My Team Did Worse

[eagerlearner102]

Yesterday was the regional and my team's ranking went down by 6 places compared to last year's. My school is a pretty weak team. As a vice captain, I am very embarrassed about this. I spent hours trying to get my team together but no one came to the first study session so that plan was thrown into the trashcan. I emailed the regional coordinator asking advice on how to make my team better and this is what happened. I wonder if it is my fault that my team's ranking went down or it is just that this year the group of people aren't as good as last year's group.
If any of you guys have experienced this, please give me advice on how to improve. I would like to hear what are the most common reasons why team rankings drop significantly.
Sorry for the rant but I am upset that my team did worse because I feel accountable.

[Fallsbury]

Obviously, I do not have the power or authority to give valuable information on this topic, but some tips may help:

1) Try to gather test sets for your team. This helps them get better and they should be taking every test set like an actual test.
2) Try to get your team motivated. If you made it to states, tell them that regionals does not matter, as many regionals don't reflect the true potential of a team. However, they should still try to improve on their performance at regionals.
3) Try to get your coach involved. Some kids don't listen to anyone but their captain and/or coach. If they are motivated, the rest of the team will be motivated.
4) A speech to the team addressing regionals may be useful

[EastStroudsburg13]

The most common reasons for a significant drop in rankings are the loss of a high-quality coach or the loss of a significant portion of a competing team's members. Unfortunately, student leadership can only do so much if their teammates aren't carrying their weight. Even "getting motivated" is hard because it doesn't work on everyone.

My big pieces of advice are:

1. Focus on your own prep first and foremost. You don't want to sacrifice your own performance too much. Showing that you're studying can lead by example. Good performance at invitationals helps with this too, so try to go to at least 1 or 2.
2. Figure out which of your teammates are most motivated (or most likely to be motivated) and try to work with them to be the "core" of your team. It's easier to boost team performance if you have 4 or 5 hard workers leading the team instead of just 1.
3. Try to recruit others in your school who could be motivated to the team. Additional members can boost internal competition and force your less-motivated teammates to raise their game if they want to stay on the team.

There is no fail-safe method to this, and every school is different. That said, some of the points that Fallsbury mentioned are, unfortunately, easier said than done, and often fall under the saying "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink". I have found that finding the right people, as opposed to trying to work with just the people you have, can yield good results.

[knightmoves]

I would like to hear what are the most common reasons why team rankings drop significantly.
Sorry for the rant but I am upset that my team did worse because I feel accountable.

I think I remember that you're from a fairly small school, don't I?

Particularly in small schools, the quality of people interested in scioly can vary wildly. It only takes a couple of star performers to age out and get replaced by less able people to make a huge difference in a team's overall performance.

Ultimately, your teammates have to want to win. If they don't care, they won't put the effort in, and without study effort, they won't do well. Raw ability is important, but effort is also important. I'd rather have a team full of decent people that studied hard rather than exceptional people who weren't really interested.

Go to invitationals. I'm not certain that going more often than once a month is useful, but try to do one a month. If I had infinite choice, I'd start with an easier invitational to get your people some medals, and work up to harder ones to challenge them, but nobody has quite that luxury of choice within easy traveling distance.

[eagerlearner102]

Yes my school is tiny so there are no tryouts.