Being a leader

Melinda has a passion for marching. She is President of the Birriboola Marching Association, and several girls and one of the boys from Erleichda are enthusiastic members.

“Used to be called marching girls,” Melinda told me, “but now it’s marching association, because now we have male members too. But it’s not a sport that appeals to many boys.”

“Do you know what I like most about marching as a sport?” she asked me. “We work as a team, everybody works for everybody else.”

“Like cricket or football,” I said, although marching didn’t strike me as being a sport.

“No, not like cricket or football or baseball or just about any sport. I’ll tell you why. Like most sports, most of us like to excel, and to represent at district or state or country level. Most teams at representative level comprise the best individuals from the various teams in the competition, so members of those teams are always competing with each other, and trying to stand out so they’ll be chosen.

“But in marching, it’s the team that’s chosen, and the team wins and goes on to higher levels of competition as a team or not at all. So all our team works as a team, they support each other, they work together. They don’t compete against each other, they compete as a team.”

That made me think. That’s how I like to think of Erleichda, as a team, working together with a vision we can share. What Melinda said next made me think even more.

“We used to have leaders, you know, who’d march out front, but we don’t any more. People used to compete to be leader, so they’d try to stand out from the other members of the team, and that meant that they detracted from the team’s performance. I mean, in competition, we’re judged on precision and coordination, how together we are as a team, and someone who tries to stand out... well, they spoil the whole thing. So, no leaders.

“We’re judged, in competition, not so much by how high we step, but on whether everyone steps at the same height, swings their arms to the same level; you know, it’s about looking good as a team, and working together.

“And anyone can do it!” Melinda was warming up. “We’ve got a girl... she’s... well, she’s a large girl. And she’d gone to dancing classes, and the teacher told her she was too fat to be a dancer. Can you imagine a teacher telling a young girl that! But here, she fits in, everyone helps her, and she loves it. Because what’s important is not her physical appearance, it’s her... her precision, her neatness, her ability to work with other people, her enjoyment! Not everyone wants to stand out, you know. Lots of people blossom in a group. In a team.”

I want Erleichda to be like a marching team.