okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Friday, August 15, 2003
Another baseball inspired entry
My local baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, are having a great season. They're leading the division and have a decent chance to make the playoffs. What is remarkable is that they are coming off the worst year in their history. Last year Kansas City was terrible.
The team's manager, Tony Pena, is getting a lot of the credit. Here is a player quoted in the NY Times talking about the manager:
Tony Pena has made all the difference. He's upbeat all the time, and the confidence he has in his players is probably second to none that I've seen, as far as managers are concerned.
Now the reason I'm writing about Tony Pena is that it raises an issue for orienteering clubs or national teams -- does having a club or team leader who is upbeat matter? Does a leader's confidence carry over to the team?
I'm not really sure. I'm fairly sure that a leader (or team mates, for that matter) who lack confidence and who is always being negative hurts. But, I'm not sure the opposite really helps.
