go to medical school with an emphasis in orthopedics and sports medicine. Active in volunteering for local organizations, she is currently pursuing an internship in the medical field.
"Summer is just a ball of sunshine for us," said Rohr. "She is very flexible and is an excellent overall team player."
"Behind the scenes she was kind of the glue for all of her teammates," added George. "She adjusted and adapted well to what she was given whether that was her schoolwork, her classes, her internships and on the field."
Like Dowell, this season has been one of growth for Wilson which has included a switch in positions on the softball diamond.
"I am not a super outgoing person but Coach Rohr has encouraged me and pushed me to just be myself," said Wilson. "She has been getting me to play outfield lately which I have never done in my life, but she is always encouraging me and helping me get the reps in."
Methodology of a Team Culture
The three Tornado student-athletes, along with the entire roster, were able to benefit from a variety of techniques utilized by Coach Rohr and her staff.
Visualization
"Before games, she will have us all lay down on our backs in a big circle," said Dowell. "She will then take us on a guided meditation having us visualize game day, putting on your jersey, our family being there, and then you go to the game setting, imagining yourself making that diving catch and making the big play. Then she will go to offense and making that big hit, stealing that base or scoring that run. It really puts us in a whole different mindset and really puts us in the zone."
Learning About Each Other
"One of the big things that Coach had us do off the field was to talk about our own feelings," said Wilson. "Everyone knew how to take care of one another and what anyone needed. I think that really made a difference in the type of culture we had with our team."
"Accoutabilibuddies"
"We also have a very good accountability system," said Franks. "We each have an 'accountabilibuddy' that we keep tabs on each other and make sure that we are doing things right. If there is something wrong, then it is your buddy's responsibility to tell them."
Classroom Practices
"Coach also has her classroom practices where she will break down our softball IQ," said Dowell. "We'll watch motivational videos. Whatever she feels like we need for that week, she provides us."
Practicing Highlight Reel Plays
"Coach Rohr and Coach Jenna during warmups will have us diving all over the place making these crazy plays that you never think that you could make," said Franks. "So when you see yourself making those plays and you see your teammates doing it, that genuinely creates that belief in one another."
A Special Message from a Legendary Coach
Early in the preseason, Coach Rohr reached out to legendary college softball coach Sue Enquist who won 887 games as the Head Coach of UCLA from 1997-06.
Enquist sent the Tornados a personalized video message and passed along the "High Performance CPR" mentality in her message focusing on character, process and results.
"Sue gave us the important message that 'character drives process and process drive results'," explained Rohr. "That was something we were able to utilize and carry forward throughout the entire season."
Resulting Team Culture
"From personal experience being at Brevard for three years now, I think this is the closest our team has ever been," said Franks. "We genuinely believe in our teammates and we want our teammates to succeed. Even if that means that someone is going to play ahead of you that day, you believe in them and they believe in you as well."
"Softball is definitely a team sport – there is no 'I' in this sport at all," said Dowell. "Coach really made us embody the idea of us truly being a team. I think our culture is about being a family which has brought us pretty far. I feel like we have all really flourished with her as our head coach and what she preaches."
"We are almost like our own little family and we all love each other," added Wilson. "We are all very tight knit and know each other very well."
Community Service at the Sharing House
In addition to introducing these concepts within the team culture, the Tornados have engaged in valuable community service projects. One of the team's first experiences with their new coach was a day assisting the Sharing House, a non-profit source of compassion and crisis assistance for low-income neighbors in Transylvania County.
"When we originally went, we hadn't really met Coach Rohr yet in a team setting and we knew that this was going to be the first time we were going to be around here as our new coach," said Franks. "Being there and being able to serve in the community with her was really good and brought our team closer as well as benefiting our community too."
The team broke up into several groups and helped the Sharing House organize, sort and display clothing to be made available for those in need.
"When we went to the Sharing House I don't think any of us had really been to any place like that before," said Wilson. "A lot of us come from good homes, so being able to see that and in turn help the Sharing House really helped us change perspectives. It brought in a new level of maturity for us and helped us realize that playing softball for Brevard College is so much more than just softball."
