The importance of team work

 

Accept Your Role On The Team

Sometimes this can be a very hard thing for players to accomplish. The further along you go in baseball, the narrower the pyramid of players becomes. As they move up, the competition level increases each year. A Little League consisting of 6 teams may feed one middle school. If , for example, you were a shortstop on one of those 6 teams, it is possible at the middle school you may have 6 shortstops all trying out for the same position. Upon reaching the high school level, there may be more than one feeder school for that high school and the log jam continues.

For possibly the first time in their baseball life, players may be looking at playing a new position, one which may not be their personal best spot; but one which combined with the other team members, makes the team itself stronger.

Something that is even tougher, they may no longer be a starter, for the first time in their life. For some, that leads to total shutdown. For others, they take on the challenge and work to be ready when their opportunity arises.

 

Find A Way To Win

Not every game goes as planned. It is in those times that teamwork comes to the forefront.

Playing together as a team, on these days, means that as a group we need to create something that provides us with an opportunity to win that game.

Whether that be someone getting a base hit, maybe a pinch hitter coming into the game just to bunt the tying or winning run into scoring position, stealing a base, making a great defensive play ~ whatever it takes at the time.

Finding a way to win is a mind set, not a physical skill. The physical skill required is just the application of the positive mind set.

 

Be Willing To Make Some Personal Sacrifices

For a team to be successful, there must be a willingness to make some personal sacrifices for the good of the team.

In a school setting, it may mean staying home to study so you can be eligible to play, while your friends are out having fun.

Playing a position that is not your strength, so that it makes the team stronger.

Coming to a game or practice, rather than going to the concert that your friends are going to.

Situations arise all the time. Members of a team need to think about how their decision might affect everyone else on the team, before that decision is made.

 

Help Each Other Out

Everybody will have a bad day, make an error, strike out, give up a home run, the list goes on in the game of baseball. Teamwork calls for everyone to pick up those not having a good day. Go the extra distance, provide positive feedback, keep their energy level up. It is possible to turn that bad day around, it’s all in the approach.

 

Understand What We Can Control And What We Cannot

Keep our focus on what we have control over.

Quite often players will make statements like, “I don’t know how I can be expected to hit, this umpires’ strike zone is huge.”

As umpires and their subsequent strike zones are not in a teams’ control, better results might be obtained by looking to hit the first good strike you see, rather than waiting for that third strike call in a huge or inconsistent zone.

 

Anyone ~ Anytime

Anyone, anytime, a phrase coined by Tony Clark of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2007. It may just be the ultimate teamwork definition.

Rather than wait for someone else to make something happen, take it upon yourself to get it started. There is no better feeling in athletics than playing with a group of players who are in it for the team. Those memories last a lifetime!