BE A GOOD TEAMMATE

What does be a good teammate mean?

Is it handing a towel or water bottle to a member on your team?

Is it picking them up when things aren't going well?

Is it pushing them to do better?

It is all of these and more. Here's a little story...

A guy was walking down the street and fell in a hole that had walls so steep he couldn't get out. A doctor walks by and the guy says, "hey I'm down in a hole and I can't get out", the doctor writes out a prescription and tosses it down the hole. A priest walks by and the guy calls out "Father, I'm stuck in this hole. Can you help me?", the priest writes out a prayer and drops it down the hole. A FRIEND walks by and the man says, "Hey Bud. I'm in this hole, please help me."

Bud jumped down in the hole with his FRIEND and the FRIEND goes, "What the heck are you doing? Now we are both trapped in this hole!!".

Bud says, "Yeah, but I've been here before and I know the way out."

Take out 'FRIEND' and replace that with 'TEAMMATE' and that is what a good teammate does. Throughout life and sports, you will be in situations where you either have a lot of experience or none at all as well as somewhere in between and will be around others in the same boat (or hole).

Take the time to know what is going on not only with yourself, but also with those around you. Acknowledge the fact that you do not know every situation or the way out of every hole because you won't, but what do you and eventually will possess is experience that can be shared with others.

Have you ever put together a puzzle with someone or a group of people? I'm not talking about the ones that are 5-20 pieces either, I'm talking about those behemoths, almost cruel puzzles that are 500-1000 pieces that look like confetti. When that puzzle is solved, you sit back and admire what you have accomplished together. You exchange comments like "man, that was tough" or "I don't want to do that again" or "Thank God we didn't lose a piece". Then, more often than not, you take the puzzle apart and start looking for another one to put together.

Think about how that can be applied to sports. You have some 5–20-piece puzzles like chizzum or Mannford, then you may have some more difficult ones with 500-1000-pieces like Perkins or maybe Metro Christian.

Since you have experience with the more difficult puzzles, you learn from what they taught you. You see ways that you could've put the puzzle together better, maybe by starting with the corners then just the edge.

Apply it to football, and maybe you can say "I need to get out on that block earlier" or realize that you are fast enough to stay a little closer to a receiver. Talk with your teammates about what worked and what didn't work. If you see or hear someone expressing doubt, be like Bud and jump down in that hole and find your way out together.

That's what being a teammate is all about.