Due to a firestorm in my mind, the blog is a few weeks delayed.
When most people think of "teamwork" they consider everyone working to achieve a common goal. That is the most standard definition of teamwork. "A group of people working together to achieve a common goal."
So everyday these strangers just come together and magically, things just fall into place without any issues. Right? That's how teams work? There's never any tension or problems. Everything falls into place.
In my free time, I volunteer myself coaching a youth lacrosse team. These are kids from a town that I don't live in, that the coaching staff and myself give our time to instruct a team of kids on this amazing sport. Each year, we have a few returning players, and alternatively we always have several come out to learn the game and try something new (which is one of my favorite parts). This is an opportunity to sculpt a young person from knowing nothing about this game, to taking this sport as a life lesson and empowering them that despite the outcome, you fight until the end.
Allow me to elaborate, For those who don't know what lacrosse is, it's a team sport in which mimics war. The game was founded by the Indians and its name translates to "little brother of war". Basically, it was a way for the warriors to play war while not in battle. The game of lacrosse appears to be a combination of many sports, however this becomes a battle of which came first... lacrosse or the other sport.
With this being a team sport it's easy to say that teamwork is to accomplish victories... and it could be. But for me as a coach, it is something much more. It's being able to accept that there is no such thing as a one man battle. Despite how you may face an opponent whether in the game or in life, you are only accomplishing your part in the bigger picture. A term thrown around on our team, is "you are only as strong as your weakest link". As a coach, it is my responsibility to take these weaknesses and turn them into strengths.
It is no easy feat to engage kids in a multi-disciplined sport, with novice athletes, all while trying to keep everyone interested for the 90 minutes allotted for practice. Kids today are under an incredible amount of stress (so I am told), and as a youth sports coach, you are forced to adapt to their stress. This also must be done for no pay, all while handling your stresses.
One thing that I always cherished by coaching was the ability to step away from everything that's going on. I was able to leave all my nonsense and bullshit aside, and able to focus on one thing. Sometimes you need that activity to focus your attention on to just escape for those 90 minutes. Granted, it has its moments. Losses are never fun, when you can't see a particular skill get honed, or the team has reached a stalemate, it's not the best of times. But I've learned that it's these difficult times that truly make you excel as a coach and leader.
In my experience, if you have never experienced loss, you have never experienced life. Yes winning is great, and being the champions is a great feeling, but losing builds character. As a kid my parents got me involved in wrestling. A sport where there is no help and you can only rely on yourself. My first two years. I didn't win a single match. I had my ass handed to me week in and week out. Most kids would have quit and never looked back. However quitting was never an option. Each year I would become better and better. Each year I would train harder and harder. By the time it was my last year of wrestling I managed to win the district tournament. A bittersweet ending to my wrestling career. And although it only lasted for 8 years, I still use the lessons I learned then that I use today.
As a coach today, I take a piece that all of my coaches have given me today and apply it to those I instruct. Some of the key phrases are dated but the lessons hold true.
"Everyday your are practicing is one more day of practicing than your opponent" - HS football. This one pretty self explanatory but it holds true that everyday you are out there getting better when te weather is bad or you don't feel like it, is just more dedication than your opponent has.
"Suffer in silence" - youth wrestling. When players would being to whine and moan about having to put the work in, or complain about being sore, 'suffer in silence' was usually exclaimed. Nobody cares that you're sore. Nobody cares that you are tired. Get stronger, get faster, get gritty, and overcome.
"It's only illegal if you get caught" - I won't say which sport I learned this. It was uttered when calls did not go our way. It always was uttered when we would sometimes get away with a bit too much.
The most important, "teamwork". Every year one kid tries to preach family. Sadly we are not a family program. Family is when you're together more than your biological family. St. Peter's prep football was a family. The firehouse is a family. We were a team. As each year goes by, we get better and we are becoming a family in someways. But teamwork has a ring to it. A deeper meaning. It means we're aren't a family that came in together. We all came from different places and we all bring a certain thing to the table. Each one of those things has a staple into this team and allows us to learn and be understanding of one another. Not just on the team, but as humans.
We laugh, have fun, get angry, get bruised, get sore, get upset, and most importantly get better. A team develops amongst each other. A team gets from point A to point B. Teamwork is fuel that drives us there.
