We as humans are multidimensional. In this post I am going to focus on the athletic part of my identity. As a member of the baseball team, much like a theater group or an orchestra, there is a powerful individual and group performance component. It requires peak performance on both levels. The group doesn’t exist without the individuals so it absorbs the energy of the person and returns it to the people.

When challenged as individuals or as a group, the energy that the group gives back both helps to distract from the challenge and gives the individuals energy with which to resist the challenge. In the times we are hurt, we go to our comfort zones to feel better. As intense participants, we turn to our passions for the peace we seek. For example, to rid myself of stress, I pick up a bat and a tee and swing my woes away.

In the interest of a balanced gender perspective, I spoke with Hamilton College baseball and softball players from the 2019-20 season, and they voiced to me the following:

“I would walk through hell in a gasoline suit [to be able to play again].”

“Baseball represents more than a game – it represents a brotherhood that goes deeper than blood – it’s not enough to say that I want [the season] back.”

“I say this for all the boys – we are coming out different”                                                                       

“I’ll improve mentally because I will appreciate the off season and the actual season way more when we actually get to have one.”

“It’s really hard working up to a season, watching the team grow as athletes and teammates, only to have it cancelled.  I wish with all my heart that Team 35 could have stepped onto the field together because we will truly never have another opportunity to play with some of our best friends and greatest mentors again.”

“Baseball has meant so much to me and has been an integral part of my Hamilton experience from the day I stepped on campus, and having one of the four seasons taken away from me when we work so hard all year round hurts in ways words can’t describe.”

Internally, groups have grown closer to one another seeking the give and take of camaraderie. However, the outside world/public issue (nature-Covid-19 and society-government restrictions) has interfered to stress those bonds. Without a sufficiently powerful group identity it would break them and the group would disintegrate. In this case, the group identity is strong enough and is resisting the external forces.

We each live in our own world with our own resources and constraints. Some of us couldn’t leave campus, some of us don’t have families, and some of us have very robust personal resources. However, these are all the ingredients of the threat that the group is responding to. We as a group could have dissolved, but instead the group has bonded through cohesion rather than disillusion.