From Pete Caldera:
This morning, the Yankees have exchanged baseball bats for pool cues, and billiard balls for baseballs.Joe Girardi has taken his club to shoot pool.
“We feel our guys work very hard,” the manager said at Steinbrenner Field. “Usually before (exhibition) games, they have an easy day anyway. So, today’s their easy day.”
Girardi sprung the surprise on his club during their regular morning meeting. By 9:45 a.m., every member of the Yankees — including the coaching staff — marched toward buses that took them to a nearby billiards parlor, which the team rented.
“You come to camp, you practice every day … why not have an easy day where they’re all together for a couple hours, competing? Let them interact, be loud — hear people talk some trash.”
Girardi is mindful of the rigid persona that he might have projected in his first year managing the Yankees last season, though this team field trip seemed more designed to give the players a break from on-field activity — and to help unite them in a unique way.
A billiard hall at 10 a.m. seems rather strange, but hey — I won’t lie — it sounds like fun. Definitely a smart and unique move by Girardi.
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3 Responses to Team Building
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TIQ IQ
Yeah, nice move by Joe. He said he wants to work on his interpersonal relationships more, and this seems like a nice step in that direction.
Definitely. As an orientation counselor at UMASS for 2 years, we worked all summer with a group of about 25 students and we’d see the same people every single day. We spent the first few weeks doing activities like this in order to foster some degree of unity. That seemed to work, but we weren’t millionaires playing baseball, so who knows.
I’d go if they invited me.