Athletes must work together in team sports to achieve group goals. To achieve individual success within a team sport, an athlete relies on his teammates for help. As college basketball coaching legend John Wooden once said, "The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team." Some team members may be more important than others, but on well-coached teams each member is important and everybody contributes to the success.
Value of Teamwork
Athletes must work in concert to succeed in team sports. Some sports require more teamwork than others, but each requires a collective effort. A football quarterback needs his offensive line to block, as well as his receivers to get open to complete a pass. A hockey goal tender needs his teammates to check shooters and clear rebounds. A basketball center may have dominating offensive skill, but he needs teammates to pass him the basketball. "They said you have to use your five best players," NBA coaching legend Red Auerbach once said, "but I found you win with the five who fit together the best."
Value of Team Spirit
Each team member contributes to the team's collective attitude. A positive team atmosphere goes a long way toward helping the group prevail. The more teammates support each other -- and the more fun the group has as a whole -- the more likely that team will realize its potential. “You've got to have some clowns on your team if you want to win,” Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Shaun Marcum told "USA Today" before the 2011 season. "And we got some here. I'm surprised how close everybody is. Team chemistry is huge. It's like Derek Jeter says, it's hard to have success in the game if you don't have fun.”
Teammates Helping Teammates
Teams can't rely on coaches to provide all the coaching. Athletes often respond better to peer instruction than to coach instruction. When teammates help each other, the team becomes better. When they compete with each other instead of against each other, the group has a better chance to prevail.
Teammates Pushing Teammates
Teams need athletes to emerge as leaders and set the right example for other members. Leaders set the competitive tempo for the group. Some players establish themselves as permanent leaders while others may take charge in a given event. The USA Olympic hockey team that won the 1980 gold medal is a classic example of a team that became greater than the sum of its parts. "Players don't win championships, teams win championships," team member Jack Callahan told ESPN.com 30 years later. "When we won in Lake Placid, the main reason was that we were a cohesive team. Everybody checked their egos at the door."
References
- Sports Psychology Today; Team Cohesion Determines Team Success
- ESPN.com; Ten Inspirational Quotes from John Wooden; Glenn Liebman
- Coach Like a Pro; Basketball Coaching Quotes; Brad Winters
- "USA Today"; Brewers Hope Spring Team Blooms Into Championship Contender; Bob Nightengale; March, 2011
- ESPN.com; Lesson Learned; Melissa Isaacson; February 2010
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