"We have to represent our school and our community in different ways than just softball," said George. "That is why we push the community service, reaching out to support other groups, that sort of thing. To get out there, show our faces and show others who we are."
Effective Coaching Staff
The leadership both on and off the field comes from a well-balanced coaching staff that in short time has proved to be effective at the helm of Brevard College Softball.
Head Coach Robyn Rohr officially began her duties at BC after most recently coaching at Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount, Minnesota. Prior to embarking on her coaching career, she was a highly successful softball student-athlete at NCAA Division III St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Rohr's fellow coaches and her players alike point out her drive to succeed.
"Coach Rohr is so gung-ho," said Franks. "She really doesn't stop working and all of the girls see that and respect how much she puts into the program and how much she genuinely cares about it. Coach Rohr is an all-around leader and if you have questions with anything, she will help you with it."
"Coach Rohr is very determined," added Wilson. "While we all want to succeed, I don't think anything compares to her drive to put BC Softball somewhere special. She is always there and always going out of her way to do the things that you wouldn't think would work but come together so well."
"Robyn has always had the mentality of how do I get better and how do I improve the people around me," said George. "She brings everything into perspective as to what is our purpose and why team culture is important. All around, she has all the elements to be a very successful head coach and I am very excited for her future."
Assistant Coach Jenna George brings an expertise in the art of hitting along with a different style compared to her Head Coach. Her previous time as a teammate of Rohr's also creates an exceptional chemistry between the two coaches.
"Jenna is very knowledgeable and has the recent exposure to game time," said Rohr. "Jenna has a great expertise of how we can adjust swings not to make everyone the same but to make everyone better at what they are already doing. Between the two of us we have a great connection as if we could read each other's minds. It is a great bond to have that from across the diamond that without a word we can execute plays. We are on the very same page 90% of the time and the other 10% we are pushing each other to be better. In other words, we are always moving forward."
The third member of the coaching staff is Volunteer Assistant Charles Kielson who brings deep experience working with the BC pitchers and catchers while assisting in recruiting efforts. Kielson's experience includes coaching at nearby Western Carolina University and Montreat College.
"Coach Kielson has been focused on our pitchers and catchers," said Rohr. "Bringing up a daughter (BC redshirt freshman Jordan Kielson) that is a pitcher, he has a great deal of knowledge and experience with that. He has also been very valuable on the recruiting side of things. While I am not originally from this area, he has made that bridge really easy for me and is great at communicating how we can best do it together."
"Coach Kielson is so encouraging all the time," said Wilson. "We could have a terrible game and he would be there to pick us up and keep us going."
As a unit, the staff works well together with each providing their different styles and expertise.
"They all mesh so well together, they all balance each other out and they all have their own little specialty," said Dowell. "They all bring something to the team which is awesome."
"I think as a unit, they work really well together since all three are different in so many ways but all want the same thing," added Wilson. "They are able to pull us all together for the common goal in a way that is really spectacular."
Student Managers Kendall Brackin and Marissa Henson
In addition to the coaching staff, student managers Kendall Brackin and Marissa Henson provided valuable contributions behind the scenes for this year's club.
"I see Kendall using this as a learning experience for her to not only build a resume but also give her the perspective of possibly being a coach one day," said Rohr. "She does a great job of keeping a pulse on everybody and making sure that all the manager jobs are done."
"As much as we would want to have Marissa on the field, she was not able to this year and hopefully will be back out next year," continued Rohr. "Her role this year really gave her experience on the technology side of things with video and statistics."
Seven-Game Win Streak
The cumulative efforts of the student-athletes and the coaching staff resulted in the Tornados playing their best softball of the season at the Fast Pitch Dreams Spring Classic in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Following a 2-1 loss in Brevard's opening game at the invitational, the Tornados responded with a seven-game win streak outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 45-13.
"Winning is a great thing, however it is about learning and that was exceptional during our spring training week," said Rohr. "We really bonded as a team. That was the biggest win for me, bigger than the actual victories on the field. These girls aren't just going for the W, they are working to get better and really grow. It is rewarding to watch them develop."
