Hokie Club
What started out as an unknown, turned into a special time last weekend in Taylorsville, North Carolina for Virginia Tech's softball team.
The Hokies' coaching staff kept quiet on where the team would end up for its weekend stay, keeping the girls at bay on where in the world they could be going for a team-bonding trip.
"We had our packing list beforehand, some sleeping bags and mothballs to repel snakes," Caitlyn Nolan grinned. "So, we kind of had an idea of where it would be given that we were thinking someplace in Virginia. We were dead set on it and then we took off and about an hour later, we were like, 'All right, I don't think we're in Virginia."
Though they weren't in Virginia, and the mothballs advice from the coaches was a joke, a little over two hours later the team found itself at a cabin located on 50 acres of land on Friday night. The property, offering 3,000 square feet of living space, had one main house with a kitchen and a few bathrooms and six smaller cabins on the surrounding property.
Despite having a rustic feeling to the place, the team enjoyed getting away for a bit and taking a step back from the everyday grind.
"They didn't have their phones, so we weren't sure how they would respond to that," said Dr. Gary Bennett, Tech athletic performance sport psychologist. "But that was amazing how they did respond to it. They did at first grumble a little bit, but I don't think they missed it by the time we got fully immersed in the activities."
One of the best activities on the weekend was the cooking competition. The girls split up into teams and were allotted $30 to spend at the local grocery store, making it tough to feed 30 people with that amount of money.
"I really enjoyed the cooking competition because it took us into town and we had to shop with a certain amount of money and couldn't go over," Emma Strouth said. "The cooking part was a great team-bonding thing with working with different people."
Given the autonomy to plan the activities on Saturday, Dr. Bennett laid out different things the girls could do, including free time to check out the property, too.
"I did this activity that showed that everyone on the team is important, there isn't this hierarchy where the seniors are more important than the freshmen," Bennett mentioned. "And they just responded really well to that and every other activity that we did.
"We did discussions around the firepit and people were very open and willing to talk about things that were important."
With the talks surrounding things on and off the diamond, Nolan and Strouth, both seniors, thought it was vital to have those types of conversations early on to begin the fall season.
"We have so many new faces on the team and people all over the place, so we've seen some girls at camps and on their visits, but then there are multiple girls who we've never seen before," Strouth said. "So, actually getting to know them and spend time with them as a whole team definitely helped a lot."
"Usually, you kind of jump right in to practice and you can't really stand out on the field and have a deep conversation with someone," Nolan said. "So, it was nice to have the whole first week off and then this bonding trip. It was super laid back and we weren't worried about softball, you got to know the person for who they were, which I think will be huge with us starting practice and knowing the type of people we will be surrounded with."
Tech's coaching/support staff made up of Pete D'Amour, Kirin Kumar, Doug Gillis, Matt Guemmer and Whitney Davis Showalter, planned the trip tactically with the intention of bringing a team with 15 returners and 10 newcomers to come together and mesh.
"I thought the coaches set it up really well," Bennett said. "The van rides, which were about 2 ½ hours, were planned to have the players not sit next to someone they knew and were intentionally set up where they would get to know someone they previously didn't know – I think that set the tone.
"They also had a lot of free time to hang out once they arrived. It was a beautiful setting, so they had time to go for a hike in the woods or play on the zip line or trampoline. They just engaged with each other the whole day on Saturday, whether it was an activity that was structured or unstructured. It was amazing to see."
With the impactful trip behind them, Tech now hits the field at Tech Softball Park with the fall season in full swing. The Hokies first game is on Sept. 21 versus Louisburg, a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. ET. To see the full fall schedule, click here.