Powered by positivity

High school athletes feed of positive energy and work toward their goals

Saint+Viator+students+feed+off+each+others+positivity.

Photo by Mary Peterson

Saint Viator students feed off each others positivity.

Positivity is a key component of any athletic team. Although it is often overlooked, positive attitudes on and off the field have a bigger impact on teams and athletes than it may seem.

The theme of positivity is being put into action in Saint Viator’s girls’ lacrosse program, which has begun this spring season with a new coach, Suzanne Rich.

Coach Rich as well as players on the girls’ lacrosse team explain the importance of positivity on them, especially because it is a new and developing program.

“No matter what the skill level of a player is, being positive and a great communicator will always pull a team together and make everyone around you a better overall player,” said Coach Rich. “If I have an athlete on the team that has not played a lot of lacrosse, but she understands how to be a positive influence, support the other teammates and work hard, teaching her the lacrosse skill is the easy part.”

Meghan Fleming, a goalie in the girls’ lacrosse program, already sees positivity being worked into the culture of the girls’ lacrosse program.

“This year with Coach Rich as our new head varsity coach, she has been bringing a lot of positive energy into the atmosphere of the sport,” said Fleming. “This is very important because girls lacrosse is a new and upcoming sport, and with a positive attitude it helps all of us move forward into the season.”

Sophomore Greta Zimmerman, another girls’ lacrosse player, realizes that positivity is crucial to the team.

“Positivity is extremely important in all sports, especially in those that are newer, like lacrosse,” said Zimmerman. “Positivity helps to motivate the team and promote excitement in the game of lacrosse. It helps girls to be excited about improving their game and working towards a fun and successful season.”

Coach Rich has identified how important it is to bring positivity into her lacrosse program at Saint Viator and that it will be a large factor in the success of her lacrosse teams this season.

“Positive attitude means everything to me as a coach,” said Coach Rich. No matter if we are winning or losing, as long as the attitude on the team and among the players is positive, each player will pull the other along and make each other a better people and players.”

As important as positivity is on a team, an equally important factor is a lack of negativity.

Negativity brings down a team and can grow into a major problem if it is not stopped.

“The biggest disaster on any team is in fighting, cliques, negativity and disrespect,” said Coach Rich. “One feeds on the other… These types of actions or negative feelings can destroy any chemistry a team has or is building on.”

Fleming agrees that negativity is detrimental to any sports team and only slows success.

“Negativity cannot only be harmful to the attitude of the team as a whole, but also to the attitude of player to player communication,” said Fleming. “To have a successful team and program, coaches and players need to work to eliminate the negativity, resulting in better communication throughout the program, a better atmosphere for learning and improving the play of the game and a better reputation to the team.”

Zimmerman also addressed negativity and how it can hurt an athletic team.

“Negativity can be detrimental to a team because it discourages girls from working harder,” said Zimmerman. “Hard work plays a big role in newer sports such as lacrosse because we need to set a strong foundation for other lacrosse players that come after us. Negativity also takes away the team aspect of the game. Our negativity does not only affect us but also affect our teammates.”

As the girls’ lacrosse program begins their spring season with a new head coach, positivity will no doubt be evident in the athletes and coaches, both on and off the field. Coach Rich puts it best: “Keeping in line with the spirit of Saint Viator, I want to preserve and honor the saying ‘Champions On the Field, In Life and for Others.’ I was hired by Saint Viator to bring a change to the girls’ lacrosse program and it starts with each individual girl—who they are and what they want to get out of this experience. I will push each and every girl in a positive way; that is who I am and together we will reach our goals, both individually and as a team.”