BIG TEAM, little me

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/09/2008 (6429 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Everyone knows that there is no “I” in TEAM, but what does that really mean?On a daily basis we are charged to be good team members in a lot of different ways that many may not even think about. Sometimes being a good teammate means helping other players learn their position.One of the ultimate ways this manifests itself is when an injured guy goes in and helps the guy that is taking his place on the field learn the position better.You know that you are helping the guy that could potentially take your position but instead of focusing on that you focus on winning and being a great team player.Now let’s talk about the guys on the practice roster who get little credit for making our team better.These guys work as hard as everyone else on the team in hopes of getting on the regular roster and making the team better. They don’t know when this will happen for them but they continue to work hard, help other guys and cheer the team on.Now let’s talk about something a little more controversial. Being a teammate sometimes means you are willing to break a few rules to protect your teammates. For instance, let’s just say your quarterback receives a completely unnecessary helmet-to -helmet hit after the ball has already been released for several seconds.(You might recognize this penalty from a game not so long ago -smile).A teammate’s response might be to retaliate and to defend your quarterback. You know you will be penalized but you also know that you cannot allow anyone to hurt one of your teammates, let alone the leader of the team.I’m not saying this is always the right course of action. I am saying however, that a good teammate can easily find himself in that situation, and I can completely understand why.On the flip side, one of the ultimate forms of being a team player comes when the quarterback sacrifices himself to allow a receiver or running back to make a play.The quarterback clearly shows that he is willing to take some hits for the success of our team.So, being a great teammate means making others better, committing to the team even when you are not playing, defending your teammates, and just basically seeing the team as bigger than yourself.God Bless.Milt