While reading the article “40 years of storming: a historical review of Tuckman’s model of small
group development” by Denise A. Bonebright, I could not help but be reminded of the high level club soccer team I was a member of for two years. Obviously, a sports team requires lots of teamwork and working together to be successful. Soccer is not an individual sport, and requires lots of descipline and selflessness from all members of the team to ensure success on and off of the field. The four stage model described by Tuckerman included forming, storming, norming and performing. All four of these stages, my team experienced first hand. In the first stage, forming, my team did a good job at understanding what needed to be done, setting rules and expectations and respecting the team and the game. As time moved on, my team moved into the second stage, storming. Many issues began to occur as many people could not put their own pride and selfishness behind for the betterment of the team. Arugments between coaching staff, athletes and parents began to regularly occur. This began the third stage, norming, where everyone shared their own oponions on the issues the team was facing and “sides” or “groups” began to form. However, the performing aspect suffered. These issues did not bring our team together and allowed us to be problem solvers, it only caused more harm and issues. With that being said, the groups formed during the time of division became very close and worked together. I think this is something very prevalent and common in today’s society as many people put their own personal values above others and can be described as selfish.

Bonebright, Denise A. “40 Years of Storming: A Historical Review of Tuckman’s Model of Small Group Development”. Human Resource Development International, Feb. 2010, p. 113-114