Get In The Smoke: A Right Of Passage

I get asked a lot if I ever miss playing baseball and my response has always been the same since I stopped playing, “Not really but I do miss the boys”. As I reflect on the majority of my life spent playing a game I find that my favorite memories stem from time spent with my buddies outside of the field of play. And many of these memories come from the rights of passage we implemented when I was in college.

Now I’m not talking about hazing or anything like that. Those sort of rituals are dumb in my opinion as humiliation rarely leads to comradery that is long lasting. Rather, I write this to tell you about my favorite tradition we had which revolved around this thing called Kangaroo Court. Kang Court for short, was an accumulation of comical accusations based on actions by an individual that was witnessed by 1 or more team members throughout the year. The accusers would write what they thought to be a worthy “crime” down on paper and at the end of our fall semester we would head down to the beach for the trial. We would light a huge bonfire and the cases would be read aloud with the upperclassmen casting judgment with a simple thumbs up for guilty or thumbs down for innocent.

Again, these are all accusations made in jest such as “Johnson brought his baseball bag to class” and so on. When the defendant’s name was announced he would be kindly asked to “GET IN THE SMOKE” in order to plead his case to the extremely biased jury. Literally you would have to endure the thick smoke of the fire while you tried to explain yourself as to why you’re innocent. Undoubtedly, young players on the team would get nervous and start stumbling over their words as the smoke pummeled them in the face. Suffice to say most were found guilty and required to pay the max fine of $2.

This may seem dumb or childish to some of you, to which I would say you’re probably right. But I can’t tell you how memorable the stories that were shared and the laughs that were had when guys had to get in the smoke. We learned more about each other, we grew as a team, and every year the team looked forward to that night around the fire.

Rights of passage such as these are vital to a teams success because without them there remains a lack of accountability. Not only does it bond a group of people together knowing everyone has gone through it at some point but it builds trust and relationships in a way you never could in your typical workday.

So, whether you are building a family or starting your own business, don’t forget about the ways in which you can build trust and relationships outside of simple conversations. Make it fun and make it last!