I think team spirit is inspirational….
When I was a senior in high school I was the captain of my swim team. Our pool was outside, inside a fence, and there were no doors on the bathroom. During the middle of the swim season the school put in new bathroom stalls but they had not been painted yet. I got this great idea, that to bolster team spirit (not that we were lacking) I would paint the stalls red and yellow with Lions on them (our school colors and mascot). Three other teammates, all juniors, and one a German exchange student, wanted to help. I bought the paint and brushes and masking tape etc and we hopped the fence in the middle of the night. We did an great job, but before we finished a security guard found us. Luckily, when he saw our awesome paint job and we explained out sincere motives he agreed to let us go and even left the gate open for us with the stipulation that he “didn’t see a thing.” As we were finishing up we saw some headlights in the parking lot. Of course it was the police. We packed up quickly and exited through the gate on to the campus. Unfortunately the police met us on the way to our car, covered in paint, holding paint, in the middle of the night. They wanted to know what we were doing. One of the girls told them we were going to our lockers. “Taking the scenic route were you?” they wanted to know. I couldn’t lie. I knew we were caught. So I told them, no, that we were painting the bathroom. They acted like we were in trouble, and put the fear of God in us, even telling me that since I was the only one over 18 I was going to be in even worse trouble, but when they saw that we were sorry they changed their tune. They said they wouldn’t report it, but that if anyone at the school complained they knew four volunteers who were willing to repaint the stalls. Then one of them offered to take a picture of us with his digital camera and email it to us. Our honesty definitely paid off. The school did end up painting over our job, but apparently no one complained.
