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A winning sports team works together to win. Winning requires teamwork to complete a play or win a game. Last year, the SHS Boys Varsity Water Polo team didn’t work as a team that much and we lost more games than we won. We did not communicate with each other on the field and it resulted in frustration each time that we lost.

 Structure Functionalism is the theory that states all aspects of society serve a function and are necessary for the survival of that society. Each structure has a function that contributes to the continued stability or equilibrium of the whole. Any disorganization or dysfunction in a structure must lead to change.   In my opinion,   last year, the SHS water polo players were dysfunctional.  We had players out of position and players that did not know where to go.  The dysfunction on our team was due to the lack of communication between players.

We lost our sectional game to Mundelein and everyone was down because of it. But I can tell that we weren’t playing as a team at first. I saw some people calling for the ball when they weren’t even open to shoot the ball into the goal but the person that had the ball had an opening to shoot. Instead of shooting it they passed it to the person that was yelling the loudest. Usually that person ended up missing the goal or the shot was blocked by the goalie.

In a regular season game, we try to give the ball to the Hole (the position in the front of the goalie about 2 meters line) to let him shoot but each time he gets dunked and had the ball stolen.  Even when he didn’t get dunked he usually shot it blindly and it either hit the goal or went out of bounds. We were relying on the person in the Hole to get us a goal but we weren’t relying on each other to get the goal from the outside. And we weren’t working as a team.  Dysfunction can lead to change. I recognized that we needed to communicate better with each other on the field. 

As a team, we wanted to win. We had our own goals to win but needed to realize our team goal was to win together.  In structural functionalism, you need to realize goals and have social cohesion. Our team needed to come together and work towards the same goal and win for the team and our school. 

Our main focus on the team is to work together to win. Also there are the fun things about being on the team.  We get to know each other, form friendships, keep fit through all the exercise, hang out together and have fun at team meals. Some of us have known each other for four years because we participated in the sport for our whole high school career.  These are the latent functions of being on a team.

This year the team will be different. Our coach has planned to have more time get together to play. We will learn to play as one and not play on an individual basis.  By having class work (watching tapes that my dad video taped) and on late arrivals having team breakfast at a restaurant that we choose to go to after practice, we will grow as a cohesive group and become a team, We will learn from each other and adapt to each other’s style of communication and play.  And if we need more time to bond the coach may let me organize events on the weekends.

Structural functionalism talks about passing along traditions.  We have a water polo tradition to teach and mentor the newer members of the team. We teach them from our experiences and serve as role models so that they will carry the team on next season when the seniors are gone.  Go PATS!