“There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great: communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring and pride. I like to think of each as a separate finger on the fist. Any one individually is important. But all of them together are unbeatable.”

-Mike Krzyzewski

Hello again! Last year during film, before yet another tough conference game, I remember Coach Jensen handing out a sheet of paper to every member of our team. When I looked at it, instead of finding the scouting report I had expected, the paper was titled “The Fist”. Following the title was a quote from Coach Krzyzewski with by an explanation of how the human fist was like a team. As coach read the paper aloud, I took the story for the motivation that it was and believed at the time I completely understood Coach’s aspiration for us to work together. However, two weeks ago while on the bus to another game, I had a look at that same sheet of paper and I would have sworn it was a different story written on that page. Through the first half of the Lady Prairiewolves season the idea of “The Fist” had developed to from more than just an idea. After watching our team in our final game of 2009 versus MacMurray College, the idea of our team emulating the fist has finally become a reality.

As the first half of the 2009-2010 season came to a close it is clear our team is making strides past the point of making youthful mistakes and is developing into the team Coach Jensen realized we were capable of being. So far the women’s team here at Nebraska Wesleyan is 4-7 overall and 1-3 in GPAC play. Being a young team, including eleven freshman players and no seniors, there have been a few struggles with consistency. At times mistakes have been made that many would chalk up to our inexperience, but Coach has never been accepting of that as an excuse and because of his guidance our team is quickly growing up and taking bigger steps toward the goals we have made for the program at Nebraska Wesleyan. To accomplish these goals we always keep TWW (Together We Win) in the back of our minds and in the last three games of 2009 that mentality was illustrated through team defense and putting our teammates ahead of ourselves. In our last three games we have had at least two players scoring in double digits per game and nearly every player seeing time and making their own contribution. The Lady Prairiewolves have been dishing out an average of ten assists a game and producing shots for one another with strong ball movement. On the other end of the floor with physical defense the ladies have been holding opponents to shooting an average of 33% from the field and causing about 20 turnovers a game.

Entering the second half of the season, after coming off solid team effort at MacMurray, where all 12 varsity players saw playing time and contributed not only defensively but also to the scoring column, I see our team forming into the fist that Coach has been hoping to see. With eleven games under our belt, we have shown flashes of what we are capable of and seen that we can accomplish great things. The next two months encompass all conference games for our team and in the GPAC there is not a night that one can relax because the competition is so strong. However, as our consistency has been rising to higher levels, so will our ability to compete in one of the toughest conferences. Wesleyan’s team is looking to start off the year with three solid wins against very tough competition from Northwestern, Concordia, and University of Sioux Falls.

Before this season started, our team met one evening to discuss what the core values of our program would be for this year, in other words decide the guiding principles for everything that would be done within our program this season. Among the six values chosen was Unity. To our team unity is more than just teamwork, it is being there for one another 100% of the time on and off the floor. Starting the second half of this season, I see unity among my teammates and because they are there for each other all the time their play on the floor is progressing to the level we all had hoped was possible. Going back to the sheet of paper that Coach handed me nearly a year ago, the light bulb finally came on and I saw my team as I read that story. The Lady Prairiewolves are made up of a special group of girls, all talented in their own ways, but as our unity has begun to bring us together at this point in the season, we are beginning to create our own fist and plan to be joining the ranks of the unbeatables.