When I first came to Hope, I asked the team this question: "How do you define success?" Success can mean different things to different people. Some may only look at success as beating opponents while others identify success as personal improvement from day to day. Before ever getting started with passing technique, blocking tactics, or offensive tempo - we needed to figure out what we valued above all else. Those values became our mission and are represented through the acronym, TEAM SUCCESS. First and foremost the acronym focuses on the importance of team success over individual success. We have players who are willing to sacrifice personal pride and praise so that the team can achieve its goals. While some may earn post-season accolades or get their picture in the paper, everyone understands that we are all in this together and that we are here to serve one another in a common mission.
TEAM SUCCESS is our core covenant, the promise we make to each other to define our success by the demonstration of certain values - all of which are under our control every second of our lives. We promise to TRUST each other; to ENCOURAGE each other; to hold up a positive and competitive ATTITUDE; to demonstrate MENTAL TOUGHNESS when the going gets tough; to SACRIFICE comfort,pride, ego to the betterment of the team; to maintain UNITY by focusing more on what we have in common than on what makes us different; to be women of CHARACTER by doing what is right; to serve and appreciate the COMMUNITY in which we belong; to put forth maximum EFFORT in the pursuit of our goals; to act with class and SPORTSMANSHIP in every contest; and finally, to pursue SELF-FULFILLMENT and reach the potential that God has given to each of us.
In every opportunity we try to live by these values. Sometimes we fail, but we have the courage to acknowledge that and then try again. While we want to pass every ball perfectly, set with pin-point accuracy, attack every seam in the block, and win every game that we play, it is the consistant demonstration of these values that truly determines our success in the end.
