Do Yourself a Favor: Be a Great Teammate
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A good teammate is someone willing to get outside of
personal thoughts and emotions, a friend who tries to understand,
appreciate, and encourage other members of the team
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To become the best high school miler in
history, you'd need to be pretty focused on your training, your times
... yourself, right? Well, maybe not. Consider Alan Webb, who last
spring broke Jim Ryun's 36-year-old high school mile record with a
world-class 3:53.43 performance.
"Alan was always very interested in how everybody on the team was
doing," said Scott Raczko, Webb's Coach at South Lakes High School in
Reston, Virginia. "He always seemed like he was more concerned about
them than about himself."
Webb, who now runs for the University of Michigan, demonstrated this
trait at last years Penn Relays. After anchoring South Lakes to victory
in the high school 4 x 800 and distance medley relays, Webb praised his
teammates at the press conference afterward.
The team: What a concept. But in a sport where so much of the drama is
internal ... I can do it, I know I can ... or focused on the race winner
... Here she comes, shes going to catch that girl in front of her ...
what do the people who wear the same uniform as you have to do with your
success?
Plenty. In those long, lonely miles you put in during the off-season,
and in those knife-in-the-gut track repetitions and hill repeats that
buckle your knees -- at that moment in almost every race when you ask
yourself how much you're willing to hurt to catch one more runner -- you
can draw strength and inspiration from your running mates. Whether its
cross-country or track, teammates make a huge difference.
"It's an individual sport," says Raczko, "but you're still out there
every single day with your teammates, trying to make each other better."
Those words certainly resonate with my own experience. Back in my senior
year in high school in the early 1960s, I became increasingly distracted
by happenings off the track -- social events, a girlfriend, and so on. I
was wrapping up high school life, and hard training seemed a low
priority. My teammates must certainly have been disappointed in me and
my times, which were well slower than expected.
That all changed when I went to college and joined the Stanford
cross-country team. I found myself surrounded by runners with lofty
goals and a willingness to work to achieve them. My times improved
immediately. By my sophomore year, the upperclassmen made it clear that
they expected team success at the national level, and I worked hard to
be part of it. At the end of the season, we entered the NCAA meet as
underdogs. Our coach, Marshall Clark, remembers how much group dynamics
made a difference.
"That team didn't have a history of success," said Clark, now a high
school coach in California, "but it was evident from the start of that
season that the runners believed in one another and would succeed."
In the final half-mile of that NCAA cross-country race, I remember
suffering worse than I ever had in competition, but I was determined not
to let my teammates down. I finished 40th, a quantum leap above where I
had been running. Better yet, our team ended up second in the nation.
I was surrounded by a group of terrific runners that season, no doubt
about it. But what exactly made them good teammates?
A good teammate is someone willing to get outside of personal thoughts
and emotions, a friend who tries to understand, appreciate, and
encourage other members of the team.
"Basically, treating ones teammates with consideration and respect is
vital to being a good teammate," said Britt Brewer, an associate
professor of psychology and the men's cross-country coach at Springfield
College in Massachusetts.
There are subtle ways to communicate that you care: Cheer for your
teammates, regardless of whether they're fast or slow, veteran or
neophyte, varsity or JV. Or rally the spirits of someone who's had a bad
performance. Also, encourage stragglers during tough workouts; jog back
to "pick up" a runner who's behind during a long run. Share stories,
listen to a teammates problems and worries.
This is the key concern. Are you concerned about the people you train
and race with? Can they sense it, or do they sense something else?
Lack of concern can show up in many ways. At a certain point, seemingly
harmless kidding can become cutting. Even encouragement can sound like
criticism, as in, "Don't let him beat you!" In addition, even the
normal, healthy competitiveness of team members trying to improve can
become destructive.
"There's plenty of competition against the other teams without creating
more among our own runners," says Wes Player, girl's coach at Mead High
School in Spokane, Washington. "If two girls on the same team are trying
to beat each other in every race, it can wear them out emotionally."
This is probably the trickiest part of being a good teammate. You have
to try to move yourself up in team standing. But you also have to
support your teammates efforts to do the same thing.
"Your closest teammate might also be your most heated rival," says
Brewer. "As long as the runners remember that they are on the same team,
that they have common opponents, and that they should save their racing
for meets, situations such as this can elevate their training and
improve competition."
So when you beat a teammate in a race, how do you react? Do you gloat?
If so, you're sending a negative, self-centered message. Even
overreacting to a bad race you've just run -- sitting by yourself,
moping, crying -- can be interpreted as not caring about how the rest of
the team has preformed.
Clearly, there are things a runner does, intentionally or not, that
disrupt team cohesion. And there are also things a runner doesn't do
that can cause problems: not trying, showing up late, skipping
team-building activities, and ignoring the coach's instructions.
Do you remember, in good times and bad, to support your training
partners? If you lose a varsity spot, or if you're injured and can't
compete, do you still show up to cheer for the team? If you know someone
has had a bad race, do you call, write a note, or send a gift to let him
or her know that you care?
Working together as a team is what makes sports so much fun, and we know
it helps improve performance. Just ask Alan Webb's coach.
"Alan always wanted to be part of relays, team championships, stuff like
that," says Coach Raczko. "I think it energized his teammates to know
that a runner of his caliber, who has had so much success individually,
would put all that aside to be with them."
And you know what? Being a team member didn't seem to hurt Alan Webb's
mile times at all.
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