Being A Team Player
Close your eyes. What do you see? Do you see your teammates standing by your side with their arms wrapped around you? Do you see them staring down their opponent with intense focus? What do you hear?
By Samantha Kell
Close your eyes. What do you see? Do you see your teammates standing by your side with their arms wrapped around you? Do you see them staring down their opponent with intense focus?
What do you hear? Do you hear the energy in their voices telling you to push harder?
What do you feel? Do you feel their passion, drive, and heart being put into every pass, every tackle, and every shot?
While you may or may not notice any of that, what you'll often miss is why. Why do they do all of that? Well the truth is — they're doing it for you.
Ask any athlete why they play their sport. They won't tell you it's for those 6 am wake ups, or the never ending full field sprints and suicides, or even the coaches and parents screaming from the sidelines. They'll say they play for that teammate that was by their side when they nervously stepped on the field for their first varsity game. They play for the ones who went into a bad tackle and didn't come out. And they play for that teammate that is working their ass off on the field every day.
Teammates are more than people you just surround yourself with. When you're on the team, you spend every waking minute with them, and every decision you make affects the team. It means being there when they're down, and picking them back up. It's those butterflies you get in your stomach because you just can't bear the thought of letting them down.
Being a team player means you eat, sleep and breathe Royals. It involves sacrifice and more heart than you can possibly imagine, but when everyone commits, it is the most spectacular thing in the world!
