Teamwork Habits

Athlete’s Teamwork Habits

“Even when you’ve played the game of your life, it’s the feeling of teamwork that you’ll remember. You’ll forget the plays, the shots, and the scores, but you’ll never forget your teammates”
Deborah Miller Palmore, Basketball Olympian

As an athlete, you can begin to create an atmosphere of teamworkby:

• Coming to games and practice ready to play the best basketball you can play.

• Work hard with your teammates and have them work you hard to improve the play of everyone. The differences between you and teammates are your team’s strengths. They have strengths you don’t and you have strengths they don’t. Help everyone with their challenge to improve their strengths and weaknesses. Help your teammates look good.

• First understand your coach and teammates by listening to them, and their ideas. After all you have two ears and only one mouth. Show the courage to share your ideas.

• Work with teammates and coaches to coordinate play. Celebrate the fact that each of your teammates has different strengths and ideas. Use them to your team’s advantage. This is what creates teamwork, and synergy.

• Reflect and set personal improvement goals that will help you and your teammates come to games and practice ready to play to the best of your ability.

It is through this type of teamwork, that less skilled players effectively compete against more skilled players. Good teamwork can overcome raw talent on any day. That’s why an underdog can upset a favorite. It’s what keeps a good basketball team on top, game after game season after season. It is through this type of cooperation that teams of many different sizes and skill levels can compete against each other. Don’t just play the game your way or a teammates way. Be creative and find a new way, a better way, a team way in which everyone is able to play their best.