Who needs games or ice breakers in order to bond together when you could learn how to tarp a softball field?

Putting the massive 90' by 90' plastic white tarp on the field is a perfect indicator of how the team will function under pressure in game like situations.
 
Last Saturday, we were about halfway through practice and the team was taking a 10-minute snack break. Nearing the end of the break, Coach Brun said we have one last thing to do before we are done with practice. Everyone was silently cheering because practice was scheduled to go for two more hours.
 
"We are going to learn how to tarp the field in two minutes!" Coach Brun told us and the moaning and complaints began.
 
Let's just say putting the tarp on the field has never been successful, fun, or time efficient. Usually chaos erupts as people shout out orders and we all start running in multiple directions. Needless to say, the returners would have rather practiced for two more hours than deal with the tarp.
 
To start the whole tarping process we first needed to move the tarp that has been sitting by the right field fence untouched for over an entire year. We successfully moved the tarp about a foot off the fence before the screaming began. There was an overwhelming amount of disgusting bugs … slugs, worms, eggs, and worst of all, centipedes.
 
Picture this: Emily Greene is over in the corner gagging, some are screaming and I was almost in tears, meanwhile Coach Brun is yelling for a bat to smash the centipedes! The commotion died down finally as the bugs were either killed or ran away.
 
Thus we continued to roll the tarp out the full 90' in the outfield then we ran across the entire softball field trying to spread the rest of the tarp to cover the infield. Done!
 
It only took about 20 minutes to complete and we need to get that time down by 18 minutes. So what do we do? Of course, we fold the tarp back up and start again. The folding and rolling of the tarp is the most time consuming and requires the most direction and team work to make sure everything is lined up. We roll, unroll, reroll, unfold, and refold a total of three times! At the end of the 3^rd time, frustration is getting the best of us and our patience is wearing thin. We are starting to move a little slower but eventually get it done. Finally, we get the tarp back to its original place; we are tired, sweating, out of breath, and slightly irritated.
 
Coach Brun says, "That was a perfect indicator of how you will react and work together during a game."
 
Team bonding!
 
In the end we managed to put the tarp on the field in three minutes and roll it up in four. Now we are educated on how to properly tarp our field, let's just hope it doesn't rain!

Colleen Aubrey is a senior outfielder from Sunnyvale, CA.