This story initially appeared on Behind the Whistle, the official blog of the IWLCA, and is being republished with permission from the organization. McKenzie Rafferty is the head women's lacrosse coach at the Florida Institute of Technology.

As we return to campus, we acclimatize ourselves, as coaches, to the new “normal” that is our fall semester. We aspire to let the past go and focus on our current team. Each team is different than the team before, and creating this current team has taken time, effort and understanding. As coaches, we strive for cohesion between our student-athletes on and off the field, but given our current situation, how quickly can we adapt as a team? How do we get our freshmen to positively transition into a new experience, sophomores and juniors to step up to new challenges, and seniors to lead a unified team with one common and shared goal?

In order to understand the process of team formations, I explored a performance model which most teams face on their path to reaching high performance. The Tuckman Model is comprised of five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. This model allows us to conceptualize our team’s inherent strengths and challenges at the beginning, middle and end of a year.

Most of these stages are obvious due to their names. Forming is when the team first meets each other, and adjourning is when a season concludes. All of our adjourning stages, unfortunately, came too quickly this past season, and we are now focused on adjusting in the newest forming model as best we can. As our university and staff have prepared for a safe, albeit hectic, campus return, we find ourselves with new roles and restrictions. We have decided to focus our attention on how to identify where our team is and what we need to do in order to get them where we want them to be throughout an innovative academic and athletic fall semester.

The storming stage is where challenges begin to emerge, mainly attributed to communication, or lack thereof. With so much unknown, the effect communication plays on a team relies on their understanding of how communication impacts their team culture and dynamics both on and off the field. (We’ve all been there when communication breaks down on the field, leading to poor performance.) Effective communication entails relaying clear and concise information to coaches, staff and players, but more importantly, actively listening to one another as they are speaking. Our goal is to continually enhance these skills today so they will be carried over into their relationships and careers tomorrow. This is why it is important for our athletes to learn more about how to communicate and emulate it throughout all aspects of their career, as a student-athlete and beyond.

Given our current situation with COVID-19, we have to adapt and pivot how we operate as a team and navigate through these storming phases. We use communication and leadership within our system through our coaching and mentoring. We are open, honest and uncensored with them, which, in turn, creates a mutual trust between players, coaches and staff. This past season gave our team a new appreciation to make the most out of the time we get together. Planning and preparation will only take us so far before flexibility and patience take over.

Norming is the stage of resolution where team cohesion is strengthened based on awareness and acceptance of overcoming past challenges. Although there still may be concerns that lie ahead, they will be easier to handle as a team now that you have created a foundation to overcome those before.

The performing stage is one that every team wants to experience. It seems almost easy, a smooth ride with little to no issues at all. The team flourishes as it has transitioned through obstacles, stepped into new roles and strived toward the goals created at the beginning of the year. The team is focused and working cohesively as a unit. This is the stage when high team performance reaches its ultimate peak. Unfortunately, not every team makes it to this stage. Many teams may cycle through these stages and some might be repeated or skipped altogether. The length of each stage is unknown.

This model has helped us understand our team’s group dynamics and team formations to a deeper extent. As we begin this year, COVID-19 still looming. We have a new task at hand and an added sense of the word TEAM. Returning from their homes and quarantine back to campus, we have to identify new ideas for the start of the semester and ask ourselves, what will lacrosse look like for this new team?

Utilizing some of the aspects of this model, will help identify where your team is as they return and what you can do in order to get them to the ultimate stage of performing. No matter what stage your team is in, I feel that being back on campus and soon back on the lacrosse field with these amazing young women is an opportunity that should not be taken for granted.