This was the case on what was potentially the best high school team I ever coached. The player looked upon by her teammates as the best player was selfishly about herself and this did the team in when it encountered obstacles that demanded a team first approach. The truth be told, she was not the best player on the team at that point in time. She had earned the reputation as the teams best player by scoring a lot of goals as she came through the youth ranks. The epitome of an athletic freak taking advantage of weaker competition to pad her stats. When a team oriented attack was installed as the preferred system of play and the scoring load more evenly distributed our "best" player became a cancer as a teammate.
Now, one might picture such a player as an overt trouble maker, but this is not always the case. And it is the covert trouble maker that is actually the worst type of teammate one can have. This is the type of player who pushes their own agenda behind the scenes. They recruit people to "their side" of what they perceive to be a "situation" thereby dividing the team. Predictably the team faltered long before it should have. Alas, this is the destructive power of negative leadership and a poor teammate perceived to be a teams best player.
There was another player who I coached in club soccer for a number of years. He always seemed to be on the outside looking in on very talented teams when it came to exerting leadership skills. Gifted athletically but not possessing great game IQ or vision. He was a hustler, a worker and perceived this to be his role on the team. I had a hunch he had much more to offer. There came a time when I relegated him to our second team and something miraculous happened - he blossomed into a leader. Always a good teammate, but when placed in a position and situation that called for him to lead he did so with spectacular results. He was one of the best players on that second team and unquestionably its best teammate. The team overachieved on the season in no small part due to his being a great teammate which helped make him an effective leader.
How good can we be if our best player is not a good teammate? Unsatisfyingly underachieving and mediocre is the likely answer.
How good can we be if our best player is our best teammate? This is the recipe for success. This is when a team can overachieve. This is when good things happen for a team and its individual collective parts.
Now, one might picture such a player as an overt trouble maker, but this is not always the case. And it is the covert trouble maker that is actually the worst type of teammate one can have. This is the type of player who pushes their own agenda behind the scenes. They recruit people to "their side" of what they perceive to be a "situation" thereby dividing the team. Predictably the team faltered long before it should have. Alas, this is the destructive power of negative leadership and a poor teammate perceived to be a teams best player.
There was another player who I coached in club soccer for a number of years. He always seemed to be on the outside looking in on very talented teams when it came to exerting leadership skills. Gifted athletically but not possessing great game IQ or vision. He was a hustler, a worker and perceived this to be his role on the team. I had a hunch he had much more to offer. There came a time when I relegated him to our second team and something miraculous happened - he blossomed into a leader. Always a good teammate, but when placed in a position and situation that called for him to lead he did so with spectacular results. He was one of the best players on that second team and unquestionably its best teammate. The team overachieved on the season in no small part due to his being a great teammate which helped make him an effective leader.
How good can we be if our best player is not a good teammate? Unsatisfyingly underachieving and mediocre is the likely answer.
How good can we be if our best player is our best teammate? This is the recipe for success. This is when a team can overachieve. This is when good things happen for a team and its individual collective parts.
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