Team America

The popular adage, “there’s no ‘I’ in team,” is no longer sufficient for today’s game. Gone are the notions that everyone learns the same and that our differences are divisive.

Players are not created equal; their talents are unique and individually specific. It is the coach who is able to both identify these unique attributes and adapt practice/training methods to exploit them, that truly gets the most out of his players and thus, the team. A good coach understands the value of the individual strengths, skills, and experiences of his players. He also pays attention to their individual weaknesses, as it is of no value to anyone to have a player struggle in a role/position where they have minimal ability. Therefore, making use of individuals where they are the strongest advances the overall performance of the team. Furthermore, finding ways to utilize those truly talented individuals and finding ways for them to develop others in similar roles/positions will greatly strengthen and aid in the sustainability of a team. The result is depth, and nothing is more reassuring to a team facing a key loss than depth.

Some readers may object to this premise on the basis that celebrating the individual encourages egos and egos destroy teams. However, this article in no way endorses uncontrolled and/or selfish egos. Rather, it attempts to celebrate individual strengths, talents, and experiences. There’s a reason teams pay coaches millions of dollars, and one of those reasons is to manage egos.

So lets begin to revalue the individual and use the ‘I’ factor in constructive way.