"I was unbelievably proud of these girls and just happy for them," added George. "We put all this time in at practice and on the field. They put what we worked on to use and that's exactly what they did. You could see our team culture gel even more than what we thought was there. It was extremely fun to watch them compete and play well together."
The players agreed that the Tornados were clicking as a team at Myrtle Beach, responding after the loss with a seven-game win streak.
"The week of Myrtle Beach was amazing," said Franks. "It really was going back to having the belief in your teammates and seeing them do what you knew they could do. At any point, you really didn't know who was going to provide that spark. At Myrtle Beach, seeing each person just be in their element and do what we had worked so hard for in a short period of time, I think that is what resulted in our seven-game winning streak."
"We lost our first game and I think that made us realize that we need to get serious," commented Wilson. "That first loss really set the tone and pushed us to win those games. After that first win, we realized that we can do this and we will do this. It just got better from there. Our confidence was at an all-time high. We were going into games knowing we were going to win."
In the final day of action at Myrtle Beach, Rohr used one of her visualization techniques in what prophetically proved to be the final games of the season. The Tornados responded with back-to-back victories on the final day of action in Myrtle Beach.
"Going into our final doubleheader, I took the girls out to a shaded area and I had them all lay down and we did some visualization," said Rohr. "The final things that I said, unknowing that this was to be their last games, was 'what would you want to have happen if this was your last game of softball'. We had a lot of emotional response to that whereby some were angry and others saw it as an eye opener. So they had it in the back of their mind going into that final gameday and it really showed. We went into that game and had a 0-0 ballgame into the last inning, but then we decided how we wanted it to end. We then came together as a team, put those hits together and earned the win."
"Then in the last game, we had a large lead and were able to get everyone out on the field," said George. "Everyone was making great plays, hitting the ball well. It was fun with some really good softball. To go out that way, we felt very grateful that we were able to perform at the level that we wanted to play at."
Emotional News Delivered on the Beach
Following the final game of the Fast Pitch Dreams Spring Classic, the Tornados had an off day in Myrtle Beach when the news arrived that the season would be shortened due to the impact from the COVID-19 virus. Coach Rohr was able to deliver the news personally to the Tornados who gathered on the beach for an impactful team meeting.
"I am a very transparent coach," said Rohr. "I had all the team, prior to the information being released, out on the beach with us where we were waiting as a team. Upon receiving the information, I told my coaching staff, then informed our student-athletes with the message that we are all in this together. Micayla McCoy, as our only senior, was taking it very hard and her team picked her up. We were still able to bring things to the light and lean on each other as a team."
"It was a tough conversation and it was a tough topic to talk about," added George. "These girls worked day in and day out for a few months of playing time. We tried to stay positive and optimistic as a team and taking this tough situation and turning it into something we can learn and develop from. It is kind of a friendly reminder to remain grateful for what you have and not to take something you love for granted. When we are back on the field, we will play for something bigger than just us."
The student-athletes described the emotional setting that was not only impacting the Tornados, but all the college teams at the event in Myrtle Beach.
"We had been hearing all that week that other teams from all over the country who were at the tournament were finding out that their seasons were being cancelled," said Franks. "At the hotel pool, other teams were having Senior Nights knowing that their seasons were cancelled. We would look out of our balcony and see these other teams crying since their seasons were over. We naturally felt bad for the other teams."
"When Coach Rohr told us that our season had been cancelled, I don't think there was a dry eye on the beach," continued Franks. "We knew that we were onto something special. That's the best that Brevard had been doing since I have been here. Emily White and I are both the same age and both came in at the same time and have kind of been here the longest. To see how far Brevard has come since the team we had when we were freshmen to where we are now, I think that was a big part of why it hurt so bad."
However, Franks and her teammates soon turned the bleak news into a positive.
"We had one senior Micayla (McCoy) and she took it pretty hard," said Franks. "So we went around the circle talking about funny memories that we made and then the tears turned into laughs. We went out later that day and went to Top Golf and had a lot of fun. What started out as a bitter day, I think brought our team closer together."
Dowell agreed with the sentiment that the bonding team culture was able to lift the team up again.
"Coach brought us out to the beach and broke the news to us," described Dowell. "Sadly, we did have a senior and it was heartbreaking for her. But as a team, this is something we just had to get through together. I hate the circumstances but it was good for us to be there for one of our teammates like that."
