Retreat a success for Bears' Baseball team

Thu, 03/01/2012 - 10:00am — Katie Gary

The Bears Baseball team worked their skills off the diamond this past weekend when they went on a team retreat to the Gasper River Retreat Center. Players and coaches left practice early Friday afternoon and stayed the night at the retreat.

"This retreat was a huge success in my opinion," said Head Coach Kevin Winn. "Our players pushed each other and motivated each other during this retreat. We had a really positive experience and what we accomplished here was more important than what we could have done on the field," added Winn.

The 15 sub-goals

On Friday night, the players sat through goal setting sessions; the initial session asked the players to come up with four goals they would like to achieve this season: 1. Winning record, 2. 8-0 in district, 3. Win district tourney, and 4. Win game 1 in region. In order to accomplish these four broad goals, the team then came up with 15 sub-goals; these sub-goals will be the "guide posts" to achieving the broader goals according to Winn. Players also completed a self-evaluation of their baseball skills.

Players were then able to relax around the bonfire with their teammates and coaches.

Coach Winn plays guitar

"This retreat provided the coaches with an opportunity to sit down and talk to the players in a way that we aren't able to on the field," said Winn. Winn is joined by John Sohl and BCHS alum Jacob Martin on the coaching staff.

On Saturday, the team took a run through the woods and went through a brief workout before getting to some team-building activities. Players were challenged to overcome their fears and work together to complete tasks throughout the day.