The Linear Theory of Narrative in the Movie, Miracle

Miracles do happen, after watching the movie, Miracle, which is based on a true story of the US ice hockey team and coach Herb Brooks during the 1980 Olympics. The team was able to integrate and play their hearts out at a crucial moment to win the greatest game against the Soviets. While watching the movie I was able to identify, describe leadership traits demonstrated and lessons by the team, head and assistant coach. As a result of that I was able to answer the follow question, “What role does cohesion have in the team’s success? Discuss the way in which this team comes together in relation to the linear theory of development.”

The linear theory of development (Tuckman, 1965) is a progress through stages, managing conflict and moving forward (Group & Team Dynamics Power Points, 2019). There are four stages that a team must pass through in order to develop as a cohesion to have in the team’s success. They are forming, storming, norming and performing. The first stage, forming is familiarizing by assessing strengths and weakness and making comparisons (Group & Team Dynamics Power Points, 2019). During the tryouts for US Olympic team the head coach Herb Brooks, only watched the players for one day, which didn’t seem like he had enough information about the players. However, coach Herb told his assistant coach that he had already watched the players on video, he coached some of the players and also, he talked to the coaches of the players that he never coached before. The second stage, storming is conflict, resistance to leader and control by a group fighting among the team as roles emerge (Group & Team Dynamics Power Points, 2019). During one of the practices two players who were old rivalries throw their gloves off and started fighting while on the ice. Coach Brooks allowed the fight to go on so the two rivals could get all their angry and hate for each out of their systems. After the fight the two teammates started to work together as a team. Herb works hard to push the team from storming to the norming stage. The third stage, norming is hostility being replaced by solidarity and cooperation; “I” becomes “we” as the team works toward common goals. You are able to see that during the practices the players are starting to encourage each other and their performance was improving (Group & Team Dynamics Power Points, 2019). The team becomes upset because the coach wants to add a new player to the team halfway through the season. Some of the players pulled the coach aside to let him know that it was unfair for him to bring someone because they were the ones who put in all the work and they were a family. This helped the team and coach change into, performing a bond together to focus on problem solving; relationships stabilize, and roles become well defined (Group & Team Dynamics Power Points, 2019). In one part of the movie, it shows the team and the coach spending time together on Christmas. The US ice hockey team defeats the Soviets and they win the 1980 Olympics. They went on to win the Gold Medal.

In conclusion, you can see the role of cohesion in the team’s success. While watching the movie you were able to see the team go from forming to performing. In the beginning the team was divided from where they were from or what school they attended. At the end of the movie the team becomes one. The team’s main goal that they all had in common was beating the Soviets, who in the recent years had been winning almost every game. With all of the training, strategy and the team’s path to the Olympic gold medal. The team was able to prove that they could beat the Soviets.