Participating in a creative scavenger hunt, the girls’ varsity soccer team grew closer with every laugh, according to junior captain Rafferty Kugler.

Kugler said she wanted to find a unique way to learn more about the new players who joined the varsity team.

“We wanted to see the other side of a lot of players,” Kugler said. “Especially since we have a lot of new, younger, additions to the team.”

According to junior Skyler Rudelius-Palmer, the football team attended a Minnesota Gophers’ football game as a bonding activity in hopes of better performances on the field this year.

“We needed something different, we don’t want the same season as last year, so we wanted to do something to get better connected as a team,” Rudelius-Palmer said. “What the coaches did was bring us out to the Gopher football game, and they let us watch together and talk together.”

Senior girls’ tennis captain Natalie Lorentz said bonding activities help make a family among teammates, especially for new freshmen.

“Team bonding helps in the sense that tennis is in the fall, so it’s kind of like a family right away during school,” Lorentz said. “Especially when the younger girls come into school they automatically know people.”

Girls’ assistant swimming coach Amanda Forsberg said bonding activities help new team members get acclimated to the team’s goals for the year.

“These activities do a great job of pulling the younger kids in. Swimming is a seventh through 12th grade sport to there’s a very wide age gap.,” Forsberg said. “(Team bonding) gets the new kids to understand the team concepts more than they usually would.”

Kugler said pulling pranks in public, as well as other simple activities, bring the team close together.

“I got to know our freshman a lot better. One thing we had to do was ask some stranger a question in a weird accent,” Kugler said. “Just knowing that we are able to trust each other with silly things like that helps us get a lot more personal.”

Girls’ volleyball junior captain Kim Lindgren said team bonding is the only way to make a true connection between players.

“When we’re all on the court, there’s some level of connection,” Lindgren said. “But you don’t really know a person until you spend time with them outside of school and off the court. Even talking to them builds a better relationship.”

Rudelius-Palmer said building trust translates onto the football field.

“Better chemistry means better results,” Rudelius-Palmer said. “Talking about plays and things like that help a ton. You just know what your teammate is going to do before they even do it.”

Kugler said confidence in your teammates builds confidence in yourself.

“Team bonding makes us more trusting of ourselves and others on the field,” Kugler said. “It’s really great to know when you pass a ball, that your teammate is going to be able to receive it, which makes for trusting yourself to actually give them a good ball.”