For the athletes of Normal West, the real competition doesn’t always happen on the track or the court; instead, it happens over shared plates of pasta and catered meals.
Whether it’s the track and cross country teams taking over the senior cafeteria or the tennis team gathered in a teammate’s backyard, team dinners have become a vital tradition for building a winning culture.
For the track and cross country teams, the senior cafeteria serves as the ultimate pre-race hub.
Track coach Greg Rogers notes that these dinners typically happen the night before a big meet, where the coaching staff orders pasta from local favorites like Avanti’s to help athletes “carb-load” for the next day.
These dinners are especially crucial for bigger teams.
Rogers explains that because track athletes are often split into event groups, dinners “allow us all to be together.”
This sentiment is echoed by senior Addison McConkey, who says the time allows you to “really connect with your teammates” and “talk on a one-on-one scale.”
Amanda Warren, senior, adds that it is an “awesome” opportunity to “mingle off the track.”
The cross country team even takes their cafeteria time seriously, implementing a strict “phone stack” to ensure a “no-phone zone.” By creating the giant piles of phones, the athletes ensure more presence at dinner.
While these meals ensure that the athletes’ “bodies are fueled and minds are prepared,” McConkey notes that sometimes involving “visualization and focused discussion” help to solidify the importance of the legendary shared-meal tradition.
Although the bond that is created over the shared meal is memorable, McConkey noted that there is one part of the meal that her track teammates specifically share laughs about.
She’s talking about the intense and competitive ‘bread battles’.
These ‘bread battles’ occur when the team fights over Avanti’s bread, a scene she joked was similar to the “Hunger Games.”
Whether it’s a tight connection formed over Olive Garden at an away meet or fancy food before the state meet, these moments make athletes feel special and mentally prepared.
The Normal West tennis team’s meal atmosphere shifts to a more casual, home-based vibe.
Senior Dane Schlipmann and junior Blake Steffen shared that their dinners usually involve heading to a player’s house to hang out and to just have fun getting to know one another.
For these players, the meal is just the beginning.
To them, it’s the ping pong, football, bags, and random activities they do afterwards that really make the meals fun.
One of the most memorable moments for the tennis team involved lowering a basketball hoop to seven feet, leading to a team-wide dunk contest where everyone was “…dunking on each other,” Schlipmann shared.
Beyond the fun, these dinners serve a critical strategic purpose: unity.
Schlipmann noted that without these dinners, teams have a “tendency to form smaller groups within the team,” but eating together helps them “become more of a team” as a whole.
These meals allow players to engage with teammates they might not see during drills, helping them “have each other’s back,” which helps them “perform better overall.”
Coach Rogers emphasized that “the friends you make on your team will become lifelong friends.”
McConkey agreed, noting that these dinners help teammates become people you “truly love and care about.”
Ultimately, these shared meals promote a “personableness” that spreads throughout the entire Normal West culture.
“Team dinner boosts morale for sure… and when people’s moods are up, typically they perform better,” McConkey noted.
Whether it’s through a rowdy dunk contest or a quiet moment of visualization, team dinners are the foundation of a strong team environment that helps athletes grow closer and truly become a team.
