I will tell stories of past experiences that become part of the culture of the team. His first round had the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place DI winners from last years nationals. We talked and he lost his motivation for the rest of the tournament. His scores at the end of the tournament were straight ones in the round with the previous winners and then pretty much 3rd ands 4ths for the rest of the tournament. The moral is let the judge decide the round.
Students receive a strong message that is passed down by each student to other students.
When the story becomes one in which a student was kicked off the team due to violating team rules, the story lets the culture know what is tolerated and what is forbidden. Using stories to make examples of how you want your team to behave is a powerful way to create your own culture. They are told to quietly say this word before they go into each round. We are also one of the few, if only team that gets together before our rounds and performs vocal and physical warm up exercises. The secret word is used as a symbol to remind the student to focus and concentrate before walking into the room.