When it came to team formations at Training Camp, I wasn’t too worried about it. I knew I could get perfectly fine with anyone on the squad, so the exact makeup of my team wasn’t a concern. There was just one thing I was hoping for…
I really, really didn’t want to be on a co-ed team.
I figured my odds were pretty good; there were only eight men on our 55-member squad, meaning there would be quite a few all-female teams. On top of that, I knew that a lot of girls on the race didn’t want to be on all-female teams. Here I was, secretly hoping for one, so that made me an ideal candidate, right?
Wrong.
When the team announcements happened towards the end of camp, I was a little surprised, and yet not surprised at all, to find myself on a co-ed team. I had been with the majority of my teammates for the last few days doing team-building activities, so I had an idea of what was to come. At the same time, I had still been holding out for a team of girls.
I don’t have any brothers or many male friends (I was a music major at a Christian college – the ratio kind of leans one way), so I’m typically more comfortable around other women. Naturally, I knew it was going to be a challenge to live in community with men – it was an entirely new concept to me.
But now that this has been the norm for over a month, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the balance brought from having both genders on a team, and it’s been really good for me personally. I don’t consider myself particularly “girly,” and my friends would confirm that. Sometimes I can feel a little inferior around other women, because I quite often don’t share their interests. They’re not bad interests, just not my own.
With my team I’m more confident in simply being myself, because I don’t have to try to fit in with a set idea of how I’m supposed to be. I can be girly if I want to, but when I’m really not feeling it, hanging out with the guys provides a lot of freedom for me. On another level, being on a co-ed team is helping me understand men better – how they think, what they value, and how they connect with God.
I, who had no brothers, somehow ended up with three. And I wouldn’t have it any other way – I’m glad to have them as an example of what men of God are and strive to be. They are already family to me, something I hadn’t expected to happen so soon.
Danny, my team leader, is the oldest – he has responsibilities, but that doesn’t elevate him to another level over the rest of us. He knows when he has to be serious, but isn’t afraid to be goofy.
Jarred is the consummate middle child. He’s always up to something, and quite often that means (lovingly) antagonizing whoever’s nearby. Life is never boring with him around.
Kyle I call my World Race twin (and coincidentally he actually has a twin. Sorry, Cole). Sometimes we’re so similar it’s kind of ridiculous – we’re musicians, we enjoy speaking/teaching, we love writing, and we can either be the most or least mature person in a given room, depending on the day.
I think I would have missed out on quite a bit had I been granted my original wish. I am thankful for these three amazing guys on my team and the diversity they bring to it.
