Be THAT Teammate

Every great team needs to have one or two athletes on the court that everybody can rally around.  They don't have to be the best on the team, but they are the athletes who keep everybody going through the ups and the downs of the season.

Each season is a long marathon where you are constantly pushing and being pushed to be the best that you can be.  Somedays are great, some are hard, some are long.  You are doing the same drills over and over again in trying to perfect it.  Aside from talent, the biggest separators in teams are culture and who can last the longest.

On those long, boring, tough days, the team has two options: 

1)  Give in to your thoughts and slack off or 
2)  Find the energy and enthusiasm to push through with your best effort.  

Giving in will get you beat, and pushing through takes one or two teammates to bring it themselves and bring it out of everybody in the gym or on the field.

Find ways to bring energy and enthusiasm every day to your team and you can bring value - no matter if you are the leading scorer or you never play.  Find ways to encourage your teammates every minute of practice.  Find something to say.  Find ways to make sure that everybody is on the same page and working together.  When you see issues, find ways to solve them.  When you see teammates aren't getting along, try to be a mediator.  If nothing else, get them to realize that you are all working for the same goal.

The coach creates the culture, but the coach can't be the only culture keeper on the team.  Everybody has to play their part.

Bringing value is so much more than scoring.  Find ways to bring value to your team and find ways to be THAT teammate.