Women's Conference; The Power Within, Part I

This is a Woman’s Conference, and it’s called The Power Within. It was held in the Convention Centre (North, I believe) in Toronto, and it was a day that my family agreed was so good, so brilliant, that it was much too intense – all the information the speakers imparted on the audience, and the fact that so many brilliant speakers were packed into only eight hours made it off-paced. It could have been a little slower-paced, augmented with workshops and panels; I agree with that completely. But I also thoroughly enjoyed the day, and because I took notes I am able to appreciate the day more. These have helped to bring back other pertinent points in the conference. They can also bring the audience back to being there; everything that they sensed and remembered about the day.

Without further ado, let’s begin at my beginning.
Cassie Campbell gave the keynote speech, and because I am working on my hockey again, she was the biggest speaker of the day for me personally. They were all absolutely brilliant, it’s just that because my challenges to prevail over as a woman all lie in breakthroughs with physical strength and ability, and those are areas Cassie excels in, as well as team (sports-related) leadership, she would be the woman of the whole group that I would choose as a personal role model. Cassie addressed aloud in her speech what she was asked to talk about at the Conference; the Power Within. What is the Power Within, what feeds it, what it is made from … and she admitted throughout her speech that she couldn’t define it; she wasn’t able to pin-point it and hold it in her hands, but she made such a speech that it didn’t really matter. She illustrated that the power within, for her, came from teamwork, commitment, courage, and the ability to keep playing against all odds; to believe in your team.

She talked about everyday hockey challenges, and that you need to face these kinds of things everyday to become a better person, and a better player. She cited her successes and failures, both as a player, and on behalf of her team. With her unique perspective, she was able to do her part to bring her team together. She never really said very many things that she did personally as a team captain, but instead told the story of her team.

She talked about her team’s 1998 failure in Nagano, and how there was a lot of finger-pointing then, and how the team was on the edge. But that was the loss that drove them to improve their hockey and team player skills. That loss forced them to re-examine their perspective, and question, on an individual basis, why they were there at the Olympics.

Cassie talked about one of the predominant factors in their success being that they were constantly told they couldn’t achieve this next win, and that opposition gave them something to push against, and they pushed wisely. They pushed in the direction of their values. They trained incessantly. If they were accepted onto the Olympic Women’s Hockey team, they had to quite their jobs and train 3 times a day. They had another loss along the way as well, at the 2005 World Championships, which proved to them that facing their everyday hockey challenges was simply not enough, they needed to change their mentality from focusing on individual effort and finger pointing, to focusing on working as a team. From then forward, they adopted the slogan WAR – we are responsible; we are accountable for our actions on and off the ice; we are responsible for taking care of ourselves, and developing the team. They became responsible. THAT was their first step to becoming unstoppable.

However, their flight to the top was no easy ride. Cassie attributes the team’s pulling together and changing their attitude as brought about in part by Davidson’s influence. Melody Davidson was already working for the team as an assistant coach for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, and by the 2006 Olympics in Torino, she had become Head Coach. She took the team through rigorous training, not to mention took them to boot camp.

During this camp, they had the opportunity to witness a group of soldiers in full gear go through a grueling gauntlet, this was not just a jump-through-the-tires obstacle course, but involved climbing walls, crawling under barbed wires with all their gear on, etc. All the ladies on the team were then told to go through the same course, and NONE of them finished it. The key factor in this course, however, was not so much a test of skill as set out by Davidson, but a test of courage, team commitment, and the ability of those girls to step up to the plate and do something for the team. There were three or four girls who, when called on, wouldn’t even try the course. This was when Davidson began to question these people, and their ability to be members of that team. I don’t think any of those girls made the Olympic team. As I mentioned earlier, Cassie honestly admitted that none of them finished the gauntlet, even though they were all trained athletes, but everyone who tried it was able to prove that day that they were committed to the team. If they failed, they would fail as a team, but at least they all tried. That boot camp was perhaps the bonding experience that united that team, the way Cassie described it at least. It would be too, they were treated like soldiers; their wake-up call would come early in the morning, (6 or 7, I believe) and they would fall back into their beds, exhausted, at about 10pm after seven training sessions each day.