Staying Together
Since the cancellation of the season and the start of online classes at Brevard College, the Tornados have been able to stay connected as a team while also continuing their personal growth.
"I feel like we are still constantly in touch with each other and I love that," said Rohr. "The whole bonding part of our culture is showing now."
The Tornados have been utilizing group chats, while also holding team meetings via the Zoom technology. Moreover, the team has been keeping up with fitness plans.
"Our group chat has been more active than I think it has been all year,'" said Franks. "Everyone is still talking to one another. Coach Rohr has scheduled some Zoom meetings for the team and has been giving us a lot of updates. Fitness wise, I think everyone wants it enough to go out and do it on their own and I think that is another big positive change in our program as well."
"Our group chat has been blowing up every day," said Dowell. "We have been communicating back and forth, making funny videos. We have had team Zoom meetings with Coach who has also been reaching out one-on-one via Facetime. Luckily, we have the technology to stay in touch with each other."
The team is even challenging the other sports in the "push-up challenge" that has been sweeping the Internet.
"Softball is ready to take on any of the Tornado sports in a push-up challenge," said Rohr. "We challenge any of the other Tornado teams."
Useful Reading Material
Additionally, Coach Rohr has challenged the team to read three books to aid in the continual growth on and off the field that the Tornados are striving through. The team will be reading The Greatest You by Trent Shelton; Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson; and Chop Wood, Carry Water: How to Fall in Love with the Process of Being Great by Joshua Medcalf.
"We are reading three different books together as a team to keep developing our minds," said Rohr. "They are all positive, personal growth books that will keep us focused on the good that is happening right now. This situation means that something better and bigger is in the works for us. We aren't taking the season ending early as a stop, but instead we are taking it as if it is a buffering period."
The books will help reinforce many of Coach Rohr's tenets that make up the Brevard College Softball culture.
"One of Coach's big motivational beliefs is for us to fall in love with the process," said Dowell. "The idea that you are not going to be the greatest overnight. You have to work for it and it is going to be hard at times. But if you are not willing to love working for it, then there is no point in it. These books really reflect on what Coach preaches so I am excited for the whole team to read them."
Message to Future Tornados
All along, the coaching staff continues to be on the hunt for future Tornados to join the bonding team culture of the Brevard College Softball team. The coaches and student-athletes have several messages for the next generation of Tornados.
"We make the game fun again," said Rohr. "You can tell from the coaches, to the players, to the fans that we have fun with the game of softball and we get to do it at Brevard College. At Brevard, everybody knows everybody and it feels like a home away from home."
"Brevard truly is a community and a family," added George. "BC and the Brevard community have each other's back."
The student-athletes share their experience as well, echoing their coaches' sentiments.
"Everyone seems to discover a little bit of themselves here at Brevard," said Franks. "If you come to Brevard you will definitely learn about yourself and maybe even learn about a different part of North Carolina than you are used to. For softball, it is a good place to grow and to develop yourself as a person and as a player. The academics are big at Brevard, it's not all athletics and truly a very good balance."
"Brevard is the best school in my opinion all around academically and on the field," stated Dowell. "Brevard has its own culture of embodying family and being there for each other. It is not all about softball, it is about being a team and being that family. Being a part of this group is awesome and will help get you through anything you may encounter on or off the field."
"We are a big competitive family," said Wilson. "If you are looking to get better and looking to really become something bigger and better, Brevard is a great place to come because we are so competitive. We are always pushing each other, but at the same time we are always loving each other and there for each other. At Brevard College, academics are very important as are athletics – they both go hand in hand. For me, I never dreamed that I could play softball and aspire to be a medical student at the same time since they both require so much time and energy, but I am able to do that at Brevard."
To follow the latest news and updates surrounding Brevard College Athletics, follow the Tornados on Twitter and Instagram @bctornados, subscribe to 'Brevard College Tornados' on YouTube, follow 'Brevard College Tornados' on SoundCloud, or like 'Brevard College Athletics' on Facebook. In addition, follow "brevardcollege" on Flickr for the latest photos from all Brevard College events.
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