This is a guest post from Steffi Cook, a member of my blogging class and the author of the blog Yellow Jackets Tennis, on the importance of being an unselfish team player.
Being part of a sports team is a very rewarding experience. Whether you are competing on the professional level or are simply in a recreational league to have fun, you will gain an experience that will be very special and memorable for a lifetime.
Working on a team requires one to care about others besides themselves. An individual can not go in with the mindset that they need to do the best only for their own benefit. Their best efforts must be done for the entire team to experience, not only for themselves to prosper.
Let's use a baseball situation. If Rob is a pitcher, and is hungry for playing time, he most likely has the drive to want to pitch in a lot of games and get time on the mound. However, if he knows his teammate Ryan is having a really good season filling the position and is helping the team significantly with his performances, he needs to accept that he may not get much playing time over him. It isn't because he is necessarily a bad pitcher; he could be a real talent. Nonetheless, if Ryan is a key factor in the team winning games, he needs to realize this and know he is the one that should be playing because he is helping the team be the best it can be.
It would not do any good for Rob to sit around and complain about how he isn't seeing the mound. He wouldn't be helping himself, and it surely wouldn't cause any good to the other guys. The last thing the other players need to be thinking about and concentrating their efforts on is how Rob is upset he isn't getting to throw pitches. The team mentality would go down and the main focus would not be on winning games. It would be on stupid drama that is not beneficial to ANYBODY. If Rob shows the utmost support for Ryan and his other teammates, it will help the team win as much as possible and be the most successful it can be.
Positive energy is the key to success, especially in a team environment. Do you use it when you are with your teammates? Cameron, do you think that this same mentality is employed on the professional teams you discuss in your blog and on your own collegiate squad?
Steffi, I definitely think that teams at the college and even at the professional level deal with these types of issues.
ReplyDeleteOnce you get to that level of competition, nobody wants to sit on the bench. But with so many people competing for so few spots, someone is bound to be left out.
Team chemistry is crucial to success at every level, especially in the pros. A good way to disrupt team chemistry is to sulk about your role on the team. Oftentimes, you are the reason you're not on the field.
So how do you handle being benched? The best thing to do is to keep working hard, because coaches tend to take notice of hard work. Showing you can play a different position, especially one the team really needs, is another way to handle it. You may just find yourself contributing to the team's success.