I think that boot camp would bond just about any team, but that’s not the only thing that Cassie cited as a factor in their success. She took into consideration something I believe that many women can understand; that teamwork for women is unique. It involves so much more than just being out on the ice together – that is not enough. Being a true team for women means that you really do eat, sleep and breathe “team”. You need to build up a trust with your team members. Cassie discussed this “dressing room dynamic” as being a critical part of a female team. She made a good point, saying that in women’s teams, the social aspect is huge, and even then, it can be extremely difficult to get right. You need to be able to communicate, or you don’t have a team. She asked us how many times you have been in an argument with a girl friend, or been angry, and someone asks you what is wrong and you say “nothing”. So you don’t talk, the other person doesn’t talk, and everyone can sense something is brewing.

Cassie said that kind of thing happened occasionally on the team, but that the most important piece of advice she would have for that situation is to address any issues you have with the person you have them with immediately. Don’t wait for it to come to a boil, don’t tell another group of people, and then let the other person know by committee, just take them aside, privately, and tell them straight out. That is risky business, even though it’s the best thing to do. Believe me, I’ve tried. You need to know what you are feeling, and that you have tried your best to change, first. You also need to know that this is something you need to tell the other person, and it is directly related to you, not just something you feel the other person needs to change about themselves. It is a tricky rope to walk, but Cassie is right, you need to keep the lines of communication open. If done properly, this can be a huge proponent in gaining the other girl’s trust.

You need to build up experiences together outside of hockey. You need to have some fun together, get to know each other, not as best friends, but at least to build a trust in one another. By sharing, by bonding. You need to go out with your team members and make sure you are in constant communication with them. You can take them out to coffee, lunch, beer, anything as long as you talk.

Cassie talked about playing roles on and off the ice, and said that the biggest thing you can do to support your team is to let everyone know that they are making a contribution, and that their efforts are recognized. That was something she was called on to do by one of her team members, who felt that the defense wasn’t being recognized well enough – a valid issue, as the big thing in hockey is points, and defense usually are not a big part of the point system in the game. Yes, it would be nice to invent a point system for the defense, or some way to recognize them, but Cassie didn’t have that choice. She asked her teammate what she wanted her to do. “I don’t know” was her response “you are the team captain; it’s up to you to think of something.” Cassie was then faced with a unique problem; how to acknowledge these behind the scenes players so that they feel equal members of the team? The answer lay in a t-shirt. A simple t-shirt, decorated with symbols that meant a lot to the defensive team, presented to them in the dressing room and explained to them, every symbol on each shirt a tribute to the girl’s connection to the team, their own personal contributions, and their contributions as a defensive unit made all the difference in the world. Never underestimate the power of making someone feel like they are making a contribution to the team.

To wrap-up her experiences with her team, Cassie brought us back to the beginning and showed us how far her team had come; they had set a standard that the entire world could not beat, and continued to set it, holding up a challenge to the rest of the world and saying that if you want to be the best, this is what you have to do. You have to eat, sleep and breathe team. You have to be responsible. You have to train three times a day, every day. You have to do more than face the everyday challenges; you have to go out and make challenges of your own, and when you have achieved all of those, you need to reach even higher, and achieve even more.

The Power Within, for Cassie, was not just about her team, but also about the whole Olympic experience. She illustrated that through a couple of video clips full of people winning and losing. Of people making it through to the top of the podium, and people who fell along the way. The emotions at the Olympics, whether positive or negative, are overwhelming and crushing. They are bigger than any person there and every person there, and it takes a certain type of power, once you are at the Olympics, to perform at the top of the world. Those videos were very powerful. I remember the crying and the injuries most of all, because those were the people whose bobsleds were upended and became bowling pins to their own high-speed bowling ball, or missed a jump and were thrown down the rest of the hill, or slipped on their speed skates and went crashing into the boards, sobbing, not because of their specific injury, but because in a split second everything they had trained for was gone. That takes power to endure.

There is so much out there that Cassie has contributed, and this post doesn’t even cover her entire speech, but here is a snippet of some of Cassie’s experiences directly with Torino: http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/athletes/diaries/campbell/entry5.shtml