KERKHOVEN -- Whenever several different personalities are put together in a business or on a team, for example, it's inevitable that there will be clashes.
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg volleyball coach Shannon Schmidt decided to try to quell any conflicts before they magnified.
So she took 15 players on an overnight camping trip to Sibley State Park recently.
"Coming into the season, the girls and I knew we had some definite walls up between the senior, junior and sophomore girls," Schmidt explained. "Even within the grades, like most high-schoolers, they don't always get along."
After talking to some of the varsity players, Schmidt decided to take the team to Prairie Woods Environmental Leanring Center challenge course near Spicer.
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"We had been there a couple of years ago so we decided to do that again and add an overnight camping trip as well."
Schmidt said the goal going into the trip was not to solve everyone's problems or to make everyone instant friends.
"It was more to develop a positive working relationship with each other," she said. "And just to get to know each other a little better. Some of the girls on the team had never really even talked before that had to spend a night together in the same tent."
Prairie Woods offers challenge courses that require several people helping one another to accomplish a feat, rather than individually. The purpose is to stress teamwork.
"Many of the players had never been there before so this was a pretty incredible thing for them," Schmidt said. "We all left there feeling pretty good. Tired and sore, but good. I would recommend this to all teams and coaches."
The volleyball team then went to Sibley State Park to a primitive site with three large tents. The team discussed the season around the fire, making goals and talking about challenges that lie ahead.
Schmidt then dropped the three tent groups off in different location around the park with a map, a cell phone and a scavenger hunt list.
"I told them to call me to pick them up when they were all finished. The whole hike for each group lasted about two and a half hours. This was another great opportunity for them to work together with someone they probably were not used to working with."
