Certainly, as a clan grows it develops a stronger sense of itself, it earns history through experiences and events. Members remember back when the team had the old site, or the time they won 4 scrims in a row without taking a single loss! They talk about the old game that they hardly play anymore and when the favorite member retired.

It is the teams history, its legacy.

This rich culture is often overlooked or ignored in a clan, which is a shame because so many clans have a very interesting past. No doubt each clan has moments that are not very flattering or uneventful periods, but that is no reason not to record and be proud of what you HAVE accomplished. If you have never put a history together, or you are a new clan here are a few things to get you started:

New Clans:

New clans will not have much of a history outside of the day the team was created and maybe some minor facts like the first training meet or perhaps the first scrim. You can expand on this by providing some very basic details of where your members came from. Perhaps the clan founder was in an older clan before and decided to strike out on his own with some different rules or a different operating philosophy. This makes for great reading, certainly a year later and is worthy of inclusion.

You can also discuss your first members and early failures. Failures are okay to list because we ALL have them, and showing a lesson learned can be quite encouraging to new members. Once again, it makes for a great read a year later!

Discovering your Roots:

If your not a new clan, and have never recorded your history you may be in for some research. The best place to start is with the oldest members and the founder of the team. Find out as many details as you can (you do not have to include everything), as they help you to understand some of the reasoning of certain events. Try to include dates even if it isn’t completely accurate; month and year is good.

Other interesting things to look for could be old site banners or graphics, old sigs, or any image that is not in current use. If possible older versions of the clans rules or even conversations buried in the forum may be interesting to look at if they surround an event.

Legends.

Your team will be different from all others in the very specific circumstances you have overcome and the individuals that have graced your roster. You have a culture within yourself, personal jokes that others wont get, stories that bring back memories, and phrases or sayings that mean so much more to you as a team. You are the legends of your own team.

I encourage you to record this, put it on your site for others to read and enjoy your unique past.

- Hedge

© 2009 tribehaven